Man who accused Kevin Spacey of groping him invokes Fifth when asked about missing cellphone
The criminal case is to be dismissed, and did you know that Spacey made the flight logs of the Lolita Express?
"Nude photos of underage girls seized from Epstein mansion" by Ali Watkins New York Times, July 8, 2019
That was peaking up from below (pun not intended, ugh), and so that's the beat to which Ali Watkins was reassigned. What a fall from grace and an overall indictment of American journali$m.
NEW YORK — A trove of lewd photographs of girls, discovered officials say in a safe inside financier Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion the day he was arrested, is deepening questions about why federal prosecutors in Miami cut a deal that shielded him from federal prosecution in 2008.
I'll answer those right now: it's clear his cla$$ and above all his connections to a certain tribe.
The deeper question is why this is being reaired at all, why at this time, and why all of a sudden on the front page?
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Epstein on Monday with sex trafficking, dealing an implicit rebuke to that plea agreement, which was overseen by Alexander Acosta, then the US attorney in Miami and now President Trump’s labor secretary.
I hate to say it, but there is nothing new there. That putz was put in charge to help keep the episodes in the hangar, so to speak, and it reminds me of how the New York Times -- which now gets credit for the reporting when their hand was forced by the New Yorker -- sat on the Weinstein story for 10 years (btw, he bought his way out in what we will call Exhibit B).
You know, reading the Globe does always leave me feeling filthy and like I need a wash.
The indictment in Manhattan could prompt a moment of reckoning for the Justice Department, which for years has wrestled with accusations that it mishandled the earlier case and has faced a barrage of litigation from Epstein’s accusers. In February, the Justice Department opened its own internal review into the matter.
Yeah, when we get to the actual moment let me know. #MeToo
Attorney General William Barr said Monday during a trip to South Carolina that he had recused himself from the case because Barr’s former law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, had represented Epstein.
He also had to recuse from the Franklin Sex Scandal, and his job seems more to guard the secrets than expose them.
Eric Holland, the deputy assistant secretary of labor for public affairs, said Acosta had no comment.
Accusations of sexual predation have dogged Epstein for decades. Until his arrest Saturday, his case had been held up as a prime example of how insulated, powerful men can escape accountability.
Think of how the reporter wrote it, as if poor Epstein has been dogged for decades. One wonders what is in her past given her past behavior.
Epstein, a hedge fund manager, avoided the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence, largely because of a secret agreement his lawyers struck with federal prosecutors in 2008. His social circle is filled with the rich and famous, including former president Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew of Britain.
Is that who they are chucking overboard?
Clinton’s office said in a statement Monday that he knows nothing about “the terrible crimes” connected to Epstein.
But you took 26 flights, Bill, and knowing your proclivities over the years..... ha-ha-ha-ha. No more excuses.
In 2002, Trump described Epstein as “a terrific guy,” telling New York magazine, “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
So he knew, and oddly enough, according to a lawyer representing three of Epstein’s alleged victims, Trump was cooperative and helpful as he built his case against Epstein: "The only thing that I can say about President Trump is that he is the only person who, in 2009 when I served a lot of subpoenas on a lot of people, or at least gave notice to some pretty connected people, that I want to talk to them, is the only person who picked up the phone and said, let’s just talk. I’ll give you as much time as you want. I’ll tell you what you need to know, and was very helpful, in the information that he gave, and gave no indication whatsoever that he was involved in anything untoward whatsoever, but had good information. That checked out and that helped us and we didn’t have to take a deposition of him in 2009."
So once again, the New York Times only tells one side of the story.
As he unsealed an indictment charging Epstein with sex trafficking on Monday, the US attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey S. Berman, made an appeal to other women who may have been abused by him to come forward.
“They deserve their day in court and we are proud to stand up for them by bringing this indictment,” Berman said.
Finally.
He declined to say why his office decided to pursue charges against Epstein now, since federal prosecutors knew about his potential crimes in New York a decade ago. Berman said his office had been “assisted by some excellent investigative journalists,” an apparent reference to the Miami Herald’s reporting from November.
Yeah, pat yourselves on the back after arriving late to the scene!
The indictment said that Epstein and his employees engaged in a sex-trafficking scheme, bringing dozens of vulnerable girls, some as young as 14, to his Upper East Side mansion and to his palatial compound in Palm Beach, Fla., between 2002 and 2005.
Same time when Bill was palling around with him.
Epstein, 66, then engaged in sex acts with the young women during naked massage sessions, paying them hundreds of dollars in cash, prosecutors said. He also asked some of the girls to recruit other girls, many of whom prosecutors say were underage, and paid them for bringing in new victims, the indictment said.
“This conduct, as alleged, went on for years and involved dozens of young girls, some as young as 14,” Berman said. “The alleged behavior shocks the conscience.”
Not any more.
Epstein is charged with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy and faces a combined maximum sentence of up to 45 years in prison if convicted.
Epstein’s lawyer, Reid Weingarten, said the allegations in the indictment had already been settled in 2008. “To us this indictment is essentially a do-over,” he said. “This is old stuff. This is ancient stuff.”
Maybe they could bring Mueller aboard because he's been out of print lately, huh?
Epstein, looking disheveled in a navy blue jumpsuit, pleaded not guilty. He stared silently ahead as prosecutors outlined the charges, never glancing at the packed courtroom behind him. He is expected back in court on Thursday.
The discovery of the photo trove was detailed by prosecutors as they argued against allowing Epstein to be freed on bail.
If he is freed, he's off to Israel. They don't extradite to anyone.
His wealth and means — including six homes and two private jets — made him a significant flight risk, they said.
“He is a man of nearly infinite means,” said Andrew Rossmiller, a government lawyer.
Prosecutors said they seized hundreds, and possibly thousands, of “sexually suggestive” pictures of nude or partially nude young women and girls during a search of Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse on Saturday, conducted at roughly the same time the financier was arrested at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.
In other words, child pornography.
The cache of photos, some of which were discovered in a locked safe that also contained CDs with labels like “Girl pics nude,” demonstrate the predatory attitude that Epstein continues to have toward young women, prosecutors said.
“This is not an individual who has left his past behind,” Rossmiller said.
In the hours since Epstein’s arrest, prosecutors said, several other women contacted them with complaints about Epstein. Some of those accusers had never previously spoken to the government, prosecutors said.
Several of Epstein’s accusers said they were relieved that authorities seemed to be taking their complaints seriously after many years.
“The news of my abuser’s arrest today is a step in the right direction to finally hold Epstein accountable for his crimes,” Sarah Ransome, who said she was forced to have sex with the financier in her 20s, said in a statement read by her lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, outside federal court.
Okay, we have a rape charge.
Two other women who have said they were abused by Epstein when they were teenagers, Courtney Wild and Michelle Licata, watched the proceedings from the back of the courtroom with their lawyer, Brad Edwards. “I was 14. I had braces on,” Wild told ABC News on Monday.
Berman made it clear that his office was not bound by the 2008 agreement that Acosta’s office had negotiated. “That agreement, by its terms, only binds the Southern District of Florida,” Berman said.
The agreement has been examined in a series of articles in the Miami Herald and is being challenged in court.
So now it is a pre$$ issue, and notice how shallow and superficial is the coverage. The stuff has been out there since 2008, and all the NYT is doing is providing the straight poop from yesterday as if enclosed in a bubble.
A federal judge ruled earlier this year that Epstein’s accusers should have been consulted about the deal before it was signed.
Weingarten, Epstein’s lawyer, said the agreement was approved at the Justice Department “at a very, very high level.”
That would have been the Bush regime.
