Sic Semper Tyrannis

Changes regarding scheduling and filing papers in the Michael Flynn case

By Robert Willmann

In orders on Monday and Tuesday of this week, the judge presiding over the Michael Flynn criminal case cancelled the court hearing set for 7 November 2019, and set deadlines for new documents to be filed.  Judge Emmet Sullivan directed that the Justice Department, as the prosecution, file a response by noon this Friday, 1 November, to Flynn's document that has a file date of 24 October.  Gen. Flynn's lawyers are to file a reply to that upcoming government document by noon next Monday, 4 November.

The order cancelling the hearing stated--

"10/28/2019 Minute Order as to Michael T. Flynn. In view of the parties' comprehensive briefing concerning 109 Defendant's Motion to Compel Production of Brady Material, the Court cancels the motion hearing previously scheduled for November 7, 2019. Signed by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on 10/28/2019. (lcegs3). Modified to change date of motion hearing 10/28/2019 (lcegs3). (Entered: 10/28/2019)"

Documents filed on behalf of Flynn and the government have led to this latest change in scheduling.  After Flynn's new lawyers entered appearances, they filed a request (a "motion") to compel the production of exculpatory material (called "Brady material") and for an order directing that the prosecutors show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court for failing to produce the material.  The government filed a response on 1 October 2019.  Then Flynn filed a motion to compel the production of newly discovered evidence, which was for the government to produce the data and metadata from two BlackBerry cellular phones that allegedly had been used by Joseph Mifsud.  On 24 October 2019 Flynn's reply to the government's response to his initial motion was filed, and it included some 16 exhibits.  Then on 28 October, because of those papers that had been filed, the judge cancelled the court hearing that was set for next Thursday.

On Tuesday of this week, 29 October, the government filed two more items.

Shut up old man! - TTG

A couple of days ago, Colonel Lang asked a question about HUMINT support to SFOD Delta in light of the recent raid on Barisha.

PL> Woolsey just said on Fox that CIA was the main support for the raid. Do the two of you agree with that?

TTG> I personally think Woolsey is talking out his ass. DoD and JSOC in particular has developed a lot of capability in this area. DIA was doing the same. We had people integrated into the various task forces in Afghanistan and Iraq for years. CIA is still involved, but not to the extent it was decades ago.

I listened to the Woolsey comment today. I am now even more convinced he was talking out his ass. He represents the old CIA attitude of undeserved superiority and misplaced disdain for military intelligence. It’s a common attitude for a lot of these old fossils. I’ve seen it many times.  It was annoying. Well, times have changed. As I told Colonel Lang, military intelligence has changed dramatically in recent years. I witnessed a lot of these changes first hand working at DIA. I will be careful about what I say since many of the details of these changes remain classified. I will say only what I can find in unclassified, printed documents. Here are three documents you can review yourselves at your leisure.

https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading%20Room/Administration_and_Management/09-F-0656_DoDD_5200.37_Management_and_Execution_of_Defense_Human_Intelligence_02-09-2009.pdf?ver=2017-05-15-135557-533

https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm2-22-3.pdf

https://info.publicintelligence.net/CALL-CommandersGuideHUMINT.pdf

The first document is the culmination of a multi-year struggle by DIA and USD(I) to provide better and more timely HUMINT support to the commands and task forces operating in Afghanistan and Iraq. We created a new category of controlled collection operations called military source operations (MSO). The most significant change wrought by the creation of MSOs is that ultimate approval/coordination lies with USD(I) for the most sensitive category of MSOs. Other MSOs are approved at lower DoD levels. Prior to this, all controlled collection operations required CIA coordination/approval. CIA didn’t like this change, but DIA, the Army and the combatant commands loved it.

The remaining two documents are Army publications. They discuss a new prominence for HUMINT operations at the combatant command and joint task force (JTF) levels. A robust J2X is established at these levels to oversee and control HUMINT operations. In addition to controlled HUMINT operations, the J2X controls debriefing and interrogation operations. DIA also began to emphasize this full range of HUMINT in support of joint commands in Afghanistan, Iraq and other regions where JTFs operated. This included various JSOC JTFs.

Now back to Woolsey’s comments. He was fishing for nice words from Trump for his old CIA. He still lives in a world where CIA dominated the HUMINT world, a world where everyone only thinks of the CIA when HUMINT is mentioned. I still see this. People look at me cross eyed when I tell them I worked for DIA. They say, “What’s DIA? Do you mean CIA?” At least we got a mention from Woolsey. He did say, “I’m sure there were other agencies involved, Defense and so forth, too, but the CIA pulled the main strings on human intelligence there and it was brilliant.” Shut up, old man. I don’t buy it. I’m sure the CIA was represented in the J2X and had collectors and analysts involved, but HUMINT support to these JTFs are now a DoD affair.

So who did provide the key HUMINT support to the raid on Barisha? According to Polat Can, it was the YPG. Polat Can is a senior adviser to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and former Representative of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) to the International Coalition. I wouldn’t be surprised if my old unit was involved with the YPG Huminters. We did a lot of that kind of liaison work in support of Delta and ST6. We often passed ourselves off as CIA when he did so. It saved a lot of questions.

Here’s Polat Can’s account on twitter:

@PolatCanRojava   SDF Senior Advisor  (28 August)

1- Through our own sources, we managed to confirm that Al Baghdadi had moved from Al Dashisha area in Deir Al Zor to Idlib. Since 15 May, we have been working together with the CIA to track Al Baghdadi and monitor him closely.

2 - One of our sources was able to reach the house where Al Baghdadi was hiding. Al Baghdadi changed his places of residence very often. He was about to move to a new place in Jerablus.

3 - Our own source, who had been able to reach Al Baghdadi, brought Al Baghdadi’s underwear to conduct a DNA test and make sure (100%) that the person in question was Al Baghdadi himself.

4- More than a month ago, the decision was made to eliminate Al Baghdadi. However, the US withdrawal and the Turkish invasion prompted us to stop our special operations, including the pursuit of Al Baghdadi. The Turkish invasion caused a delay in the operation.

5- All intelligence and access to Al Baghdadi as well as the identification of his place, were the result of our own work. Our intelligence source was involved in sending coordinates, directing the airdrop, participating in and making the operation a success until the last minute

6 - All armed groups and elements surrounding the village of Barisha were Daesh (ISIS) terrorists, operating under various names. In the airdrop operation, all their military posts and positions were targeted.

7- Terrorist Abu al-Hassan was on a special mission to Jerablus to secure Al Baghdadi’s transfer to his new home. There was a plan B to target Al Baghdadi in his new home if he had moved before the planned strike in Barisha. Abu al-Hassan was closely monitored by SDF intelligence

TTG

The Failed FBI Plot to Paint Trump Doing Deals with Putin by Larry C Johnson

To appreciate the lies and corruption that are the foundation of the conspiracy to destroy the Presidency of Donald Trump by the FBI, the CIA and the DNI, one need only look at how Robert Mueller lied about FBI informants who were targeting the Trump team.

Let us look specifically at Felix Sater. Felix Sater has been a fully signed up Confidential Human Source for the FBI since 1998. His original plea deal was signed off on by Mueller’s deputy, Andrew Weismann. But you would not know any of this if you relied solely on the Mueller Report.

Here is how Mueller portrays Sater:

In approximately September 2015, Felix Sater, a New York based real estate advisor, contacted Michael Cohen, then-executive vice president of the Trump Organization and special counsel to Donald J. Trump. Sater had previously worked with the Trump Organization and advised it on a number of domestic and international projects. Sater had explored the possibility of a Trump Tower project in Moscow while working with the Trump Organization and therefore knew of the organization's general interest in completing a deal there.

This is fundamentally dishonest. Sater was more than a mere “real estate advisor” who had previously worked with Trump. He was and is a fully signed up FBI Confidential Human Source. Not my opinion. It is a fact.

LTC Alexander Vindman, an Army Borgist

(Dutch Harbor)

"When I joined the NSC in July 2018, I began implementing the administration’s policy on Ukraine. In the Spring of 2019, I became aware of outside influencers promoting a false narrative of Ukraine inconsistent with the consensus views of the interagency. This narrative was harmful to U.S. government policy.While my interagency colleagues and I were becoming increasingly optimistic on Ukraine’s prospects, this alternative narrative undermined U.S. government efforts to expand cooperation with Ukraine."  Vindman

------------

The US Army sends too many officers to graduate schools to study Political Science and International Relations.  These subjects are pseudo sciences based on the 19th Century yearnings of some European scholars for a paradigm change in human affairs that would relieve them of their minority status.   Sadly, these disciplines also create a mentality in officer students that gives inculcates them with the idea that they are members of a kind of fraternity that dominates or should dominate the American foreign policy establishment.  I call that establishment The Borg. 

The Army lent Vindman to the NSC staff, much as the marines lent Oliver North to the White House staff long ago.   In an NSC staff led by the arch neocon John Bolton he must have felt quite at home.  Last Summer he was given the task of listening (with several others) to Trump's conversation with Zelensky.  This is a routine precaution taken to avoid misunderstandings as to what is said.

Vindman says that the president holds views inconsistent "with the consensus views of the interagency." (the Borg)  LTC Vindman has evidently been seduced by the idea that the president of the US is obligated to accept the consensus of The Borg or to tell them the truth about his intentions as he directs US foreign policy.  Vindman is wrong about that.  He, and all the other Borgists are staff, not partners.

