News Miscellany

[Watser?]

I think what actually is happening behind the scenes -– we cannot prove it, but it's very likely –- that the Israeli government itself is sending messages to Trump, probably Netanyahu himself, please don't take us at our word. When we say that Mahmoud Abbas is the enemy, that the Palestinian government has to be taking down a notch, we don't really mean it. Because if the White House will indeed withdraw funding from the Palestinian government, and it will collapse, it will force the Israeli government to step in it, and force the Israeli military to set up again -- the whole military governor, and structure, that controls the lives of Palestinians. And deals with things like, education and health and transportation. They just don't want to do that.

Why Trump's Threat to Defund the Palestinian Authority Worries Israel

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Canadian military to become first to issue guidelines on child soldiers - The Globe and Mail

[Ari]

Our toddler in chief would like you to know if the polls aren't in your favor, they're fake!
And America gets the full Trump experience. Ineptly run the company into the ground because problems dont exist and everything is winning, then jump out at the last second to save his own ass and redefine what winning means, as I think he is mentally incappable of admitting failure under penalty of mental breakdown.

[SR71]

How the Infantile, Violent "Black Block" Plays Into Trump's Hands | Alternet

As for the so-called “black bloc,” these are the property-destroying anarchists who show up to smash things at anti-Trump rallies, fueling a boom in the balaclava business. The window smashers are vastly outnumbered by peaceful protesters, for de facto they are parasitic upon the larger crowds they cannot summon but which they can crowd out of the spotlight. In Washington, DC, on Jan. 21, the couple hundred masked superheroes who were arrested for smashing windows and setting fires numbered some 0.04 percent of the women’s marchers who clogged the Washington streets the next day. Last week, it was (by all accounts) fewer than 100 of the masked would-be superheroes who showed up among a total of more than 1,500 demonstrators outside UC Berkeley’s Martin Luther King student union, to denounce the vicious Breitbart “news” agitator Milo Yiannopoulos, that bad joke of a glib provocateur who had been invited to speak at Berkeley (among other University of California campuses) by collegiate Republicans whose scruples follow the radical Trump down the race-baiting hole where so-called conservatives go when not pretending they have principles.

Are these people helpful in any way? I don't think so. They're bad publicity. Setting private property on fire and breaking windows isn't going to win hearts and minds. It really overshadows and detracts from the message of peaceful protest. For example, the Womens March in DC. On web media where common people have opposing views and enjoy a good back and forth, the messaging win went to the conservatives. The limo the people in black set on fire was supposedly owned by a muslim. Breaking a Starbucks window just looks like being a hoodlum. It's a messaging loser.

They didn't show up to Tea Party rallies. Why are they only pulling their bullshit at progressive demonstrations? Is there any way to get rid of them?

Limo torched in DC protests belongs to Muslim immigrant, may cost $70,000 in damages | Washington Examiner

Muhammad Ashraf, the owner of Nationwide Chauffeur Services, spoke with the Washington Examiner's sister publication, Red Alert Politics, about what happened:

In an exclusive interview with Red Alert Politics, Ashraf said he wasn't a supporter of Donald Trump during his campaign, but Friday's protests were completely counter-productive.

"I have a different point of view," Ashraf told Red Alert. "I did not agree with many of the things he said, but that still does not give me the right to go and affect someone's livelihood."



Ashraf noted that the Women's March on Washington and in other cities around the country was a model for how to peacefully protest.

"I really don't think we need to take this [violent] route."

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Sarah Palin for ambassador to Canada?

I hear she speaks fluent Canadian.

[Watser?]

C'est pas vrais!

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Tabernac de Christ!

[Watser?]

Winning The War Against Terrorism? US Airstrikes Kill Obama Bin Laden Deputy In Syria

OBAMA Bin Laden..?

[SR71]

they fixed it

[erimir]

Well, I did hear that he founded ISIS.

[JoeP]

"Damn autocorrect" - casually racist editor

"Thanks, Osama"

[Watser?]

Le Pen, a leading contender in the upcoming French presidential contest, told France 2 TV that if elected, she will not allow French citizens to hold on to any citizenship in a non-European country. When asked specifically about Israel and Jews, who form a large community in France, the Front National party leader responded: "Israel isn't a member of the European Union, and doesn't consider itself as such," and therefore a dual French-Israeli citizenship will not be allowed.

Le Pen: French Jews will have to give up Israeli citizenship - Haaretz.com

In practice I am sure they would get it back as soon as they apply. Still I wonder how this will go down.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

MoMA Takes a Stand: Art From Banned Countries Comes Center Stage - New York Times

Out with the Matisse, in with the el-Salahi.