The statement issued by Clinton’s office acknowledged that the former president had taken four trips on Epstein’s airplane. It also said Epstein had visited Clinton’s office in 2002 and Clinton had visited Epstein’s apartment in New York with a staff member.
Prosecutors are also seeking the forfeiture of Epstein’s home, on East 71st Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, which has been called one of the largest townhouses in Manhattan. It has at least seven floors and covers 21,000 square feet.
The government also said in court papers that prosecutors have “real concerns,” based on past experience, that Epstein, if freed on bail, could attempt to “pressure and intimidate” witnesses, including his accusers and their families.
Well, then he could be charged with that, too.
Over the past six months, detectives and agents with the New York Police Department-FBI Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task force, working with the prosecutors, were able to identify and interview three victims, whose abuse formed the basis of the indictment, according to a law enforcement official.
--more--"
Related:
"Vice Admiral William F. Moran, who was nominated to be the Navy’s next chief, abruptly announced his retirement in a statement Sunday, citing an ongoing ethics investigation into his relationship with a subordinate who was “held accountable over allegations of inappropriate behavior.” Moran’s decision to decline his appointment to be chief of naval operations and instead retire has sent the Navy scrambling to find a new candidate as the Pentagon operates with officials in acting roles in top jobs. Two Defense Department officials identified the unnamed subordinate as Commander Chris Servello, a former Navy public affairs officer who was accused of harassing female colleagues at a Christmas party in 2016....."
Servello, who has since left the Navy, said their relationship was that of “mentor to mentee,” and we all know that mentorships create essential community bonds.
At least they won't have to serve under a female commander-in-chief:
"Warren raises $19.1 million in second quarter as her campaign picks up momentum" by Jess Bidgood Globe Staff, July 8, 2019
WASHINGTON — Earlier this year, Senator Elizabeth Warren bet on two unusual strategies for her presidential campaign: She would swear off exclusive fund-raisers, and she would pepper voters with intricate policy proposals. Her middling first-quarter fund-raising totals and her heavy spending left some Democratic operatives wondering if she was making a giant mistake, but on Monday, the Democratic candidate offered new evidence to suggest her gamble is paying off. Her campaign announced she raised an eye-popping $19.1 million from April through June, tripling her first-quarter haul and narrowly overtaking small-dollar fund-raising titan Bernie Sanders’s total for the same period — a major victory for Warren as she and the Vermont senator vie for liberal grass-roots donors.
In the amount anyway.
It is the latest sign of the Massachusetts senator’s ascendance in a crowded Democratic primary field after her campaign’s anemic start. Warren will need to keep raising this kind of money to sustain her expensive campaign, which prizes on-the-ground staffing over saving up for television ads. She spent about $10 million in the second quarter, much of which went to fund her relentless travel schedule and pay a staff of more than 300, 60 percent of whom are in the early primary voting states of New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina. Her campaign ended the quarter with $19.7 million in hand.
That's how you win a war, too. The TV ads are like airpower against actual boots on the ground.
The news of her strong fund-raising total was fodder for celebration as Warren greeted an overflow crowd outside the town hall in Peterborough, N.H., on Monday, with a voter yelling out “19 million!” and touching off a round of cheers.
“I do want you to know, every one of you, how deeply grateful I am,” Warren said. “For everybody who gave 5 bucks or 10 bucks, everybody who volunteered an hour, everybody who proved we have a chance in 2020 to take back our democracy.”
I'm sure she is sincere in her thanks, but the "taking back democracy" comment is frightening -- as if it is theirs alone, a possession and not something to be safeguarded.
The quarterly fund-raising totals, which candidates have begun to release, show the sprawling presidential field is starting to form contours about six months into the Democratic race. There is a top tier posting eight-figure hauls, and numerous candidates scrapping for a few million.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s reelection effort raised $105 million in the second quarter — a reminder that he can build fearsome general election machinery while the Democrats battle it out in the primary. Warren in particular faces concerns from Democrats over her ability to beat Trump head-to-head, although some polls predict she would.
I think she has just as much of a chance as anybody else.
Lau’s e-mail said more than 384,000 donors made over 683,000 donations to Warren in the second quarter, and the average contribution was $28 — a figure viewed as a merit badge at a time when Democrats are seeking small contributions from people who they can return to again and again. More than 80 percent of Warren’s donors in the quarter were giving to her presidential campaign for the first time.
The impressive haul will likely silence many in the party who were skeptical Warren would be able to build a small-dollar operation that could rival Sanders. The independent senator raised $18 million over the last three months — about the same amount he raised in the first quarter, although he was only officially in the race for half of that period. His campaign said he had nearly 1 million donations, with an average contribution of $18.
Think of it as ONE DONOR = ONE VOTE!
It should be a Sanders-Warren ticket, but we'll see what they give us.
“What Elizabeth Warren is showing is that Bernie’s not the only one with secret sauce,” said Rebecca Katz, a liberal political consultant.
That's not only offensive, it's gross with Epstein right next to her.
Sanders has also sworn off exclusive fund-raisers, and the fact that the two have pulled in nearly $40 million over the last few months combined has thrilled progressives who are eager to divest politics of the influence of high-rolling donors. “They’re shaking up the way we do politics,” Katz said.
Are they?
Just don't divest from Israel, 'kay?
A Globe review of her first-quarter itemized donations found that Warren’s policies themselves trigger fund-raising spikes. Donations ticked up toward the end of March, and in the second quarter she garnered increased attention for her policy focus and stance as one of the first Democratic candidates to call for impeachment proceedings against Trump, a position that is widely popular in the party. Warren out-raised Harris by about $7 million in the second quarter — a reversal from the first quarter.
Back in Peterborough, Warren had pointed words for a reporter who asked about the possibility of billionaire Tom Steyer getting into the Democratic race.
“I think it’s great for anyone to get in this race, who has ideas and wants to talk about how we build a future in this country,” Warren said. “But I sure hope they’ll do it with grass-roots support, because that’s what a primary should be all about.”
--more--"
Not even Pelosi can stop the revolution, and Liz may have a problem with the next debate (like they are drawing for World Cup groupings!):
"Tom Steyer, the California billionaire who toyed with the idea of a Democratic presidential campaign before announcing in January that he would not run, has changed his mind and intends to enter the 2020 contest on Tuesday, according to multiple people who have been told of his plans. Word of a possible Steyer candidacy was a surprise to the Democratic political world, which has counted on the 62-year-old’s largess to finance super PACs in recent years, and has grown used to his plotting and then discarding his own ambitions for elected office. The news that Steyer is again entertaining entering the race himself came as a fellow northern Californian, Representative Eric Swalwell, said that he was ending his bid for the Democratic nomination for president, becoming the first candidate to do so since the field expanded to historically large proportions. Swalwell, 38, made the announcement Monday at an afternoon news conference at his campaign headquarters in Dublin, Calif., just three months after he declared his candidacy in April."
Got swallowed up by the field, did he?
Federal grand jury probing GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy
He used his position as vice chair of President Trump’s inaugural committee to drum up business deals with foreign leaders, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press and people familiar with the matter. A wide-ranging subpoena issued from the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn followed a request last year by Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut that the Justice Department investigate.
Cuomo signs a bill to allow release of Trump’s state tax returns
1-year-old dies in fall from cruise ship in Puerto Rico
Trump's fault, but at least the parents are fighting back ‘‘unimpeded conspiracy theories that distort truth and erase history, and just to correct the record, the American public that has been played by one fake event after another and deserves to know the truth about the suppressing freedom of speech and freedom of the press because The Deep State does not want the American people to grasp the extent to which they have been bamboozled by their own government.’’