Vindman has evidently been returned to the Army.  As a serving Army officer he can only be ejected from the officer corps for legal cause.  IMO it is likely that the Army will be deeply offended by his rejection of his assigned role as a staff officer to the president and his preferred loyalty to The Borg and will find a comfortable place for him in a basement or on a distant island.  (not Hawaii)

I should say that there is nothing wrong with the Army sending officers for study of useful subject but poly sci/ IR are not among them.  pl

https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/read-the-document-opening-statement-of-lieutenant-colonel-alexander-s-vindman/2573a183-18ee-4036-9638-939677a1b9d6/

"Artists versus Bureaucrats" republished 28 October 2019

Download Artists Versus Bureaucrats...

re-publishing this because new people on SST do not seem to understand what has been written  before on the blog.  The process by which self serving politicals rise to the surface in the IC is approximately the same in all the parts of the Executive Branch.  I wrote this piece   pl

My Speech on the Deep State Plot by Larry C Johnson

I was fortunate to participate in a forum in August sponsored by the Ron Paul Institute. Here is my presentation on the attempted coup by US Law Enforcement and the Intelligence Community.

 

 

Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi Does Not Sleep with the Fishes by Larry C Johnson

What does a radical Islamic mother say to another radical Islamic mother? Children, they blow up so fast.

What a contrast with the raid that killed Bin Laden in May 2011. The Obama Administration came out with conflicting accounts and required the SEALS who carried out the attack to sign non-disclosure agreements. Why? Because the raid was conducted with the cooperation and knowledge of the Pakistani government; the SEALS faced no guard force; Bin Laden was a cripple unable to get out of bed and was shot so many times by the SEALs his body was dumped in the ocean.

Al Baghdadi? It is now clear he was protected by someone in Turkey. The Turks knew where he was and, until yesterday, kept him safe. Trump's actions over the last three weeks with respect to U.S. forces in Syria set the table for this operation. A combination of pressure and incentives confronted Turkey's President Erdogan and he rolled over.

It is telling that there was not a huge fire fight going in. Where was the Baghdadi security team? This is a further indicator that Baghdadi was betrayed by folks he thought were protecting him. Baghdadi fled his house and jumped into a tunnel.

Killing Baghdadi - TTG

The first indications that something unusual was going on in Idlib was a series of tweets from @WithinSyriaBlog late last night. I saw this before I saw Trump’s tweet of “Something very big has just happened!”

————

@WithinSyriaBlog

Breaking: Several attack helicopters coming from Turkey reportedly attacked several Jihadists' targets in southern Idlib.

2:41 PM - 26 Oct 2019
At first locals said that the helicopters were only flying, later several sources confirmed that they carried out attacks. Some said they responded to AA fire. However, this was also denied by locals.
Locals are saying that the helicopters are of the Turkish military. However, there is a good chance the alleged attack was carried out by US-led coalition helicopters.
Now locals are saying that the helicopters were chasing a convoy of cars, claiming at least two actually landed ... Sounds like a well-planned raid.

@WithinSyriaBlog

Summary of what is going on west the town of Barisha in northern Idlib, this thread will be updated:

2:58 PM - 26 Oct 2019
1- Eight helicopters came from the direction of Turkish border, began conducting strikes on targets west of the town of Barisha. Warplanes and UAVs are covering the helicopters.
2-Local sources denied that the helicopters carried out the strikes in response to AA fire. The attack was apparently planned, well planned.
3-At least two of the eight helicopters landed west of Barisha. However, it is unclear if a some special operation is being carried out there now.
4-Additional 4 helicopters joined the force around 15 min into the attack. At least 12 helicopters are now operating west of Barisha.
5-Local sources are talking about an operation to capture or kill a senior Jihadi figure. Unconfirmed reports says that at least one TIP militants has been killed, so far.

————

This morning President Trump addressed the nation and announced the killing of Abu Bakr al—Baghdadi by US Special Operations Forces. I’m sure most of us either watched this or heard of it by now. More details will surely come out over the next few days. Hopefully not a lot more. Here’s a few details that I find interesting.

1 - A Squadron, SFOD Delta was the primary assault force. A Delta squadron consists of two assault troops and one reconnaissance troop. This may sound like a lot but in my experience a special operations squadron often consists of less than fifty troops. The operation was probably supported by some number of Rangers. That’s a common method of operation. 

2 - Photos of 30mm HEDP shells from the raid area are now online. That indicates MH-60L helicopters from the 160th Special Operations Wing were providing support with their M230 chain guns.

3 - Time line for the operation was givens as one hour, ten minutes in, two hours on the ground and one hour, ten minutes out. They could have flown from Incirlik Air Force Base, but I think they flew from the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Battle Group in the Mediterranean. It would have been more secure and would account for more “nap-of-the-earth” flying time across the hills and mountains of Hatay Province.

4 - Barisha is located in Idlib Governorate north of Idlib and west of Aleppo very close to the the major crossing point into Turkey. What was Baghdadi doing there? Barisha is the headquarters of Huras Din. Huras Din was created last February, mainly from senior Non-Syrian members of Hayet Tahrir Sham, HTS (created from Al-Qaida in 2016). It was HTS that provided security for Turkey while setting up its twelve observation posts. This area is critical to both Turkey’s and the jihadi’s goal of retaining control of Idlib. Again, what was Baghdadi doing there?

5 - Vice President Pence said this morning that we had intelligence of Baghdadi’s location earlier last week and more a specific location only Saturday morning.   Did Turkey provide this information? I doubt it. Russia and the SAA have been running reconnaissance and spying missions throughout Idlib for quite a while. Between those missions and R+6 SIGINT, I think Russia provided critical information to USI in the lead up to this raid. The coordination between the US and Russia was probably a lot more that just informing them that we were coming in as Trump said in his address this morning.

This is a good day for America, a good day for President Trump and a good day for the R+6. I also think it's a bad day for the jihadis and Turkey. As I said, a lot more will come out in the coming days. Actually, a lot more is already out there. But this is enough for now. 

TTG  

HARPER: TRUTH ABOUT SYRIAN OIL

As is usually the case in theaters of combat, reality on the ground differs widely from the sharp and clear lines that are presented to uninformed outside observers.  Good case in point is the state of Syrian oil.  I am told by a well-informed source that the Syrian Democratic Forces led by the Kurds have been selling much of the oil in northeast Syrian territory they controlled until recently to the Syrian National Oil Company--the Assad government.

Some of that oil has also been sold to the Turks, who may be in turn shipping it by tanker truck to Iran and the Iranian are shipping it on to North Korea.

As we know, in the past, when ISIS controlled some of the Syrian oil, they were trucking it across the border to Turkey and selling it to Erdogan's minions at a steep discount.  the SDF has continued doing that.

Noteworthy that President Trump thanked Russia, the Syrian Government, Turkey and Iraq for their help in the tracking and killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.  Questions:  What was the nature of the help?  Who gave overflight permission for the U.S. teams sent in to kill or capture al-Baghdadi.  Likely answers to these questions will remain classified for some time.  But again, it's worthwhile as a thought exercise to think through the operational requirements and details of this successful mission.  Was there a link between the Turkish assistance or silence and the lifting of sanctions announced just prior to the al-Baghdadi mission?

 

A rule about comments and commenters

(Did the check come yet?)

Anyone who wishes to post bitter old folks style comments to the effect that American society and government are frauds should desist from writing comments.  I am not about that and am tired of the BS and will not allow them to be posted.  Guest authors take note.  PL

Exposing John Brennan's Secret CIA Trump Task Force? by Larry C Johnson

I was chatting last night with a retired CIA colleague, a person well connected to many folks still working at our former employer, and he dropped a bombshell--he had learned that John Brennan set up a Trump Task Force at CIA in early 2016. 

This is definitely something Prosecutor John Durham should explore. A "Task Force" normally is a short term creation comprised of operations officers (i.e., guys and gals who carry out espionage activities overseas) and intelligence analysts. The purpose of such a group is to ensure all relevant intelligence capabilities are brought to bear on the problem at hand.

While a "Task Force" can be a useful tool for tackling issues of terrorism or drug trafficking, it is not appropriate or lawful for collecting on a U.S. candidate for the Presidency. But Brennan did it, so I'm told, and it had the blessing of the Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper. 

The Task Force members were handpicked. The job was not posted. Instead, people were specifically invited to join up. Not everyone accepted the invitation, and that is now a problem for John Brennan. If those folks are talking to Durham's folks then Brennan's days are numbered.

Brennan reportedly took it upon himself to recruit foreign intelligence organizations, such as MI-6, the Aussies, the Italians and the Israelis, to help in spying on Trump and his campaign. He sold it as a "counter-intelligence" mission citing his fear that Trump was a Russian puppet. And these foreign services agreed to help. But they did more than passive collection. They helped create and implement covert actions, such as entrapping Michael Flynn as a foreign agent and cultivating and ensnaring George Papadopoulos.

Barr Changes the Dynamic, The Threat of Obstruction of Justice by Larry C Johnson

I do not believe in coincidence. I do not believe that it is a mere coincidence that these three events occurred late last night:

1. The investigation of the roots of the plot to destroy Donald Trump and his Presidency is now a criminal matter.

2. A letter from Inspector General Horowitz announcing that his report on the FISA fraud would be out shortly with no major redactions. 

3. The Government caved to Honey Badger Sidney Powell and allowed her to fully expose criminal conduct by Michael Flynn's prosecutors.

What is going on? Two words. Bill Barr. The Attorney General has pulled the trigger and altered the landscape in the Russiagate saga. Having been granted full authority by the President to declassify information, including intel from the CIA and the NSA, he has now acted in a powerful, but low key way.