[Watser?]

Apparently the Turks and the Syrian gov't have come to some kind of (local) deal:

After liberating Tadif, the Syrian army agreed with Turkey on a demarcation line with Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army opposition fighters.

"As a result of the advance, the Syrian government forces have reached a demarcation line with the Free Syrian Army's units as it had been agreed with the Turkish side," the Defense Ministry added.

Syrian Army Supported by Russian Warplanes Destroy ISIL Stronghold Near Al-Bab

And while the Turks and the regime are fighting ISIS near Al-Bab, the Kurds are advancing on al-Raqqa: Kurdish-Led SDF Continues to Advance again ISIL in Syria's Raqqa

And the regime is still trying to get Deir el-Zour's airport reconnected to the town: Deir Ezzur: ISIL's Main Camp Destroyed in Syrian Army Attack, Tens of Casualties Reported

Yet, while ISIS is losing territory in all those fronts (plus the Eastern Homs/Palmyra front), there is also this:
JUND AL-AQSA JOINS TO ISIS, CAPTURES 17 POPULATED LOCALITIES IN HAMA & IDLIB

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

U.S. Tennis apologizes for Nazi-era Germany anthem at Fed Cup match | NBC Sports

[Watser?]

Long-ass article by a Middle East expert whose class I attended (it was on states whose income comes from an external source which is almost deemed inexhaustible, like Spain and its silver and Saudi Arabia and its oil).
Survival Is Syria's Strategy

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Walmart is being sued for inventing a fake craft brewery

[JoeP]

#AlternativeCraftBeer

[Watser?]

Greenpeace has built a pipeline in the ING (bank) headquarters in Amsterdam to protest their support for DAPL, according to the local paper:



Greenpeace graaft 'pijplijn' in bij ING-hoofdkantoor - Amsterdam - PAROOL

[The Lone Ranger]

It's my understanding that the pipeline was originally slated to run near Bismarck. But a lot of [white] people complained that this might result in contamination of their drinking water, among other concerns, so it was quickly re-routed. And, really, who cares about the concerns of a bunch of Prairie Niggers Native Americans?


No less a person than Jesse Jackson has referred to the re-route as "the ripest case of environmental racism I've seen in a long time," according to ABC News.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

It's my understanding that the pipeline was originally slated to run near Bismarck. But a lot of [white] people complained that this might result in contamination of their drinking water, among other concerns, so it was quickly re-routed. And, really, who cares about the concerns of a bunch of Prairie Niggers Native Americans?

Before and after map here.

Dakota Access Pipeline - Wikipedia

Also information about following route of existing pipeline.

[Watser?]

Another rather amusing piece about fake news is published in today's New York Times.

The headline:

Fake News, Fake Ukrainians: How a Group of Russians Tilted a Dutch Vote

It is amusing because no fact in the piece agrees with the headline. The piece itself turns out to be fake news. It is about old stuff, not news at all, and the content does not support the theses.

...

Kornilov and Ananjev are the only two relevant persons the NYT piece identifies. They are the "Fake Ukrainians" and "Group of Russians" the headline describes.

The "fake Ukrainian" is not "fake" at all but a real Ukrainian. The "Group of Russians" is a Dutch raised student in Rotterdam. The NYT has found no sign of any actual Russian influence on their public arguments or opinions. There is zero evidence in the piece, none at all, that these people "tilted a Dutch vote". There is not even one attempt made to show that this was the case.

M of A - In Which Reporting About "Fake News" Turns Out To Be Such

That stupid referendum was started by an extreme right website for the stupidest of reasons. I was against the treaty myself but didn't vote because I didn't want to give the assholes any legitimacy. But yeah, they won. Fair win. Stupid wins, it happens.

ETA: the turnout for the referendum was just above the required minimum.

[Watser?]

This of course gets ignored in the Western media. Wrong message...

Huge pro-refugee protest in Barcelona | Euronews

Spain has only taken in eleven hundred refugees, despite promising to accept seventeen thousand as Syria’s vicious civil war and other violent conflicts rage on.

On Saturday around 160,000 people took to the streets of Barcelona in protest.

[Watser?]

Mainstream U.S. media only wants stories of Russian perfidy, so when German intelligence cleared Moscow of suspected subversion of German democracy, the silence was deafening, says ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern.

German Intel Clears Russia on Interference – Consortiumnews

[Watser?]

It seems like I have heard of this before or maybe it is just deja vu all over again.

Far-right editor's offer to pay travel costs to 'crime-ridden Malmö backfires as dozens accept - The Local