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
The Page A2 National Lead:
Barr says he sees a way ask about citizenship in 2020 Census, despite high court’s ruling
The Ma$$achu$etts Secretary of State is betting — and hoping — it won’t include a citizenship question as SunTrust is the latest bank to drop financing for private prisons and migrant facilities.
This was the co-lead located below and to the left:
"Trump defends environmental record that critics call disastrous" by Juliet Eilperin and Seung Min Kim The Washington Post, July 8, 2019
President Trump delivered a full-throated defense of his administration’s environmental record Monday, despite relaxing nationwide limits on air and water pollution and reversing course on US climate policy.
Trump’s address, covering policies ranging from marine debris to hunting on public lands, comes as environmental issues are gaining traction in the 2020 presidential campaign. While voters still rank the environment below top-tier priorities like the economy and health care, rising concern about climate change has prompted several Democratic hopefuls to make it central to their campaigns.
You can discuss and debate everything except foreign policy, 'kay?
Former Representative Carlos Curbelo, a Florida Republican, said in a phone interview Monday that Republicans have begun to recognize that they cannot afford to ignore climate change and win over swing districts like the one he used to represent, but Trump’s recounting of his accomplishments prompted howls of incredulity from environmentalists, who noted that he had systematically dismantled dozens of policies over the past two and a half years aimed at safeguarding human health and the planet. Last month the EPA eased curbs on carbon emissions from power plants; next month it is slated to finalize a rule freezing tougher mileage standards for cars and pickup trucks.
This is the same EPA that failed Flint, couldn't come to a conclusion regarding fracking and the poisoning of our water (after six years and more than the $29 million dollars), let's them douse the crops with pesticides (never mind the rarely mentioned GMOs), and that withholds the names harsh chemicals in products because it would undermined consumer confidence.
Looks like they are protecting Dow Chemical and Monsanto more than the environment (the power of poi$on, huh?)
Is it just me, or does the water taste funny?
These moves come as federal data suggests that US air quality is worsening and its overall greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise. The number of unhealthy days for ozone and soot pollution reached 799 in 2018 and 721 in 2017, according to EPA data, the highest levels they’ve hit since 2012. The nation’s carbon dioxide emissions increased more than 3 percent last year, according to the federal government, their biggest increase since 2010.
Then shut down the war machine, for "from 2001 to 2017, the Pentagon’s emissions totaled 766 million metric tons, according to a new Brown University report. That makes the U.S. military by far the world’s largest single source of CO2 emissions....." -- source
In other words, this concern for the climate that is espoused by my war pre$$ is for ulterior motives.
‘‘Donald Trump lecturing the world about America’s environmental leadership is completely at odds with reality,’’ said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of the advocacy group Food & Water Watch, in a statement.
That's when I noticed this photograph to the right.
While administration officials are not hoping to win over environmental advocates, they said that Trump can make the case to swing voters that he had managed to boost the economy without sacrificing core environmental protections.
In a phone call with reporters Monday, Council on Environmental Quality Chair Mary Neumayr said that Trump decided to schedule the speech after discussing the status of several environmental and energy policies with his advisers.
The web version then spewed missing print.
Ivanka Trump also urged her father to talk about the environment as part of his broader outreach to women, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
She is next in line.
‘‘The president recognizes that a strong economy is vital for a healthy environment and improving environmental protection,’’ Neumayr said. ‘‘Under President Trump, this administration is focused on taking a practical approach to addressing environmental challenges while also supporting a strong economy.’’
It remains unclear whether the White House message will resonate with Americans in the center of the political spectrum.
So it's a political i$$ue to control and divert the masses.
While climate change and other environmental issues continue to resonate more strongly with Democrats than any other group, a majority of independents also rank it as an important consideration in the upcoming election. According to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, 81 percent of Democrats said climate change was ‘‘very important,’’ compared to more than the 56 percent of independents and 26 percent of Republicans.
These views help account for why the nearly two dozen Democratic presidential candidates have elevated the issue of climate change and now endorse more aggressive policies than those adopted under Barack Obama. According to a Washington Post survey of 23 Democratic candidates, 19 support ending all fossil fuel leasing on federal land. All 23 said they would rejoin the 2015 Paris climate agreement Trump has disavowed, under which the US has pledged to cut its carbon output between 26 and 28 percent by 2030.
Administration officials touted America’s environmental standing Monday on several fronts, even when the data suggests otherwise.
If that ain't the pre$$ pi$$ pot calling the kettle urine!
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, for example, said, ‘‘I do believe that our air is cleaner and our water is cleaner than other countries around the world. And I think the data supports that.’’
While US water quality ranks among the highest in the world, and Americans face relatively low exposure to fine particle pollution, or soot, the country’s smog problem is much worse than dozens of other countries across the globe.
Is it?
The Health Effects Institute’s State of Global Air 2019 report shows the US ranks 123rd out of 195 nations when it comes to smog, or ozone pollution. Dan Greenbaum, the institute’s president, said in an interview that vehicle travel, electricity use, and industrial activity all contribute to America’s high ozone levels.....
Once again, you see jwho is at the bottom of the agenda.
--more--"
A former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund and professor of economics and public policy at Harvard University makes the case for a World Carbon Bank with a bolt of lightning from next IMF head.
Is a clean environment a human right?
"Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday the creation of a commission to review “the role of human rights in American foreign policy” and consider questions about the intended meaning of the concept that was memorialized in a 1948 United Nations declaration. “What does it mean to say or claim that something is, in fact, a human right?” Pompeo said as he announced the new panel at the State Department. “How do we know or how do we determine whether that claim that this or that is a human right, is it true, and therefore, ought it to be honored?” The Commission on Unalienable Rights will be chaired by Mary Ann Glendon, a conservative Harvard professor and former ambassador to the Vatican. Gay rights groups have expressed fears it will narrow the government’s support for advocacy; the State Department has already taken subtle steps to distance itself from gay and transgender issues. Plans for the new panel have been in the works for months. Pompeo said that human rights advocacy had become too broad over the years, but he did not give details on what would be curtailed and he did not take questions from reporters after making the announcement....."
Rob Berschinski, a former deputy assistant secretary of state during the Obama administration who oversaw democracy, human rights, and labor while at the State Department and is now the senior vice president for policy at Human Rights First cited President Trump’s tendency to attack the US free press as an “enemy of the people,” and the administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border as examples of human rights violations, and I'll bet what they come up with is something given our current situation that we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world-benefaction.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Top billing in my World section yet again:
"Iran says it has surpassed critical nuclear enrichment limit in 2015 accord" by Megan Specia New York Times, July 8, 2019
NEW YORK — Iran has breached a crucial limit on the level of uranium enrichment set out in the 2015 nuclear deal, the country’s atomic energy agency said Monday, as China, another signatory to the deal, accused the United States of “bullying” Tehran with crippling economic sanctions.
What deal? Trump tore it up and sanctioned everyone who tried to implement it.
Fredrik Dahl, a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, the organization tasked with monitoring Iran’s compliance with the limits set out in the deal, confirmed that Iran is enriching uranium above 3.67 percent but did not specify to what level.
The change moves Iran closer to — but still far short of — the level of uranium enrichment needed to produce nuclear weapons, but Iran has maintained that the higher enrichment level would be for peaceful purposes only.
The United States withdrew last year from the landmark nuclear accord with other powers and Iran, and this May imposed new punishing economic sanctions on Iran.
The NYT finally gets around to mentioning it in the fourth paragraph!
Iran has responded with a series of steps away from its obligations under the accord, which was intended to block Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
The United States and Iran have teetered on the brink of armed conflict in recent weeks, with both sides issuing bellicose warnings. Six tankers were attacked in May and June near the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passageway for oil shipments, and the United States has blamed Iran. The downing of a US surveillance drone by Iran last month further ratcheted up tensions and nearly resulted in a military strike by the United States.