The announcement that this is now a criminal investigation means that anyone, including FBI agents and CIA officers, who try to hold back information or hide information will be vulnerable to obstruction of justice charges. Criminal penalties attach.

UPDATE--Honey Badger Emasculating DOJ Case Against General Flynn by Larry C Johnson

The shoe dropped and the brief is now on line. WOW!! The honorable Sidney Powell, a fierce Honey Badger not afraid to fight cowardly Lions, has delivered. You can read her reply here (just posted).

Here is Honey Badger's conclusion:

In its relentless pursuit of Mr. Flynn, the government became the architect of an injustice so egregious it is “repugnant to the American criminal system.” Russell, 411 U.S. at 428 (citations omitted). For these reasons and those in our original Motion and Brief in Support, this Court should compel the government to produce the evidence the defense requests in its full, unredacted form. Given the clear and convincing evidence herein, this Court should issue an order to show cause why the prosecutors should not be held in contempt; and should dismiss the entire prosecution for outrageous government misconduct.

 

Another shoe dropped this week and it ain't looking good for the Mueller legacy. General Michael Flynn's lawyer, the Honey Badger Sidney Powell, filed on Wednesday (23 October) a formal request that Judge Sullivan order the publication of Flynn's Reply to the Government’s Opposition to the Motion to Compel. To briefly recap--Sidney Powell filed a motion (see my piece about Michael Flynn's motion to compel production of Brady material). The DOJ lawyers went nuts and behaved like a crazed Pee Wee Herman (see here) and insisted they did not need to produce anything.

The Government lawyers argument was simple and moronic--i.e., they said that because Flynn pled guilty to a charge where the Government knew he had not lied that he was still guilty. Stupid logic like this is, I believe, one of the reasons the average person hates lawyers.

Sidney Powell has prepared a response to the Government's rebuttal and agreed to edit out some portions that mentioned names or referred to specific classified info. But the Government lawyers are trying to stonewall her and prevent her response from going public. Here's what the Honey Badger wrote explaining the Government misconduct:

RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 24 OCTOBER 2019 by Patrick Armstrong

SYRIA. A master class on patient, intelligent diplomacy engaging all players combined with the judicial application of force, supported by the bravery and skill of its military culminating in the recent screenplay in seven acts. 1 Ankara says it will invade; 2 Washington pulls out (helped along with stones, jeers and vegetables, note the contrast with the Russian reception); 3 Kurds instantly do a deal with Damascus; 4 Syrian army and Russian MPs immediately move; 5 Trump sends some minions to "negotiate" a "ceasefire"; 6 Putin and Erdoğan wrap it up; 7 Ankara says no need for more fighting. Trump announces. Everybody wins except the war party. I have two questions: how involved was Trump in writing the script? (certainly he outwitted the war party) and did any Turkish troops actually cross the border? (don't see why they needed to). Next stop Idlib. (Russian MP video – Syria owes these men (and women) a lot – usually the first into no man's land.) I can't resist saying that consumers of the Western corporate media would have been dumbfounded by every act of the play – still are; NATO and the US Senate ditto. The Four A’s of American Policy Failure in Syria. Saker's analysis.

DELAMINATION. Did US Secretary of State Pompeo just threaten military action against a NATO ally? Where would that leave the famous Article 5? Anyway, we have the latest failure of the neocons' PNAC – stones and jeers, bomb your own base because you left so fast, Iraq refuses to take you.

FAKE NEWS. ABC shows Turks slaughtering Kurds – actually a mad minute at a US gun range. But, whatever, an honest mistake that anyone could make.

DIPLOMACY. "But Russia will never be friends with one country against another" and that is why Moscow can put together solutions in places like Syria; people who think it should take sides will be disappointed. It's a cold-blooded, realistic but effective point of view and Putin has been saying it for years. Moralistic foreign policy is a bust – especially hypocritical moralism. (Putin & Co remember that Moscow used to be "exceptionalist" and have learned from its failure.)

TERRORISM. The FSB Director says law enforcement agencies prevented 39 terrorist attacks and eliminated 49 terrorist cells so far this year; some with US help.

HOLIDAYS. The two most popular air routes are Moscow to Simferopol and Moscow to Sochi. Apart from showing that Russians like sun and sea and are finding them at home, I make two observations. Crimea is, as it used to do, attracting lots of tourists and Sochi was not $15 billion squandered on a once-off Olympics; it was an investment in a sports and tourist destination. Both are paying off.

AIRLINERS. In another blow to the staggering Boeing enterprise, Aeroflot has cancelled its order for 22 Dreamliners. Martynov suggests that this may in fact be another case of import substitution: the MC-21 covers the medium ranges and a new Il-96 (arguably the safest passenger plane in the world) is in the works for long range. So, make them at home, use them at home and sell them to China and the other victims of the "Rules-Based International Order". Boeing and Airbus can have their little markets.

AURUS the Russian luxury car brand and supplier of the Putinmobile, says it has 600 private pre-orders already. I'm not surprised – I can see Russian plutocrats, who would otherwise buy a luxury Merc, wanting to show their patriotism (or suck up to The Boss) by buying Russian.

TRAIN CARS. Fans of long-range Russian trains can see the new sleeper cars.

ISOLATED. Remember when Putin and Russia were isolated? In the last two weeks, visits to Saudi Arabia and UAE, meeting Erdoğan, calls to Assad, Macron and Merkel. Now a Russia-Africa meeting.

COUP ATTEMPT. Larry Johnson sums up the moving parts of the conspiracy against Trump.

AMERICA-HYSTERICA. A retired admiral appears to call for a coup and Tulsi is a Russian asset. Taibbi sums it up "Everyone Is a Russian Asset".

NUGGETS FROM THE STUPIDITY MINE. At least it was a warship and not a cruise ship. (The comments add another coating of stupidity.)

UKRAINE. Chairman of the National Corps Andrei Biletsky gave President Zelensky until Friday to drop all Minsk obligations. The guns have spoken, all Zelensky has is the support of the population; now what happens? There's a theory (but how can he pull it off? – the guns will go nuts) that he "renounces" the contested territories – the so-called Cyprus scenario. Meanwhile some congressmen have called on the US State Department to declare Azov to be international terrorists.

SANCTIONS. Another failure: Huawei VP says sanctions pushed it to self-reliance.

© Patrick Armstrong Analysis, Canada Russia Observer

"Joltin'" Jack Keane wants your kids to fight Russia and Syria over Syrian oil.

"Joltin" Jack Keane, General (ret.), Fox Business Senior Strategery Analyst,  Chairman of the Board of the Kagan run neocon "Institute for the Study of War" (ISW)  and Graduate Extraordinaire of Fordham University, was on with Lou Dobbs last night.  Dobbs appears to have developed a deep suspicion of this paladin.  He stood up to Keane remarkably well.  This was refreshing in light of the fawning deference paid to Keane by all the rest of the Fox crew.

In the course of this dialogue Keane let slip the slightly disguised truth that he and the other warmongers want to keep something like 200 US soldiers and airmen in Syria east of the Euphrates so that they can keep Iran or any other "Iranian proxy forces" from crossing the Euphrates from SAG controlled territory to take control of Syrian sovereign territory and the oil and gas deposits that are rightly the property  of the Syrian people and their government owned oil company.  The map above shows how many of these resources are east of the Euphrates.  Pilgrims!  It is not a lot of oil and gas judged by global needs and markets, but to Syria and its prospects for reconstruction it is a hell of a lot! 

Keane was clear that what he means by "Iranian proxy forces" is the Syrian Arab Army, the national army of that country.  If they dare cross the river, to rest in the shade of their own palm trees, then in his opinion the air forces of FUKUS should attack them and any 3rd party air forces (Russia) who support them

This morning, on said Fox Business News with Charles Payne, Keane was even clearer and stated specifically that if "Syria" tries to cross the river they must be fought.

IMO he and Lindsey Graham are raving lunatics brainwashed for years with the Iran obsession and they are a danger to us all.  pl

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/graham-fox-news-star-showed-trump-map-change-his-mind-n1069901

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry_in_Syria

The new reality in Rojava - TTG

Rojava is dead. Long live the Syrian Arab Republic. The new Russia-Turkish agreement goes a long way in reestablishing Syria’s territorial integrity and foiling Erdogan’s dream of a new Ottoman Empire. It also provides the Rojava Kurds their best hope for a future whether they realize it or not. First, here’s the agreement.

————

President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President of The Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin agreed on the following points:

1. The two sides reiterate their commitment to the preservation of the political unity and territorial integrity of Syria and the protection of national security of Turkey.

2. They emphasize their determination to combat terrorism in all forms and manifestations and to disrupt separatist agendas in the Syrian territory.

3. In this framework, the established status quo in the current Operation Peace Spring area covering Tel Abyad and Ras Al Ayn with a depth of 32 km will be preserved.

4. Both sides reaffirm the importance of the Adana Agreement. The Russian Federation will facilitate the implementation of the Adana Agreement in the current circumstances.

5. Starting 12.00 noon of October 23, 2019, Russian military police and Syrian border guards will enter the Syrian side of the Turkish-Syrian border, outside the area of Operation Peace Spring, to facilitate the removal of YPG elements and their weapons to the depth of 30 km from the Turkish-Syrian border, which should be finalized in 150 hours. At that moment, joint Russian-Turkish patrols will start in the west and the east of the area of Operation Peace Spring with a depth of 10 km, except Qamishli city.

6. All YPG elements and their weapons will be removed from Manbij and Tal Rifat.

7. Both sides will take necessary measures to prevent infiltrations of terrorist elements.

8. Joint efforts will be launched to facilitate the return of refugees in a safe and voluntary manner.

9. A joint monitoring and verification mechanism will be established to oversee and coordinate the implementation of this memorandum.