Yeah, the pre$$ has been trying to goad Trump into war and after he wimped out on Iran and stopped WWIII the pressure has become enormous.
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Geng Shuang, criticized the United States in a news conference Monday.
“The US side not only unilaterally withdrew from the agreement but also created more and more obstacles for Iran and other parties to implement the agreement through unilateral sanctions and long-armed jurisdiction,” he said. “It has been proven that unilateral bullying has become a worsening ‘tumor’ and is creating more problems and greater crises on a global scale.”
We have to be.
China has called the United States’ actions the root cause of the issues with Iran before, and officials have long spoken critically of US sanctions on Iran, but the blunt language Geng used was a stronger declaration of blame.
You have to give the Chinese credit there. They don't try to sweet talk you and say exactly what they mean.
European signatories to the nuclear agreement have found themselves in a difficult position, stuck between adhering to the US sanctions that target Iran’s oil industry and obligations to ease the economic burden on Iran under the nuclear deal.
After the Trump administration announced its sanctions in May, Iran set a two-month deadline for the European signatories to come up with a strategy to ease the economic impact. Iran began to surpass the enrichment limits Sunday because the Europeans had not provided any help.
I think everyone knew the EU vessel states would capitulate the the US hegemon.
Before the pact was signed, Iran had raised some of its uranium stockpile to 20 percent, which it said was needed for a research reactor. Atomic bombs use much more highly enriched uranium, generally over 80 percent.
Try over 90 and nearer to 95, you damn shill!
Yeah, lower the threshold for war, NYT.
This is the WMD thing all over again!
Despite the increase in its uranium stockpile and its production of more highly enriched uranium, experts say Iran is still far from producing a nuclear weapon.....
That is not the feeling I get reading this war slop!
--more--"
Related(?):
"Chinese scientists facing greater scrutiny by United States" by Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff, July 8, 2019
Across US campuses, professors and researchers of Chinese descent are reporting delays in receiving visas and more rigorous questioning by American security officials at airports.
In recent months, as US-China trade talks have deteriorated and federal agencies have aggressively pursued potential cases of espionage, academics of Chinese descent say they are being increasingly singled out for scrutiny. They include Chinese citizens studying and working in the United States, as well as naturalized Americans, many of them working in technology or the sciences. Many fear that as a result they will be iced out of projects and crucial federal funding for their work.
The Globe talked to Yasheng Huang, a Chinese-American international business professor focused on the Chinese economy who has taught at MIT since 2003, and Huwenbo Shi, 28, a Chinese citizen and postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has been studying in the United States since he was in high school.
I would advise them to go see the chaplain and seek guidance from clergy to help get a grip on things (Macron was all smiles when they met?).
For the past decade, though, the US government has feared that China’s ascent has been driven at America’s expense and with the use of technology and science research stolen from US companies and universities.
Gotta keep 'em off balance on the 5G, and never mind the Five Eyes and all the rest stealing trade secrets.
The Obama administration launched several investigations against researchers and academics of Chinese descent, although, in some cases, the charges were dropped. The US government has stepped up its counter-intelligence efforts and rhetoric against China under the Trump administration.
Have they infiltrated the power plants there as well?
The FBI and the National Institutes of Health, one of the leading funders of scientific research on US campuses, have warned that China’s efforts to recruit American faculty are a way for the Beijing government to acquire technical knowledge and research. Many universities have begun warning their scholars that participating in such talent recruitment programs, which used to be considered an honor, might put their research funding at risk.
Last year, Politico reported that at a private dinner, President Trump said of China that “almost every student that comes over to this country is a spy,” and the NIH has launched a wide-ranging probe into foreign interference, including whether scientists it funds are also receiving undisclosed sums from an overseas government or if researchers have equity stakes in foreign businesses that rely on NIH-funded research. So far, the vast majority of investigations have involved China ties.
I'm still waiting for the wide-ranging probe into Jewish and Israeli interference and spying (I wonder if the pre$$ would print it?).
The NIH has sent more than 100 letters to some 60 institutions nationwide raising questions about funding relationships that faculty and scholars may have with overseas governments and companies and concerns that those relationships were not properly disclosed. About half of those cases were referred to the NIH from the FBI, according to the funding agency.
“It’s open season if you’re a Chinese-American scientist. They’ve got a target on their back,” said Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor who has represented several Chinese-American professors and researchers in these espionage-related cases. “They are extremely alarmed and afraid.”
MIT president L. Rafael Reif in June acknowledged in a public letter to the community that universities need to do more to secure their research and guard against academic espionage, but he cautioned against creating a “toxic atmosphere of unfounded suspicion and fear.”
Can't have it both ways.
Related: Despite criticism and complaints, MIT won’t cut ties to Saudi Arabia
Yeah, it's not like 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi or anything.
The presidents of Yale and Stanford universities, among several others, have also sought to reassure their ethnically Chinese scholars and voiced concerns about the growing tensions between security and academic collaboration.
No one has spoken out for the Iranian.
Harvard president Lawrence Bacow will be in Washington, D.C., later this month to meet with congressional leaders and members of the Trump administration and plans to bring up this issue.
“I am deeply concerned about the tone of the current US-China dialogue and the detrimental impact on this vibrant and vital scholarly exchange,” Bacow said in a statement.
Officials with MIT and the FBI declined to comment on his or any specific case.....
--more--"
Related: Victim in Fourth of July stabbing incident in Quincy has died
Biqiang He, 55, of 67 W. Newton Street in Boston, passed away at Boston Medical Center Sunday afternoon, and China has already lodged a complaint.
What I did notice was nothing from Hong Kong today!
A heifer bull jumped over participants in the bullring after Monday’s bullrun (Ander Gillenea/AFP/Getty Images)."
The Globe is literally bullshit, so watch where you step.
"The son of a former South Korean foreign minister who fled to North Korea in the 1980s also defected to the North last week, according to the North’s state-run news media. The minister’s son, Choe In-guk, 73, arrived in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Saturday to “resettle permanently” in the North, a website called Uriminzokkiri, which is run by the North Korean government, said Sunday. The website said that he planned to follow his parents in “dedicating his life to realizing Korean unification.”
It's highly unusual for South Koreans to defect to the North, so I take this as a good sign.
"Amnesty International urgently called for international pressure and an immediate United Nations investigation to help end what it says are possible crimes against humanity in the Philippine president’s bloody antidrug crackdown. The London-based rights watchdog said in a study released Monday that extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Duterte’s three-year-old campaign remain rampant and the scale of abuses has reached ‘‘the threshold of crimes against humanity.’’ About 6,600 people, most of them accused of petty drug crimes, have been killed in the crackdown Duterte launched as his centerpiece project when he took office in mid-2016, but nongovernment groups claim a much higher death toll, including many suspects killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen human rights groups suspect were financed by police officers. Duterte and the police have denied any authorization of extrajudicial killings. Duterte, however, has repeatedly threatened drug suspects with death in televised speeches and encouraged law enforcers to shoot suspects who fight back. He has warned that the crackdown will be more dangerous for suspects in the final three years of his six-year term. Amnesty said Bulacan province north of the capital has become ‘‘the country’s bloodiest killing field’’ after some officers involved in the crackdown were transferred there from the Manila metropolis, which used to be the ‘‘epicenter of killings.’’"
Their Constitution guarantees the protection of human rights, but what does that mean?
Turns out Amnesty is just another arm of the war agenda under the cover of human rights.