10. The two sides will continue to work to find a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict within Astana Mechanism and will support the activity of the Constitutional Committee.

————

Why do I think this is such a good deal for Syria and the Rojava Kurds? The key is in the first two points of the agreement. The current northern border is preserved. That is a huge win for Damascus. Turkey will be sending a substantial number of Syrian refugees back south of the border to areas not now populated by Kurds. This is a major plus for Erdogan. He can claim this as a victory and save face. Both sides agree to fight terrorists. Turkey won’t fight the jihadis, but the Russians in the joint patrols sure will. And the SAA won’t let them sleep either. The jihadis will not be able to prey on the Kurds living near the border. 

The YPG/SDF will be away from the border which also can be claimed as a Turkish victory. However, remember that the SAA-SDF agreement of last week calls for incorporating the YPG/SDF into the SAA 5th Assault Corps. Armed Kurds will still be among the Kurds looking out for Kurdish interests under the auspices of the SAA. That’s where the Kurds win. The SAA and Russian patrols will be be no kinder to jihadis in Rojava than they are to the Idlib jihadis.

Speaking of Idlib, it appears the offensive to reduce that jihadi salient is about to kick off. SAA units are massed in northern Latakia where Syrian and Russian air assets have been pounding the living crap out of the jihadis. President Assad visited his front line troops today. I would say things are about to get real in northern Latakia and Idlib.

TTG

https://southfront.org/syrian-army-and-russian-military-police-to-deploy-on-border-putin-and-erdogan-reach-agreement-on-northeastern-syria/

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/new-map-of-northern-syria-after-agreement-on-turkish-border-region/

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-armys-idlib-offensive-to-begin-at-any-moment/

US foreign policy is now based on "virtual facts."

(Munchausen)

Mika B remarked a couple of years ago on the show that she and her sex slave stage in the early morning that the social media were out of control because it is the job of the MSM to tell people what to think.  The Hillary stated recently that life was better when there were only three TeeVee news outlets because it was easier to keep things under control.  Now?  My God! Any damned fool can propagate unauthorized "facts." What?  Who?

Well, pilgrims, the US government (along with our British and Israeli helpmates and masters) are the preeminent creators and purveyors  of the manufactured virtual facts on which we base our policy.  These "facts" are "ginned up" in the well moneyed hidden staff groups of "hidden" candidates that are devoted to the seizure of power made possible by a deluded electorate.  These "facts" are then propagated and reinforced through relentless IO campaigns run by executive "bots" in the MSM and in such remarkable and imaginative efforts as the "White Helmets" film company manned by jihadis and managed by clubby Brits left over from the Days of The Raj (sob).  These "facts" are now so entrenched in the general mind that they can be used to denounce people like Rep. (major ) Gabbard as traitors because they challenge them.

Some of the "virtual facts:"

• The Soviet Union never ended.  Russia is still communist and an inevitable and indeed indispensable enemy of the US.  Anyone who challenges that certitude is an obvious agent of the Russian government.
• Iran is the "greatest supporter of terrorism" in the world."   Iran is so designated by the State Department on the annual list of terrorism supporting states which asserts this to be true on the basis of Iranian support of Lebanese Hizbullah and Palestinian Hamas, calling them "terrorist" groups rather than anti -Israeli nationalist resistance organizations.  This Zionist inspired propaganda is spread far and wide by neocon "useful idiots" like Maria Bartiromo and Jesse Watters.
• The Syrian Arab Government is an abomination on the scale of Nazi Germany and must be destroyed and replaced by God knows what ...  "They gassed their own people!"  Bullshit!  There is no objective evidence for that.  There are nothing but propaganda statements by the FUKUS governments unsupported by any real evidence.  The MI-6 funded (with USAID money) Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (located in a basement in England) as well as the White Helmets murder/propaganda operation states that the SAG is guilty as charged but independent investigation says that assertions of SAG guilt are untrue.
• Saudi Arabia is a deeply friendly state and ally of the US.  How mad an idea is this!  This theocratic, absolute monarchy is a friend of the US?  How insane an idea!  Trump has a balance sheet where a soul should be and that is the basis for the belief that MBS and/or his "country" are our friends.  pl

 

FBI/DOJ Likely to Throw the CIA and Clapper Under the Bus by Larry C Johnson

Law Enforcement versus the Intel Community. That's the battle we will likely see unleashed when the Horowitz report comes out next week. The New York Times came out Saturday with info clearly leaked from DOJ that can be summarized simply--the FBI was relying on the intel community (products from the CIA and NSA) under the leadership of Jim Clapper. If they relied on bad, unverified information it ain't their fault. They trusted the spies.

Let us start with a reminder of how damn corrupt the NY Times and its reporters are. Consider this paragraph penned by Adam Goldman and William Rashbaum:

Closely overseen by Mr. Barr, Mr. Durham and his investigators have sought help from governments in countries that figure into right-wing attacks and unfounded conspiracy theories about the Russia investigation, stirring criticism that they are trying to deliver Mr. Trump a political victory rather than conducting an independent review.

"Unfounded conspiracy theories?" What a damn joke. The facts of a conspiracy to take out Donald Trump or cripple him are very clear. Robert Mueller and Jim Comey lied when they claimed that Joseph Mifsud, who tried to entrap George Papdopoulus in London, was a Russian agent. Nope. He worked for western intelligence. Unless Comey and DOJ have a document or documents from the CIA or NSA stating that Mifsud worked for the Russians, they have no where to hide. Plus, prosecutor John Durham now has Mifsud's blackberries. What do you think is the likelihood that Mifsud was in communication with FBI or CIA or MI6 personnel? Very likely.

Bubbles. ... by Fred

Bubbles. So many bubbles. No houses though. That market went full sub-prime so long ago that even the Kurds didn't have a war, or did they? I plum forgot. Too many bubbles. Somebody ought to pop a few. Popping bubbles in fun. Don't you remember doing that as a kid?

Just don't inhale. Trust me, I'm a guy with a nom de plume writing a blog post on the internet.  So don't inhale; this is what happens when you inhale:

A State Department map helps to locate recent areas of conflict in Syria

By Robert Willmann

To help visualize where recent events regarding the ongoing conflict in Syria are happening, here is a map from the State Department showing some of the provinces and towns in northern Syria where its border with Turkey is.  The map, which can be downloaded, also shows some border crossings according to the map legend, although not all of them have been given a name.

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/syria_snapshot_2018oct01_hiu.pdf

The map is from the Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU), which is part of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research  [1]. 

Going from west to east in northern Syria, the provinces (or governates) that are shown are Latakia, Idlib, Aleppo, Ar Raqqah, and Al Hasakah. 

Towns that have been mentioned include Ra's al ‘Ayn in the Al Hasakah province in northeastern Syria.  Kobane ('Ayn al Arab) is more in the center on the border with Turkey.  Tal Abyad would be further to the east in the Ar Raqqah province.  Latakia is in the far northwest by the Mediterranean Sea. You can also see the Euphrates River running from the north central part of Syria to the southeast.

These areas and towns were referenced yesterday in the article by TTG.

The map is called a "Regional Displacement Snapshot" as of the end of September 2018, regarding refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).  It also shows some refugee camps.

 

[1] https://www.state.gov/key-topics-bureau-of-intelligence-and-research/

https://www.hiu.state.gov/products/

 

Brief Update on the Border Situation - TTG

Much has been made of the 120 hour truce supposedly negotiated by Pence and Erdogan. The “negotiation” called for the SDF to pull all its force back from the border. As I told Elaine earlier today, whatever Pence and Erdogan agreed to has no effect on the YPG, the SAA or the Russians. For that matter, it has little effect on the jihadis, either. The SAA has taken over the Kobani border post and have started to move heavy weapons into the area. The dog and pony show in Ankara means nothing… except for possibly assuaging Trump’s ego over his recent goat roping with Erdogan. I believe the true target of this ceasefire announcement is the US Congress which is about to impose sanctions on Turkey.

The SAA deployment to the border is continuing. At the same time, Russian and Syrian strikes on jihadi position in Latakia are intensifying in preparation for resuming the offensive on that front. In the meantime, the jihadis are bound to make some more temporary advances east of the Euphrates. All in good time, my friends, all in good time.  

————

BEIRUT, LEBANON (9:00 A.M.) – The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have once again fended off a powerful attack by the Turkish-backed militants at the key border city of Ras Al-‘Ayn in northwestern Al-Hasakah. Backed by heavy airstrikes from the Turkish Air Force, the so-called “Syrian National Army” attempted to advance from the western districts of Ras Al-‘Ayn towards the city-center; however, they were unable to crack the SDF’s lines. According to a report from northern Al-Hasakah, the Syrian Democratic Forces were able to foil the militant advance, while also inflicting heavy casualties within the ranks of the Turkish-backed militants.

While the Turkish-backed militants were able to advance at Tal Abyad in Al-Raqqa, their offensive at Ras Al-‘Ayn has been plagued with heavy losses in personnel and very litle progress inside the city.