What that tells me is the Philippines are getting too close to China and Russia, and the Zionist neocon war-mongers and their pre$$ are becoming hysterical. They are throwing around crimes against humanity all over the place, not realizing they are responsible for most of them.
"The International Criminal Court on Monday convicted a notorious rebel commander known as ‘‘The Terminator’’ of 18 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, rape, and sexual slavery for his role in atrocities in a bloody ethnic conflict in a mineral-rich region of Congo in 2002-2003. Bosco Ntaganda, who maintained his innocence during his trial, faces a maximum life sentence following his convictions at the global court. He showed no emotion as Presiding Judge Robert Fremr passed judgment. A separate hearing will be scheduled to determine his sentence. Ntaganda has 30 days to appeal. Ntaganda was first indicted in 2006 and became a symbol of impunity in Africa, even serving as a general in Congo’s army before turning himself in in 2013 as his power base crumbled. Fremr said that Ntaganda was guilty as a direct perpetrator or a coperpetrator of a string of crimes including murders, rapes of men and women, a massacre in a banana field behind a building called The Paradiso, and of enlisting and using child soldiers. Monday’s convictions were a victory for ICC prosecutors after high-profile defeats recently. In January, judges acquitted former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo and a former government minister of involvement in crimes following disputed 2010 elections. Last year, a former Congolese vice president, Jean-Pierre Bemba, was acquitted on appeal of crimes allegedly committed by his militia in neighboring Central African Republic. Set up in 2002, the court has convicted only four people of war crimes....."
All black Africans the western powers double-crossed after using, and when I see Bliar and Bush in the dock I'll know the ICC is no longer racist or a tool for war criminals to punish recalcitrants.
"Australian federal police obtained from Qantas Airways the personal travel records of a journalist, a revelation that alarmed the media industry Monday after police raids on journalists in June raised questions about press freedoms in the country. A document obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald showed that police approached the airline in March seeking travel records for a journalist who wrote a 2017 article alleging that the Australian military had committed possible war crimes against Afghan citizens. A Qantas officer then searched for details of two flights in 2016 at the request of the police, and “captured and printed” details of the trips, the paper said. The request drew sharp criticism from media groups. “The feeling is that journalism is under attack in this country,” said Paul Murphy, chief executive of the Australian union for journalists, the Media, Entertainment, and Arts Alliance. “There is no regard for the important role journalists play in a functioning democracy.” The incident was another sign that it had become “normal practice” for federal police and law enforcement agencies in Australia to target journalists and whistle-blowers, he added. “We need urgent action from government to protect the right to know,” Murphy added.
I'm going to pause here to ask what exactly is their role in a functioning democracy, other than promote war propaganda and the agenda of the elite?
Not only that, the idiot is calling for protection from the same government that committed these acts. This is shell game designed to present the pre$$ as some sort of foe of government when its a megaphone and mouthpiece for them, in an attempt to regain the credibility they no longer have while also allowing bloggers and those who question the official story to be outcast and banned.
In a rare instance of unity, media executives from the country’s biggest news organizations have called for reforms to protect press freedom after two police raids last month — one on the home of a News Corp. journalist and another at the headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corp. The journalist whose travel records were obtained, Daniel Oakes, was part of an ABC team that published “The Afghan Files,” a 2017 article based on leaked military documents that described potential war crimes by Australian armed forces in Afghanistan. Last year, the government passed sweeping legislation that included harsher penalties for leaking classified or secret information. The law made it illegal for government officials to disclose such information and in some cases, for journalists to receive it. The alleged whistle-blower behind the “Afghan Files” documents, a former military lawyer, has already identified himself and is facing charges. A spokeswoman for the federal police declined to comment Monday on the seizure of the travel records, saying the investigation is continuing. A Qantas spokeswoman said in a statement Monday that the airline receives numerous requests for information from law enforcement agencies. She said the airline is not informed about the occupation of passengers in such requests and provides information only on passengers who are subject to a criminal investigation. Christian Porter, Australia’s attorney general, has said that he is “seriously disinclined” to prosecute journalists except in the most exceptional of circumstances. Still, there is a “worrying chasm” between the government’s actions and its words, said Joseph Fernandez, an associate professor of journalism at Curtin University in Perth. On an international stage, such police activity is at odds with Australia’s reputation for having a transparent democracy and could “embolden other oppressive governments,” Fernandez said. “We are seriously undermining our credibility when it comes to upholding basic rights and freedoms,” he added."
Maybe they should worry less about their reputation and how it looks to other governments and clean up the shit pile that is in country from an unexpected government in what is the world's most secretive democracy. One might even call it a conspiracy, and no offense, but I've had it with the self-serving whining of the pre$$ and their self-righteous attitude of superiority.
I wonder where they got it:
"Heather Mills, the former wife of Paul McCartney, and her sister have received an apology and a settlement from Britain’s defunct News of the World tabloid over the hacking of their phones. Mills and her sister Fiona Mills both received a formal apology in Britain’s High Court on Monday. In a statement read outside the court, she said she felt ‘‘joy and vindication’’ at the settlement. ‘‘My motivation to win this decadelong fight stemmed from a desire to obtain justice, not only for my family, my charities, and myself, but for the thousands of innocent members of the public who, like me, have suffered similar ignominious, criminal treatment at the hands of one of the world’s most powerful media groups,’’ she said. Mills is one of a number of celebrities who have received settlements in the prolonged phone hacking scandal, which closed the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World in 2011. The paper was found to have hacked into the voice mail of many prominent Britons in a gross violation of privacy. A representative of the tabloid said it apologized to the Mills sisters for ‘‘the distress caused to them by the invasion of their privacy by individuals working for or on behalf of the News of the World.’’ The size of what was called a ‘‘substantial settlement’’ hasn’t been revealed. The Mills’ lawyer, David Sherborne, said the sisters had been subjected to ‘‘sustained and repeated invasions of privacy’’ by people working for the newspaper."
Certainly privacy is no longer a human right, if it ever were, and the bullshit led to the fall of another empire even though it is now back up and running.
What the British don't seem to fully understand is the pre$$ phone hacking was actually a government data collection effort.
Related:
"UK moves to limit fallout from envoy’s leaked memos on Trump" by William Booth and Josh Dawsey Washington Post, July 8, 2019
LONDON — President Trump said Monday that the United States would “no longer deal” with the British ambassador who disparaged his administration.
In a cache of diplomatic cables leaked and published over the weekend, Ambassador Kim Darroch described the Trump White House as “inept,” “dysfunctional,” and “unpredictable.”
Trump tweeted his displeasure on Monday — and more than hinted that he is looking forward to a change: “The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister.”
Backhand slap at May, 'eh?
Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman had said earlier Monday that the British ambassador retained the prime minister’s “full faith” and that there was no move to bring Darroch home.
May’s spokesman also stressed that the British leader did not share in her ambassador’s withering critiques, but May is on her way out — shoved from power by her own party for her failure to deliver Brexit, and so there was speculation in British political circles about whether the leak might have been designed to push the Europhile Darroch out of Washington before his term is up in 2020, to be replaced by someone more to Trump’s liking when a new prime minister forms a new government later this month.
That doesn't make sense. It's only going to be a couple more weeks. I get the feeling this isn't even about the leak and comments. It's about Iran.
Trump provoked controversy once before by weighing in on British diplomatic postings. After his election in November 2016, Trump tweeted, “Many people would like to see @Nigel_Farage represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job!”
Like he was, gulp, interfering?
Since coming into office, Trump officials have had a generally cordial relationship with the British diplomatic corps in Washington.
Senior Trump officials regularly party at the embassy, and a coterie — including Kellyanne Conway, Stephen Miller, Mick Mulvaney, Sarah Sanders and ally Chris Ruddy — have all been guests for private dinners, where they share about the president and his decision making. Matt Whitaker, as attorney general, was seen dancing there after midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Really? They are sharing details that would demand executive privilege when it comes to Congre$$?
Darroch himself frequently meets with John Bolton and had early morning breakfast meetings with John Kelly, the former chief of staff, according to people familiar with the matter. He has been key in working with Trump’s aides behind the scenes to arrange visits to Britain in a way that would avoid angering the president, White House and embassy officials say.
And the story just went up in ashes!
This "leak" IS ABOUT IRAN!
It's a way to pressure Trump by criticizing his leadership, and they funneled it through Britain like the Clinton campaign funneled Steele through GPS Fusion!
Although Trump said he does not know Darroch, he has spoken with him several times during visits overseas and in bilateral meetings. The president also quizzed the ambassador about Brexit during a lunch at the Capitol this spring.
Yeah, Trump is lying -- or maybe he just doesn't remember him amongst all the faces.
Trump was told about the leaked cables this weekend at his golf course in Bedminster, aides said, and complained about how they were dominating TV.
It's all they got now without Mueller.
Diplomats trashing their hosts is hardly unusual — as evident in the 2010 release of tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables by Wikileaks.
OMG!
The WaCompo went and citied Wikileaks.
So how is Assange doing, and how come you guys don't care about him?
I mean, just above is the Australian whining about a free pre$$ and Assange languishes in jail.
What it tells you is the pre$$'s concern is only for themselves.
“His comments are entirely unsurprising from a historical perspective,” Calder Walton, a British lawyer and a fellow at Harvard University, wrote in an email. “Ambassadors rely on being able to give frank (often undiplomatic) opinions about their resident countries.”
A person familiar with the cables said they are often more anodyne – they come from interviews with White House officials, lobbyists, journalists, and others, and are an attempt to decipher what is happening in Washington for officials in London.
Why not just read a paper?
Darroch himself does not write all of the cables but signs off on them before they go back to Britain, according to people familiar with the matter.
They expect us to believe that garbage?
Excerpts of the correspondence were published in a report by the Mail on Sunday tabloid. On Sunday, British officials confirmed the authenticity of the cables.
They are from a 2017 memo(!), so not even current(!!), and the print paper redacted this:
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said he would issue an apology to Ivanka Trump when the two met in Washington on Monday. (Why the British minister, whose job is to negotiate a new free-trade deal with the United States, was meeting with the president’s daughter and special adviser was not revealed).
I think we know why he must apologize to Ivanka, and nothing touches that couple, huh?
Fox stressed that he was outraged, not at Darroch, but at the unknown leaker, whom he called an “unpatriotic” underminer of the special relationship between the United States and Britain.
Fox said he suspected that the perpetrator was either a member of the civil service or the “political class” — which did not do much to narrow the number of possible sources.
“This is such a damaging, potentially damaging, event, that I hope the full force of our internal discipline, or even the law, will come down on whoever actually carried out this particular act,” Fox told the BBC.
Meaning it is really nothing but a tempest in a teapot, and all this arm-flailing and hand-waving over it stinks!
The leak comes as former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt campaign among 160,000 Conservative Party voters to be the next party leader and prime minister.
On Monday, Hunt announced an investigation into the leak — and stressed that he, too, did not share Darroch’s impression of the American president as “‘insecure” and “incompetent.”
I won't be holding my breath.
Jo Swinson, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, retweeted Trump’s missive with the comment, “Whether Johnson or Hunt take the keys to Number 10, both will continue to roll over and put up with President Trump’s tantrums.” Many commentators also observed that Darroch’s reportage was not that different from what could be read in almost any US newspaper.....
YUP!
--more--"
Maybe the Brits should be more worried about this:
"Poor security at the airline allowed hackers to divert about 500,000 customers visiting the British Airways website last summer to a fraudulent site, where names, addresses, login information, payment card details, travel bookings, and other data was taken, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the British agency in charge of reviewing data breaches. The penalty signals a new era for companies that experience large-scale data breaches. Frustrated that businesses were not doing enough to protect people’s online information, Europe’s experience is being closely watched by governments around the world, including in the United States, where policymakers have pursued new privacy laws that require companies to be more transparent about how data is collected and used..... "
Transparency has become a buzzword to mask tyranny, and cui bono?
When one thinks through things, it would appear that it is the software firms and governments themselves that do the hacking, then the government can issue a fine and demand more security while the companies will be forced to buy updated security software from the software firms. Problem-reaction-solution, you $ee?
$lick, huh?
"New Greek government faces swift test from creditors" by Elena Becatoros Associated Press, July 8, 2019
ATHENS — Conservative party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in as Greece’s new prime minister Monday, a day after his resounding win over left-wing Alexis Tsipras, who led the country through the tumultuous final years of its international bailouts.
Mitsotakis, 51, was elected on a pledge to cut bailout-era taxes and ease draconian budget targets set by Greece’s creditors during the years of financial rescue — commitments that could soon be put to the test by the country’s creditors.
The son of a former prime minister and brother of a former foreign minister, Mitsotakis will have to move fast to deal with myriad problems still plaguing the economy. An inspection from Greece’s former bailout creditors is overdue and will take place amid warnings that the country’s public finances have gone off track.
The elation of the Greeks is already in ashes!
Greece’s creditors appeared in no mood to give the new government any grace period.
Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra, arriving for a meeting in Brussels of finance ministers from the 19 European Union countries using the euro currency, said the new government has little room for maneuver for any economic reforms and budgetary changes, since the policy backdrop has already been agreed with the other eurozone countries as part of Greece’s rescue program.
‘‘We will have to wait and see what the plans are,’’ Hoekstra said.
‘‘Clear long-term agreements were made about setting (Greece’s) budgetary house in order and pushing through reforms. It is based on a whole package and I assume that will stay intact,’’ he said.
So despite the election, there will be no change as the musical chair of politics continues, and the photo proves it:
Greece’s newly-elected prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, right, was welcomed by former prime minster Alexis Tsipras, left, at Maximos Mansion in Athens Monday. (Thanassis Stavrakis/Associated Press)
The sly look and smile says volumes, and oddly enough, it replaced the printed photograph!
Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party won 39.8 percent of Sunday’s vote, giving him 158 seats in the 300-member parliament, a comfortable governing majority. Tsipras’ Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, garnered 31.5 percent. The extremist right-wing Golden Dawn, Greece’s third largest party during the height of the financial crisis, failed to make the 3 percent threshold to enter parliament.
Did they?
Golden Dawn, which has had links to the neo-Nazi movement, said it would formally request a nationwide ballot recount to challenge what it described as a “scandalous result.”
Sore losers, right?
‘‘The people gave us a strong mandate to change Greece, and we will honor that commandment in full,’’ Mitsotakis said after his swearing-in ceremony. ‘‘We will make the start today with hard work, with full confidence in our ability to respond to the circumstances.’’
Tsipras, 44, joined the ranks of financial-era prime ministers who lost elections after having to impose deep spending cuts and tax hikes on the country’s citizens.
Transforming his Syriza party from a small radical left group to a party of power, he won a January 2015 election on promises of repealing bailout austerity measures but was soon forced to change tack. His government signed up to a third international bailout, with accompanying mandated reforms, after tumultuous negotiations with creditors. Though he won a subsequent election in 2015, his standing had diminished following Greece’s brush with bankruptcy and his government’s acceptance of another bailout.
And that is why the populi$t $ociali$ts of Europe are useless.