Since establishing their military cooperation agreement with the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in northern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces have been able to free up several units and redeploy them to the Ras Al-‘Ayn front. This has been incredibly important for the SDF, as they have been able to reinforce their front-lines at Ras Al-‘Ayn and its surroundings. (Al Masdar News)

TTG

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/sdf-kills-several-militants-to-defeat-another-turkish-backed-attack-on-border-city/

Open Thread - TTG

We’re not lacking for news, but I figured an open thread would provide a good respite while El Jefe mends. My younger son is an unbelievable coder. He’s also a metal head who often plays poker with a Richmond-based metal band. Sunday, he introduced me to a metal band that truly moved me.The Hu is a Mongolian heavy metal band using traditional Mongolian musical instruments and throat singing in their art. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM8dCGIm6yc

Off the net

I  had eye surgery today "corneal debridement" and will not be doing much on SST for a few days.  pl

SAA/SDF progress

A brief overview of the recent developments in Syria:

• The US Defense Secretary announced that US troops will remain in the al-Tanf area and ‘elsewhere’, but not in northern Syria;
• Syrian Arab Army (SAA) units continues entering into the SDF-controlled area;
• Pro-Turkish forces continue developing Operation Peace Spring. They captured Iqsas, Ayn Arous, Badee’ and Jasim al-Ali, Darbasiyah and several other points;
• Clashes in Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn are ongoing.

---------------

If the map is indicative of something more than a fantasy on the part of the SF editorial staff, then the criticism raised yesterday by one of our commenters is answered,  i.e. the SAA and SD allies will drive east from the Kobani area into the flank of the invading Turkish Army and Turkish allied jihadi advance into Syria.  At the same time the long isolated SAA garrison at Hasakah is represented as breaking out to Qamishli and Ras al-Ayn on the Turkish border.  If all these movements are projected correctly then combat between the Turk invasion and the SAA/SDF seems probable.  pl

-------------

The Passion of the Neocons over Trump's resolute intention to withdraw US forces from Syria is amusing.  They and their Zionist pals have so successfully propagandized the American Borg (foreign policy establishment) and the media that they are completely taken aback by what was really a delayed delivery by Trump on a 2016 election campaign pledge.  The policy/IO that the Borg/DoD have been following is to fulfill Israel's policy by partitioning Syria into a rump state west of the Euphrates and a US dominated satellite state east of the Euphrates.  This state supported by what for a small country are significant petroleum resources.  The ultimate goal would be to destroy the present Syrian government.  It is to be expected that there will be continued resistance to Trump's decision.  It will be particularly interesting to see if Esper, the new SECDEF continues to advocate having US troops remain Al-Tanf on Syria's southern border.  This presence is a key element of Borgist/DoD policy in Syria because it blocks the most direct land road between Damascus and Baghdad and thence on to Iran.  A successful Syrian/SDF alliance will inevitably mean an end to the US policy of regime change in Syria.  pl

https://southfront.org/map-update-movement-of-syrian-army-within-sdf-held-area/

 

Jubilation! - TTG

Damascus is on her way in achieving her ultimate goal of regaining control over all her territory and achieving peace thanks to VV Putin and the welcome and necessary assistance of DJ Trump. There’s no other way to put it. Elijah Magnier has summarized the current situation in a series of tweets this afternoon. If his summary is accurate, it is indeed good news. 

————

The Syrian Army is in Manbij now. Another Syrian Army force heading towards the Turkish advance supported by Syrian Kurds. 

It only needed the announcement of the US withdrawal to put the end of the war in Syria on a fast track in no time.

Kurds agreed on all requested points by Damascus and Russia is the guarantor. Kurds have become part of the Syrian security allied forces. The Syrian Army agreed to take in hand all ISIS prisoners, families and those on the run. Europe will have to deal with Damascus now. 

Breaking news: Syrian Army forces prepared to take control of Ayn al-Arab this evening.

FYI: SAA maintains forces in Qamishli along with some allies.

This situation - the withdrawal of US forces and its behaviour with Kurds after years of battles on the ground - will tremendously help Russia in confirming its credibility and commitment toward its allies and truthful partnership as a substitute to the untrustworthy US.

Important:  The advance of the Syrian Army doesn't mean a clash with the Turkish forces. Russia is reaching a comprehensive agreement with Turkey and Damascus to halt the military operation as soon as possible.

The main target is reached: the US forces out of Syria. Turkey feared a well-armed and powerful YPG, the PKK Syrian branch, previously supplied/protected by the US. Now that the US is pulling out, Damascus shall not allow any attack or threat against Turkey and won't accept an independent Rojava. Adana agreement is back on track

————

The SAA has just moved into Tabqa airbase.  “The Self-Administration of Northeast release[d] a statement that they call on Syrian army to protect the country's borders and preserve Syrian sovereignty & support SDF to repel Turkish aggression and liberate areas occupied by "Turkish army and its hired mercenaries" (from Wladimir Wilgenburg). My guess, though, is that the SDF will very soon cease to exist. Those forces will be integrated directly into the SAA or become NDF auxiliaries. The Kurds will not get their semi-autonomous Rojava, but they will be alive, living in their ancestral lands and under Damascus’ governance.

Neocons throughout the world will wail in the darkness and gnash their teeth. They will still blame Trump for “losing Syria.” But take it from me, someone who has absolutely no respect for the man, Trump done good. His willingness to work with Putin is making Syria a better place. Putin could not have orchestrated this without Trump’s willingness (or boldness) to buck the entire USG.  Good on him for this one, even if he may not have been aware of exactly what he did. He can chalk this up as a victory for the American people.

Even with this momentous turn of events, the SAA and Russia are not forgetting Idlib. Today a flight of eight Syrian attack helicopters tore the jihadis a new one outside Kabani. Russian Aerospace Forces also hit the area. This is in preparation for a renewed push in Latakia.

The photo at the top of this post is labeled Celebrations in Qamishli and Hasaka. People celebrating the "start of the deployment of the Syrian army to confront Turkish aggression". I think we should celebrate as well. I’m sure we’ll hear a lot more tomorrow.

TTG

Kurds and SAG reach agreement to fight Turks

• The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reportedly reached an agreement with Damascus on the situation in northern Syria;
• The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) started entering the SDF-held area around Manbij. SAA units will reportedly enter Kabani and move further;
• Turkey-led forces develop their advance despite the SDF-Damascus agreement.  SF

--------------

It seems that part of the "art of the deal" is to place people in a position where not making a deal bears unacceptable consequences.  As one of us wrote, the Borg (foreign policy establishment) and Lindsey Graham must be tearing their hair out and rending their garments.

I leave it to TTG to comment in detail.  pl

https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-northern-syria-after-sdf-damascus-deal-map-update/

Saturday thoughts 12 October 2019

China Trade:  We are calling it Phase One and the Chinese media are calling it a pause in the trade war.  Both of those work for me.  We will see if the 2nd phase yields fruit like, a halt to enforced technology transfer in joint ventures, but the present deal has a couple of important things in it.  1. The 40 billion dollar commitment to agricultural purchases in the US will bolster Trump's political support in flyover country and the red parts of blue states.  2.   After 1 January, 2020 there will not be a requirement for US companies setting up subsidiaries in China to have a Chinese partner who holds 51% of the stock in the company.  I used to work for a company that had  parts of the group in a variety of Persian Gulf states.  In all these we were required to have 51% local ownership (mostly princes) and it was a royal pain in the ass as these fellows sometimes wanted to interfere in the business.  They were no more knowledgeable of the business than was Biden fils in his business adventures.  Not to have that problem would be a great blessing.

Trials in the US Senate  We should remember that quite a lot of people have been tried in the senate after impeachment in the House of Representatives.  Judges, etc. are subject to this process from time to time.  Conviction requires 66% of those senators present.  Presumably, senators will be dragged or carried in to make this vote if necessary.  The Chief Justice of SCOTUS presides at the trial.  Four Democratic senators are running for president in primaries for the purpose of opposing Trump in the general election.  As an interested citizen, I think that the majority (McConnell) could appeal to SCOTUS for a ruling as to whether or not these four senators are so compromised by their stated desire for the ejection of the president from office that they are disqualified from voting on the issue of his removal from office.  We are on new ground in this matter and my opinion is probably as good as anyone's.  If Trump were somehow convicted in the senate, he would immediately be removed from office.  There is no appeal possible.  A second vote would then be possible but not required as to whether or not Trump should be forever barred from holding any federal government office.  Conviction on that issue would require a simple majority of those senators present.  Is that important?  Yes.  If he were not barred from office, he could be nominated at the Republican Convention and run for president in 2020. 

California Burning  In addition to its transformation into a refuge for illegal immigrants and a camp ground for free defecating vagrants camped on its city streets, California is once again burning in its wooded and brushy parts.  Perennial drought brings this on in a largely semi-desert part of the US, BUT, pilgrims, there has also been the effect of decades of effective eco-freak opposition to cutting combustibles back from power line right of ways in order to protect Bambi's habitat.  So, when Governor Gavin Newsom says that the electric company (PG&E) CAUSED this through greed and negligence, I call that trash talk.

Shephard Smith got fired  So what!  This guy has been an unrelenting opponent of Trump forever.  The Left has a stranglehold on what is laughably called the Main Stream Media;  CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, The Washington Post, NY Times, etc., ad nauseam.  In that context the existence of Fox News as a standard bearer for conservative, i.e., Deplorable values does not seem excessive to me.   There are a few more liberal/lefties who are tolerated in Fox News/Fox Business News to provide opposing views for contemplation.  Chris Wallace, Juan Williams, Arthel Neville are all names that come to mind as the resident "resistance."  Do these people go over the line into unproductive argument?  Maybe so.  pl

 

Turn and face the strange* - TTG

*from David Bowie’s “Changes”

Keith Harbaugh recently posed the following question as a comment to my old post where, a few months ago, I confessed to being a latent SJW.