Greece’s economy shrank by around a quarter and poverty and unemployment levels soared during the country’s nearly decade-long financial crisis. Although its finances have improved dramatically and the economy is expected to grow by 2.2 percent this year, it still has a long way to go.
The country’s debt stands at about 181 percent of annual gross domestic product and Greece has pledged to continue producing large primary surpluses — the budget excluding debt servicing — of more than 3 percent of GDP for years to come to repay its debts.
Wall Street says that is how you grow, and come to think of it, they are the ones who caused Greece its problems!
Mitsotakis said Sunday he would stick to his campaign pledges of lowering taxes, attracting investments and cutting through red tape to make Greece more business-friendly.
That means serve the bankers!
‘‘New Democracy’s clear victory in Greece’s parliamentary elections yesterday will be welcomed by investors,’’ said economics consultancy Capital Economics in a research note. ‘‘But it will not be a game changer for the economy, not least because the government will still be constrained by its membership of the single currency and its ‘surveillance’ agreement with the EU.’’
That caution was evident in the Athens Stock Exchange, which closed down 1.8 percent following successive increases ahead of the widely anticipated election result. Greek borrowing rates continued to fall with the 10-year government bond yield hovering just above 2 percent.
Mitsotakis will also have to contend with pension increases and other benefits the outgoing government granted ahead of European elections in May — benefits which European creditors had warned could make Greece’s fiscal targets hard to meet.
‘‘He will soon be confronted with the fiscal impact of the last measures approved by the outgoing Tsipras government,’’ said Paolo Pizzoli, a senior economist at ING.
Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the EU’s executive Commission, cautioned the new prime minister that Greece still has a tough economic task ahead but that he had ‘‘full confidence in your personal capacity and the capacity of the Greek people to open a new, brighter chapter in the history of your country.’’
In a letter to Mitsotakis, Juncker praised the Greek people for what they had to endure during the financial crisis, which almost saw the country ejected from the euro currency area four years ago.
‘‘A lot has been achieved,’’ Juncker said. ‘‘But a lot remains to be done.’’
And with that he hoisted another drink!
--more--"
We all may need one soon:
"Georgian TV host unleashes tirade against Putin as tensions with Russia escalate" by Amie Ferris-Rotman The Washington Post, July 8, 2019
MOSCOW — Tensions between Russia and Georgia sharply escalated Monday after a television host in the former Soviet republic unleashed an expletive-laden tirade directed at President Vladimir Putin, provoking a rebuke from the Kremlin and condemnation within Georgia.
As long as its words, fine.
The on-air rant, broadcast Sunday evening, came after two weeks of violent anti-Russian protests in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, culminating in a Russian government ban on direct flights between the two countries. The ban took effect Monday, disrupting travel for thousands of passengers.
The CIA is really stirring up trouble in a lot of places these days with their covert destabilization campaigns; otherwise, the protest wouldn't be making my agenda-pushing pre$$.
Speaking in Russian, Rustavi-2 host Giorgi Gabunia turned to the camera to address Putin. He called the Russian leader a ‘‘stinking occupier’’ and a rash of obscenities, told him to “[expletive] off,’’ cursed his dead parents, and promised to defecate on his grave. Gabunia also called Russians ‘‘slaves’’ and told them to immediately get out of Georgia.
So he is some sort of racist fascist, and wasn't Georgia once the seat of the Khazarian Empire?
‘‘These insulting remarks are totally unacceptable and deserve condemnation,’’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it viewed the incident ‘‘as another all-out provocation by Georgian radical forces aimed at undermining Russian-Georgian relations,’’ according to a statement.
Fortunately, Putin won't take that bait.
Ties between the neighbors are at their worst in years. In 2008, hostilities erupted into a brief war when Russia backed the breakaway South Ossetia region and Russian troops invaded Georgia proper. Relations gradually got back on track, with trade and tourism between the two fully reestablished by 2013, but there are sharp divisions within Georgian society about what role its much larger, politically influential northern neighbor should play. Polls show that the majority of Georgians favor joining NATO, which would infuriate Russia.
I'm not going to go back into the archives, but suffice to say that it was rthe Georgians who committed military aggression and it was the Russians who came to the aid of the South Ossetians at their request. That background provided by the WaComPo is akin to the "Russian annexed Crimea" trope we have been getting for the last 5 years.
The anti-Russian protests were sparked last month when a Russian lawmaker, invited to address Georgia’s Parliament, delivered a Russian-language speech from the speaker’s chair. Furious protesters tried to storm Parliament, and police acted quickly. Since then, protesters have staged daily demonstrations to demand the resignation of Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia over the police crackdown, which injured several people. Russia has blamed the protests on the United States.
Just like the opposition in Hong Kong, and how interesting is it that the paper chopped the last sentence?
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili and Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze condemned Gabunia’s TV performance as a ‘‘provocation.’’ Both leaders are backed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has moved to forge closer ties with Russia in recent years.
Russia has military bases in South Ossetia and the other breakaway region of Abkhazia — two regions that make up a fifth of Georgia’s territory.
It's the holocaust you never heard of.
The Russian Duma, or lower house of parliament, said it would put Gabunia on a wanted list and seek his extradition so he can be tried in a Russian court of law, although it was not clear what he would be charged with.
The privately- and opposition-owned Rustavi-2 channel, which was picketed by protesters opposing the anti-Putin diatribe, went off the air for six hours Monday after some of its workers were hurt.
What? Pro-Russian protesters?
Why did my pos pre$$ cut that?
Some Georgians worry that the government’s condemnation of Gabunia’s actions could work in Moscow’s favor.
‘‘Unfortunately, the statements released by the Georgian government are in line with the Kremlin. This is a scary development,’’ said Eto Buziashvili, a researcher at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. ‘‘It allows the Kremlin to say: ‘See, the Georgian government agrees with us. We are friendly but others are undermining our relationship.’ ’’
Well, we all know who is running them.
Meanwhile, the travel blockade on all Russian and Georgian flights operating between the countries poses a serious economic challenge to Georgia. The Southern Caucasus country, which has a population of nearly 4 million, receives about 1 million Russian visitors a year. Although Russian tourists will still be able to enter Georgia by road or by indirect flights, the financial blow to Tbilisi is expected to be considerable.
I would say find another place to go. You are not welcome there.
Russia has said the ban, which was signed by Putin, is to protect its citizens from ‘‘Russophobic hysteria.’’ Some Georgians have responded to the measure by creating the social media campaign #SpendSummerInGeorgia, hoping to attract non-Russian tourists to visit the country’s Black Sea coast and spectacular mountains. The US Embassy in Tbilisi joined the campaign.
Maybe you can open an office in Israel.
Yeah, hashtag campaigns are the solution to everything!
Just another sign that this is indeed a CIA destabilization effort as the CIA station, 'er, US embassy, endorses it!
Separately, the Russian Duma said Monday that it would ask the government to ban imports of Georgian wine and mineral water, as well as freeze money transfers between the two countries.
Let's see if the Georgians weather it as well as Iran.
Georgia’s wine, a hallmark export that belongs to a viticulture tradition going back 8,000 years — is beloved by Russians, and its sale has often been viewed as a barometer of relations between the former Soviet countries.
I thought their drink was vodka!
Russia previously banned Georgian wine imports between 2006 and 2013 over what Moscow described as poor quality standards, but Russians and Georgians alike largely viewed the move as politically motivated.
--more--"
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Editorial
State budgeteers get a warning shot
Actions have consequences, but inaction has consequences too, and sure, there’s no immediate crisis and it has pretty much become standard procedure, but it's a timely reminder that high on that list of policy proposals worth the fight is controlling prescription drug costs and a new tax on vaping products and on opioid manufacturers because those whose futures rise or fall based on that budget are entitled to know its final direction.
In other words, the Globe wants to know where and how much tax loot is going for subsidies to corporations as they put together a state budget.
Related: Watertown biotech Lyndra teams up with Gilead in $15m deal to treat HIV
The maker of HIV medications and a frequent target of criticism for its high prices is run by CEO and cofounder Amy Schulman, and the investors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Little Globe disconnect there.
Either that or they are really not serious.
After all, talk is cheap.
Five days, 17 shootings in Boston
Stay out of that city until it has been tinkered with.
Oddly, the print photo where Spilka looking wasted drunk was removed!
Baker stands by firing of former MBTA safety chief who alleged retaliation
He was responding to a Globe report published a day earlier, and declined to speak specifically about the allegations.
Mayflower, USS Constitution to set sail with 2020 celebration in Charlestown
Doesn't that have to be scrubbed like George Washington, what with the genocide against the Native Americans?!
Bear activity and safety concerns close N.H. camping site in White Mountains
NH delays Medicaid work requirements
LePage didn’t disclose Montreal, DC trips
DMV stopped sharing info with ICE in 2017
So says the Vermont governor, in what has now become nothing but a brief before disappearing altogether. You need not worry that your driver's license photo is now part of a federal database.
Boston police find two guns in car after stopping driver for defective brake light
If he hadn't sped through a stop sign they would have never known!
Police Capture Peacock That Was ‘Terrorizing’ NH Neighborhood
Woman, 69, pulled from water off Nantasket Beach Sunday has died
Amy White, 69, suffered a medical incident while swimming -- after jumping from her small sailboat to swim to shore (that's how she died?), which they are now calling a suicide (almost time to quit).
Fireworks set off near statue at Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown; no damage reported
Authorities have launched a probe after revelers set off fireworks near the William Prescott Statue by the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown on Saturday night, according to the National Park Service. Prescott was the Revolutionary War hero who led 1,000 colonial fighters in the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775.
Going to have to sanitize that history, too.
"There are surely few ways of ending the long Fourth of July weekend more ironic than by celebrating the British Invasion, but there the Rolling Stones were, England’s longest sustained occupiers of what began as an American art form — rock ’n’ roll — at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, as if in retaliation for the whole independence thing. Mick Jagger even took a wistful dig at the holiday (and the president), sighing, “If only the British had held onto the airports, the whole thing might have gone differently.” Things were meant to go differently for the Stones as well; Sunday’s concert was rescheduled from June 8 due to Jagger’s heart valve procedure, but anyone who wasn’t scanning for some indication of the infirmity that forced the postponement very likely wouldn’t have found it, as the singer was slinky, wiry, and fully engaged. He strutted and preened throughout, and when he hit the words “gin-soaked” in the first line of “Honky Tonk Women,” his whole body undulated side-to-side like it was pure muscle memory, but if the typical line on Jagger, even without health scares, is that no one can believe he’s still spry, the typical line on Keith Richards is that no one can believe he’s still alive. The Stones won’t be able to do this forever. Someday Jagger will give out, or Richards will, as unthinkable as the latter may be. But witnessing the show-closing “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” dragged closer to Otis Redding’s cover than the Stones’ original by now, it was hard not to think they’re still going to try like hell....."
That was a dig at Trump (odd how the printed Globe has made no other mention of it), and after that the Stones were booed off the stage.
Friends remember chef James Salomone as ‘a true culinary talent’
Chris Pratt visited the Kennedy compound for family’s Fourth of July celebration
Developer wants to turn Seaport warehouse site into office and research space
New England Aquarium takes a more active role in climate-change fight
Prices at the pump still below the national average
Can you drink that stuff?
Maker of forgotten brands pledges a comeback
Who are they?
"Deutsche Bank layoffs begin as turnaround plan kicks in" by Jack Ewing New York Times, July 8, 2019
NEW YORK — Deutsche Bank began firing thousands of employees in Asia, Europe, and the United States on Monday, moving quickly on at least one part of a strategy meant to arrest years of losses, scandal, and decline.
The job cuts, coming hours after the bank announced a radical turnaround plan, were a show of decisiveness at the expense of workers and a tacit answer to the question most asked by analysts and investors on Monday: Deutsche Bank’s plan looks good on paper, but can managers pull it off?
Who cares?
Christian Sewing, the bank’s chief executive, acknowledged Monday that it had failed in the past to follow through on promises to change. As a result, the bank lost money in four of the past five years and will probably report a loss for 2019. “Some may say you have heard this before,” Sewing said on a conference call with journalists. “It is different this time.”
Uh-huh.
Investors appeared unconvinced. Deutsche Bank shares opened higher in Frankfurt but then gave up the gains and closed down 6.1 percent.
Many elements of the bank’s turnaround plan will take months or years to put in place, but cutting jobs can be done quickly, at least in countries like the United States and Britain where there are few legal obstacles. So employees felt the most immediate impact of the bank’s plan to reverse its fortunes, leading to scenes outside Deutsche Bank offices that recalled those that unfolded during the financial-sector layoffs after the investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008.
We are about due for another one anyway after the banks went back the the same behavior.
Layoff announcements were made to at least two groups at the bank’s US headquarters in Lower Manhattan. Employees described an office that had been dominated by a sense of foreboding. Around 10 a.m., a group emerged carrying white envelopes containing information about the dismissals.
An employee who declined to be identified said workers got e-mails Sunday, telling them what time to come in for the announcements. Human resources personnel thanked the employees for their service and said deciding on layoffs had been difficult for the bank, the employee said.
Am I supposed to feel sorry for the looting and thieving bankers!?
I gue$$ if you are $ome $cummy elite from Bo$ton this all reads right.
Sewing insisted Deutsche Bank is not abandoning investment banking, just the businesses that are not profitable, and he said the United States would “remain a core market.” The bank, he said, would stick with plans it announced last year to relocate its Manhattan offices from Wall Street to Columbus Circle. It will also proceed with plans to move to a new headquarters in London’s Moorgate section, but Sewing, a risk-management expert who has spent his entire career at Deutsche Bank, clearly wants to set the stage for a new, more sober era focused on serving corporate executives rather than making big bets. He is the first CEO since the early 2000s without an extensive background in investment banking. On Monday, he appeared to repudiate the bank’s drive since the late 1990s to compete with US megabanks. “We lost our compass in the last two decades,” he said. “It is my personal purpose to connect this bank with what it used to be.”
So all the malfeasance and risk-taking took place while he was there, and now he is trying to $ew it all back up!
--more--"
I'm sure they will investigate that, too (or not since they pa$$ed the buck to the Fed)!
Related:
"As our jobs become all-consuming, with employees answering e-mails around the clock and companies trying to squeeze higher profits out of fewer people, more attention is being paid to the effect all of this is having on workers’ psyches....."
Boston is riddled with “workaholism,” -- so you better grab yourself a drink.
Maybe it's your boss:
"You might be close to your manager. Perhaps he or she asks about your weekend, or where you got that delightful shirt with the bird print, but what if your boss knew how much you slept each night, how often you got up from your desk during the day, or how many times you picked up your smartphone? Researchers at Dartmouth College helped to create a system that monitors employees by recording their physical, emotional, and behavioral states at all times. The system is comprised of three components: a smartphone app, a wearable fitness tracker, and a Bluetooth beacon that sits on a desk or is attached to a keychain....."
Constant surveillance by your employer sounds great, doesn't it?
As it is, Alexa is already listening, and after the one day strike by the Minnesota warehouse workers you can get back to business.
As for the obituaries, a friend of Leonard Bernstein died and is waiting to be cremated.