TTG, since you are 

a) a native New Englander, 

b) a Catholic, and 

c) have said in the past, I believe, words to the effect "I see no problem with immigration as long as it does not exceed the capacity of America to assimilate the incoming migrants", I invite you, if you are reading this comment made three months after your post above, to read and if you care to comment on, two articles discussing efforts, and results, of something called "Catholic Charities" (whose mission statement seems to epitomize the POV of the SJW) to increase the flow of immigrants to Portland, Maine:

"Such a Disgrace: How Ethan Strimling Betrayed the People of Portland", and

"The Way Life Should Be? Vol. I: From Parts Unknown to Streets Paved with Gold".

In particular, do you think the authors of these articles have a point in the concerns they express? Or are they expressing concerns that deserve no respect, in your view? Or perhaps some intermediate position. BTW, I sympathize with the concerns expressed. But as the saying goes "Your mileage may vary".

————

Kieth also posed another cogent question. “The issue, IMO, is: Should that culture be preserved or replaced (in the name of "progress", of course)?”

Well Keith, since you took the time to ask, I’ll take the time to answer. In general, I can find articles expressing support for the rapid influx of immigrants to Portland as easily as finding article expressing alarm such as the two you noted. The two you found do express valid concerns about real challenges. The influx of so many immigrants so fast is taxing social services in Portland and across Maine. Portland’s elected leaders acknowledge this cost and are addressing it. If the people of Portland disagree, they will vote in new leadership. A lot of Portland residents themselves stepped up to help as do private groups like Catholic Charities. Catholic Charities USA is a national network which does SJW work across the country. It helps poor and needy long term local residents as well as recent immigrants.

Another factor is that Portland is not a quaint New England seaside town. Most Mainiacs don’t even consider Portland to be a Maine city anymore, almost an extension of Boston. It is a liberal city, a historically liberal city. The non-immigrant professionals who moved into Portland made it even more liberal. It is also these professional newcomers who are raising the rent in Portland, not the immigrants from Africa.   

So, does Portland gain anything by taking in all these immigrants? Without these overwhelmingly young immigrants, the population of Portland and all Maine would be on the road to extinction. They are aging out. The money spent educating and supporting these new arrivals is an investment in the future of Maine. These immigrant families are initially content with a far lower standard of living as they take their place in the existing society. That’s how immigrants have always moved into our society. Of course they do change that society in the process of integrating into the society. And that’s the crux of the controversy.

New England has changed dramatically over its long history, but there is a continuity. The Puritans of the 17th century slowly gave way to the abrasive and insular New England Yankee. Although a caricature, the Yankees of the “Bert and I” stories did exist and, in rare corners of Maine, still do. Portland is not one of those corners. Today’s New Englanders are as different from those Down East Yankees as the Yankees are from their ancestral Puritan forefathers. Time and immigrants do that to a society. Both sides change and the way things were are no more.   

I saw that in my Connecticut hometown. The old community of rural Congregationalists more than doubled in size with the influx of Catholic immigrants from eastern and southern Europe. Those immigrants largely worked in the mills in nearby Waterbury. The character and culture of my town changed forever. One factor that eased the cultural transition was what I saw as an outsized effort to educate the newcomers (my family included) as citizens of Prospect, Connecticut. In our grammar school, we were infused with countless lessons in history, literature and citizenship. The Saint Anthony’s RC Church and the Prospect Congregational Church played an important part in this education. Tolerance, mutual courtesy and the imperative duties of citizens and Christians were common lessons from the pulpits. Through those efforts, Prospect became something new rather than a hilltop littered with abandoned houses, barns and fields. We newcomers were not totally assimilated, nor did the older residents remain unchanged. Since the attitude and actions of the people of Portland seem to mirror the attitude and actions of the original population of my hometown, I think Portland will enjoy (or suffer) a similar future. 

There are a lot of communities in the US that are in much worse condition than Portland ever was. The native people are aging out and what kids there are are moving out. They are becoming ghost towns. Refugees and immigrants might be a shot in the arm to those towns, but only if those townspeople are open to give it a try and SJWs like Catholic Charities USA pitch in. I guarantee a lot of the old timers will grouse about the newcomers and their strange ways. They will long for the old days. I guarantee there will be troublemakers among the kids. There always are. But as both sides change willingly or unwittingly, those dying towns may metamorphize into something new. 

OTOH, there is a chance that an influx of immigrants could be so large that the older population is simply driven to extinction. I see no reason to hasten that kind of outcome.

TTG

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2019/07/confessions-of-a-latent-sjw-ttg.html#comment-6a00d8341c72e153ef0240a4dd79c8200b  

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/23/us/portland-maine-african-migrants.html

Ambassadors- Marie Yovanovitch

 Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president.  If Trump pressed State to dismiss the woman ambassador to the Ukraine, he was merely being polite. 

RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 10 OCTOBER 2019 by Patrick Armstrong

HEALTH. Paul Robinson reads junk so that I don't have to: a book by some academic explaining why so many Russians (wrongly – of course!) support the horrible Putin. Well, only a tenured intullekchul couldn't figure it out. (I can never forget Orwell's "There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.") Here's two (more) reasons why so many Russian have liked and trusted Putin & Co for so long. An excellent report from Awara on Russian longevity. "In 2000, the difference in life expectancy between the two countries [USA and Russia] was 11.1 years or 14.5% in favor of the US. But by 2019, the difference had shrunk to only 4.8 years or 6.1% ". As it were, 20 years of Putin & Co cost his voters only 12! Suicides, homicides and infant mortality are also way down: a third or less of what they were in 2000. Boozing has dramatically decreased – a WHO report says down by 43%. Excessive drinking – especially binge drinking – was a weighty contributor to low life expectancies, suicide, homicide and infant mortality. The health system is improving hugely and Russians no longer have to drink their way through the Time of Stagnation and the misery and hopelessness of the 1990s. Many causes, certainly, but no one (except silly intullekchuls) could deny Putin and his team a lot of the credit. If you were a Russian, you'd support them too (well, maybe not if there's enough American money – Navalniy's operation just declared a foreign agent, BTW.) Putin and his team are doing what people hire governments to do. (I leave the reader to contemplate his own government's achievements. Russia's curves are all going up; ours are all going down. What will we see in another 20 years? And that's not even mentioning China. For the West it looks bad. We want to start hoping that they – and Iran – are magnanimous in victory.)

NEW NWO. In August Rosneft said it would be moving to Euros to denominate its contracts, it has now done so. Ankara has signed on to the Russia replacement for SWIFT.

VISAS. Quick internet visas for St Petersburg are now being issued; the plan is that this will spread to the rest of Russia next year. Apparently the happy experience with the World Cup was the inspiration. The government is pushing tourism and I would expect it to grow significantly. Russian "soft power" is pretty inept but maybe they're starting to figure it out: the experience of most visitors is that Russia "shows well". For those of us in the "Five Eyes" the tiresome old procedure will remain.

SANCTIONS. US foreign policy today seems to be threats, bombs and sanctions. A GAO report declines to judge whether sanctions (20 countries!) are effective. (Are the other two effective?).

REMEMBER when they used to say once KGB always KGB? Does that also apply to former members of organs of state security who are now all over US TV as "independent experts"?

THE EMPTINESS OF FORMER FLAPS I. Years ago the anti-Russia mob were telling us that Moscow was doing something nefarious about Caspian Sea boundaries. I predicted the ultimate answer would be Baku's and so, grosso modo, it has proved to be. The seabed is divided by the five. Putin just ratified it.

THE EMPTINESS OF FORMER FLAPS II. Remember the Russian submarine in Sweden in 2014? Well, not Russian: a "Swedish object"? It was pushed to boost defence spending. You'll be glad to know Swedish state TV launched a campaign against fake news spread, apparently, only by Trumputin.

PROTESTS. Still believe they're real? Read this.

AMERICA-HYSTERICA. Pelosi sees Russia's "hand" in the Ukraine business and the NYT discovers a top secret scary Russia unit that's bungled everything it tries to do. (Extremely unsecret, in fact.)

UKRAINE. After his disappointing meeting with Trump ("I really hope that you and President Putin get together"), Zelensky went home and signed on to the "Steinmeier Formula". Which is really just a way of getting Kiev to do what it is already supposed to do in the Minsk agreements. Protests began immediately. Zelensky is in a difficult position: the plutocrats – who have the money – like to keep Ukraine lawless so they can steal more; the nazis – who have the guns – ditto; Trump doesn't care and Europe is sick and tired of the mess. I reiterate that, at the end, I expect Ukraine to be much smaller.

WHERE DID IT GO? According to the head of Ukraine's Central Bank, there is almost no gold left.

MH17. This could become interesting: Netherlands MPs demand investigation into Ukraine's role. Do you think Zelensky might be tempted to blame his predecessors for that and the Maidan shooting?

SYRIA. US withdrawal? Or just rearrangement? Ankara's actions and intentions? Where's Russia in all this? The US war party is melting down. The Kurds will probably have to to make a deal with Damascus.

© Patrick Armstrong Analysis, Canada Russia Observer

Empty Desks at the NSC by Larry C Johnson

Looks like President Trump finally realizes that he is working in a snake pit. When he took office on January 20, 2017, he left an enormous cadre of Obama/Hillary sycophants in place. He could have (and should have) moved them out and reassigned them to the bureaucratic equivalent of Siberia. But he did not. Take the case of Tina Kaidanow, who headed up the Bureau of Counter Terrorism when Trump took over. Rather than asking for her resignation she was put in as the number two person in the Bureau of Political Military Affairs. 

In September 2018 Kaidanow got another promotion:

Ambassador Tina Kaidanow, a longtime State Department official and a key player in recent reforms to America’s arms sales process, is heading to the Pentagon.

Kaidanow will be crossing the river and entering the Pentagon as the next director of international cooperation, an office under the department’s reconstituted Acquisition and Sustainment office.

Tina Kaidanow

Tina is emblematic of the Deep State. I would not be surprised if her name surfaces in the Ukraine matter. She will do everything in her power, in my opinion, to sandbag Donald Trump.

Under President Obama the number of CIA officers "detailed" for temporary duty at the National Security Council swelled to around 200. That makes for an enormous number of bodies walking the halls of the Old Executive Office Building. When Donald Trump was inaugurated the CIA boosted the number to closer to 300. Gone are the old days when CIA officers eschewed partisan politics and focused on serving the elected President. The current crew is heavily politicized and most have an anti-Trump bias.

Heresy? Or new dogma?

"In the latest edition of La Repubblica, Pope Francis' longtime atheist friend and interviewer, Eugenio Scalfari, claims that the Pope told him that once Jesus Christ became incarnate, he was a man, a "man of exceptional virtues" but "not at all a God."

The teaching of the Catholic Church and most Christian churches is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was incarnated as fully man and fully God.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human. He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man. During the first centuries, the Church had to defend and clarify this truth of faith against the heresies that falsified it. (464)"  cnenews

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Scalfari writes that Pope Francis denied the divinity of Christ during his existence on earth as a man.  It has been very basic Catholic teaching that Jesus was both God and man and the second entity in the Trinity that is God.  This doctrine emerged as a stabilizing force after several centuries of dispute among Christians as to the nature o Christ.  The doctrine that became official was probably fostered by the Eastern Roman emperor to put an end to what was a constant source of violent dispute within his realm.

If Pope Francis really said that Jesus was not God while living as a man, this is a major thing, something like a constitutional crisis in the US.  Men and women died in the Middle Ages for adopting similar positions.

Is Pope Francis a heretic, or is he proclaiming new doctrine ex cathedra?  pl

https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/scalfari-pope-francis-told-me-jesus-incarnate-was-man-not-all-god

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heresies_in_the_Catholic_Church

BOHICA Update - TTG

This is a report from Jennifer Griffin, national security correspondent for Fox News, after a phone conversation with an SF soldier in Syria. She filed the report by Twitter within the last two hours.

I just spoke to a distraught US Special Forces soldier who is among the 1000 or so US troops in Syria tonight who is serving alongside the SDF Kurdish forces. It was one of the hardest phone calls I have ever taken.

"I am ashamed for the first time in my career."

This veteran US Special forces soldier has trained indigenous forces on multiple continents. He is on the frontlines tonight and said they are witnessing Turkish atrocities.

"Turkey is not doing what it agreed to. It's horrible," this military source on the ground told me. "We met every single security agreement. The Kurds met every single agreement. There was NO threat to the Turks - NONE - from this side of the border." "This is insanity," the concerned US service member told me. ""I don't know what they call atrocities but they are happening."

This American soldier told me the Kurds have not left their positions guarding the ISIS prisoners. In fact "they prevented a prison break last night without us." 

"They are not abandoning our side (yet)."

The Kurds are "pleading for our support." We are doing "nothing."

Troops on the ground in Syria and their commanders were "surprised" by the decision Sunday night. Of the President's decision: "He doesn't understand the problem. He doesn't understand the repercussions of this. Erdogan is an Islamist, not a level headed actor."

This US Special Forces soldier wanted me to know: "The Kurds are sticking by us. No other partner I have ever dealt with would stand by us."

Disappointed in the decisions coming from their senior leaders.

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So what is happening on this opening day of Erdogan's Operation PeaceSpring? Turkey has launched air strikes and artillery barrages on Kurdish military and civilian targets along the entire border east of the Euphrates. The Rojava Information Center reported earlier today:

• 7 serious injuries (two of them female) to adults
• 4 children injured (between 2-6 years old), at least 2 dead 
• Hospital in Sere Kaniye is bombed out of service 
• Largest Christian neighborhood (Bisheriya) in NE Syria was bombarded, 2 civilians died

Erdogan's jihadi auxiliaries have crossed the border and IS sleeper cells have attacked in Raqqa. The YPG repelled at least one assault on Tal Abyad and destroyed a small Turkish outpost west of Kobani. The YPG has ceased all anti IS operations to deal with this new invasion. This is just the beginning of what will be a long, sad story.

Turkey has coordinated its strikes with Russia. We have no idea what was agreed to by these two. Qatar had voiced support for Erdogan's move. Saudi Arabia, surprisingly, has condemned it. Damascus, obviously, has also condemned it, but puts at least some of the blame on the intransigence of the Kurds. My guess is that SAA and Russian forces will cross the Euphrates to prevent Turkish and jihadi forces from retaking any oilfields. Seems the next phase of Operation Idlib Dawn will have to wait. Whether the SAA will end up fighting side by side with the YPG against Erdogan's jihadis or even Erdogan's troops is anybody's guess at this point. Stay tuned.

TTG 

Turkey Double Talks Its Way Into Northeastern Syria by Willy B

The Turks have now launched their long threatened military operation in northeast Syria, under the Orwellian name of "Operation Peace Spring." "Our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to the area," said Erdogan today. Up through today, the Turks were working overtime to get international support for their planned military operation and plans for resettling up to two million Syrian refugees in the so-called safe zone they intend to create but it all seems to me to be so much double talk, so full of obvious contradictions as it is. The most obvious one is in almost every Turkish statement about Syria, the claim that Turkey respects Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. How can that be when prior to today, Turkey had already conducted two military cross border military operations in northern Aleppo province west of the Euphrates in violation of Syrian sovereignty, still occupies those areas and is, in the process, continuing to support armed groups that wish for the violent overthrow of the government in Damascus? Those with more expertise than I have will point to Erdogan's Ottoman ambitions for Turkey as a major motivator of his actions in Syria.

Turkish government spokesman Fahrettin Altun, in an op-ed published in the Washington Post late yesterday, claimed that during his phone call with Erdogan on Sunday, Trump agreed to transfer the leadership of the counter-Islamic State campaign to Turkey. He further claimed that "Turkey has no ambition in northeastern Syria except to neutralize a long-standing threat against Turkish citizens and to liberate the local population from the yoke of armed thugs."

Even more dubious is Altun's claim that Turkey "was the first country to deploy combat forces to fight the terrorists in Syria. Our country also helped the Free Syrian Army keep thousands of Islamic State militants behind bars for years." Erdogan and his AKP loyalists should be reminded that Turkey played a huge role in the cancerous growth of ISIS in Syria in 2015-2016 by allowing itself to be used as a corridor for the flow of foreign fighters into Syria, by providing a logistics base that kept ISIS well supplied with weapons, ammunition and other equipment, and serving as the market for oil that ISIS was smuggling out of Syria (an operation which was largely, and very visibly, destroyed by the Russians).

"It remains to be seen whether YPG militants will agree to the change in the campaign's leadership," Altun droned on. "Indeed, they have two options: If they are genuinely interested in fighting Islamic State, they can defect without delay. Or they can listen to their commanders, who say that they will fight the Turkish forces — in which case we will have no choice but to stop them from disrupting our counter-Islamic State efforts." This suggests that the Turks are saying that they're really going in to fight ISIS and will only fight the Kurds if they get in the way. The evidence of the last few years, however, suggests that Turkey's interest in fighting ISIS has been marginal at best while their focus has been mainly on the PYD/YPG and its alliance with the U.S. military. There is very little evidence, if any at all, of cross border terrorist attacks inside Turkey carried out by the PYD, though ISIS when it still control a large portion of Syria carried out several very large attacks in Istanbul and other cities in western Turkey.

Ibrahim Kalin, whose role as the face of Turkey and the AKP is second only to that of Erdogan himself, told CNN that Turkey is not occupying any part of Syria and has no desire to do so. "Turkey has no interest in occupying any part of Syria. We haven't done so in Jarablus when we fought against Daesh and eliminated 3,000 terrorists there," Kalin said, and continued: "Or when we entered Afrin, we have not occupied any part of Syria, we have returned those places to the local owners and residents, we have no intention of occupying any parts of Syria in the east of the Euphrates either, and also we have no interest in changing the demographics there." All the reports I've seen certainly indicate that the Turks are indeed in full control of Afrin and northern Aleppo, even if through Syrian Arab proxies. They likely intended to do the same thing east of the Euphrates except on a larger scale.

When asked about whether or not the Turkish resettlement plan will change the demographics, Kalin claimed that the PYD/YPG had already done that (and this may have some truth to it but it doesn't excuse the Turks). "It was the PKK/PYD that has changed the demographics there. The refugees in Turkey, which is about 3.5 million from Syria, will go back to the places where they have come from. We are not forcing anybody to go anywhere they don't want to go," he added. Again, my understanding is that most of the refugees in Turkey came from the western half of the country, the region ranging from Aleppo through Hama to Damascus. This is what has been asserted in critiques of the Turkish resettlement plan that I've seen.

The Plot Against Pope Francis

"Donald Trump, who has publicly criticized Francis, has not interfered as his surrogates, who include former White House strategist Steve Bannon; Cardinal Raymond Burke, the former Archbishop of St. Louis; Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States; and others have conspired with the powerful fascist-oriented Opus Dei sect of the church to undermine Francis’s authority. Trump’s eyes and ears inside the Vatican – US ambassador to the Holy See Callista Bisek Gingrich – is the wife of Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, a convert to Catholicism, and a major Trump political ally.

Francis, a former bar bouncer in a tough working-class neighborhood of Buenos Aires, has not been a shrinking violet whe       n it comes to fighting back against his right-wing enemies. Francis’s Italian parents were escaping Benito Mussolini’s fascist rule when they emigrated to Argentina. For Francis, defending the church against the fascist Opus Dei and its allies is a battle worth fighting.

Francis’s enemies have taken a page from the Trump political book. Francis vowed to clean up the church of pedophile priests but he has been charged by his right-wing enemies, including Vigano, Burke, Bannon, Opus Dei, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, and from behind the scenes – Benedict – of tolerating pedophiles and homosexuals in the church. This is the same sort of gaslighting to which Americans have become all-too-accustomed under Trump.

In order to limit Cardinal Burke’s international reach, Francis suspended him from the post of patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), an autonomous international charity entity in Rome that issues its own passports and maintains diplomatic relations with 107 countries and maintains permanent observer status at the United Nations. In 2017, Francis came to the assistance of the Grand Master of the SMOM, Albrecht von Boeselager, after discovering that Burke and Opus Dei were conspiring to oust Boeselager, a member of a German royal house, as Grand Master. Burke and the rightists wanted to sack Boeselager for distributing condoms to people in Myanmar."  Strategic-Culture

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Well, pilgrims, now this is interesting.  There are some fell people amongst those mentioned, people who would shrink from little to defend their vision of The One True Church.  Edwin O'Brien, mentioned in the article is Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre  (an order senior in precedence to SMOM) in which I hold the rank of Knight Commander.  I know nothing of this matter.

Wayne Madsen ,the author, is a bit uneven in his writings.  pl

 

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/10/08/plot-overthrow-pope/

Headline! "Trump betrays Kurds!" It's what we do!

"U.S. troops have begun pulling out of positions in northern Syria, The Associated Press reported on Monday, citing U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also reportedly said American troops have started to withdraw from the area. 

The White House announced late Sunday that Turkey will soon be launching a military operation in the region and that U.S. troops will no longer be “in the immediate area” when it happens. 

The Kurdish-led forces denounced the move as a “stab in the back," according to Reuters.

“We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst,” Panos Moumtis, the U.N. regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, told reporters in Geneva, the news service noted.

The U.S. had more than 1,000 troops deployed in northern Syria, working closely with the Kurdish-led forces. "  The Hill

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AND ... Turkey will henceforth hold and deal with IS and AQ prisoners.  Erdogan does not want these rival Islamists wandering around, so ... his "dealing" with them is going to be strenuous from their point of view.  Good!

And then, pilgrims, the US has a long history of betraying warfighting allies when they are no longer needed or useful .  The Apache Scouts in the Geronimo War come to mind.  As soon as Geronimo and his unmerry men were in the bag, the US disarmed and arrested its own Indian scouts and shipped them to the same prison camp in Florida that Geronimo's men were held in.

And, throughout my life of service I have seen this tendency on our part displayed many times.  The most spectacular was, of course, our abandonment of the Republic of Vietnam.  Another triumph for the US Congress!

IMO this decision is a specific rejection by Trump of the advice of the neocons led by Pompeo and L. Graham as well as the habit and inertia opinion of the Borg (the foreign policy establishment).

This is Trump being Trump.  pl

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/464604-us-troops-leaving-positions-in-northern-syria-ahead-of-turkish-invasion

BOHICA! - TTG

The Rojava Kurds should have seen this coming. The US has a long standing tradition of abandoning Kurds. The abandonment is not the worst part of this policy decision. It is the decision to turn over the jihadis captured by US, YPG and SDF forces over the last few years to Turkey... just in time for Erdogan's announced invasion of northeast Syria. Those jihadis will be rearmed and sent into battle across northern Syria, including Idlib, by Erdogan. Ah, the dreams of a neo-Ottoman Empire are coming into focus.

It appears Fox News, the neocons and the old lady from South Carolina were blindsided by this move.

And while news of the U.S. pullout stunned Syrian Kurds, the announcement also "completely blindsided" top brass at the Pentagon, U.S. officials told Fox News.

Aside from the existential threat to the Kurdish fighters posed by Turkey, Syrian Kurdish forces are also warning that ISIS sleeper cells are actively plotting to free about 12,000 militants currently detained by the Kurds and may take advantage of the Turkey-triggered turmoil to aid their plans.

Those in custody include about 2,500 foreign fighters from Europe and elsewhere whose native countries have been reluctant to take them back — and about 10,000 other captured fighters from Syria and Iraq. (Fox News)

It is too bad Trump allowed himself to be talked out of leaving Syria back at the beginning of his term. That would have given the Kurds the incentive to make peace with Damascus and left a united R+6 in a better position to take on the jihadis and keep the Turks at bay. Trump's rationale of "withdrawing America from an endless war that does not serve US interests" is reasonable and worthy. But his timing is terrible, even characteristically cruel. Worse yet, he still plans on keeping the troops in Syria, just out of the way of the coming Turkish invasion. It's the worst of both worlds for everyone except Erdogan.

On a personal note, I find the treachery of this move to be shameful and abhorrent, not unexpected or without reason, but shameful and abhorrent. My 10th Group coin was vibrating in rage on the nightstand. 

TTG

https://www.foxnews.com/world/turkey-syria-isis-mass-prison-break-us-withdrawal

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7546419/Trump-defends-Syria-pullout-Graham-says-ISIS-defeat-Trumps-biggest-lie.html

 

Some News this Sunday - October 5, 2019

The Plot

"A second whistleblower is now considering filing a complaint about President Donald Trump’s conduct regarding Ukraine, the New York Times reported Friday.

This whistleblower has “more direct information about the events than the first whistle-blower,” according to the Times. It’s a claim that, if true, could bolster the credibility of the initial complaint that triggered the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into whether Trump solicited election interference from Ukraine.

The first whistleblower’s complaint, which was released in redacted form to the public in late September, alleged that on a July 25 phone call Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to push for investigations into potential 2020 rival Joe Biden."  Vox

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The lawyer representing this person states that he has "multiple whistleblowers" as clients.  Ah! How clever!  Are all these public spirited citizens career employees of the CIA?  Little birds still twittering in the trees in my back garden tell me they are.  This sounds like a CIA conspiracy designed to force Trump from office.  The WH and NSC staffs are peopled by some political appointees and a horde of career people detailed from various departments of the Executive Branch; CIA, Defense, State, Justice , Treasury, etc.  The lending agency selects the people who are lent.  The opportunity for someone like Brennan who still has a lot of faithful followers at CIA to plant a group of informants and operatives in Trump's WH has been evident and remains so.

My instincts and the application of Occam's Razor lead me to the conclusion that there is an "operations room" somewhere that is coordinating the efforts to remove Trump from office in what does amount to a "soft coup d'etat."  A fair minded person looking back over Trump's term will see that the attempts to undermine and bring him down began the day after his inauguration and have continued ever since in wave after wave of accusations and press induced frenzies.  This cannot be accidental and it will continue through his second term if he has one.  Trump is leader of a counter-revolution of the Deplorables.  From the point of view of the Globalist Left Trump must be removed and prevented from doing things like packing the federal judiciary with pro-Deplorable judges.  Stay tuned. PL

https://www.vox.com/2019/10/5/20900088/trump-ukraine-impeachment-second-whistleblower

********

Married Priests

The Vatican conference supposedly focused on the ecology of the Amazon River basin opens this week.  The shortage of priests in that region has led the conference to raise the subject of ordaining married men as priests.  The "old guard" of ancients who supposedly spent their lives in celibacy and chastity (doubtful in many cases) are in an uproar about it.  The Catholic Church in spite of being an absolute monarchy in structure in fact functions most of the time on the basis of consensus among the "good old boys" at the top of the pile of black, purple and red robed old men.  If Francis wishes to make a change that big he will have to act like the successor of Peter in fact, as well as in title.  pl

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pope-opens-debate-on-celibacy-requirement-for-catholic-priests-11570352167

The Wealth Tax Proposals

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have the same two outside advisers to thank for shaping their wealth tax proposals: University of California, Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman.

Each Democratic presidential candidate wants to tackle wealth inequality by raising trillions of dollars in revenue from taxing the wealth — in addition to the income — of millionaires and billionaires, an idea that is backed up by research from Saez and Zucman.

There are competing explanations for the rise in inequality. Those on one side argue that wealth concentration is natural as a result of globalization, technology gains, and economic growth, which give enormous rewards to the smartest, innovative, and most hardworking people. Drastically increasing tax rates, they say, would discourage innovation and hurt the economy.

The other camp sees rising inequality as unfair, immoral, and a threat to society.

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Say what?  A couple of imported lefty French professors are the gurus on which Sanders and Warren base their insistence that one's possessions be confiscated as well as one's income?   One of them is 35 years old.  Well, pilgrims, this may be thought of as a grand idea in Europe but it will not sell well in the US.  Americans like the idea of BECOMING rich.   Most people want that rather than re-distribution of other peoples' money.  A smart Trump would want to run against the Confiscators rather than against Biden, someone who IMO wants to be really rich.  If that is what Trump wants he is quite perceptive of the realities of the 2020 election.  pl

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/the-berkeley-economists-advising-both-warren-and-sanders-on-their-groundbreaking-wealth-tax-proposals

What just happened in Paris? Observations and Questions, by Fred

School isn't going to be the same for these kids for some time to come. A few short months ago the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris "caught fire" in what was immediately - like while the fire was still burning - labeled an industrial accident. Those premature pronouncements reminded me of nothing more than the ongoing "Russia" did it pronouncements here in the US. 

No Smoking - you can't smoke in a restaurant but behind a closed door on a jobsite is apparently ok.

Fire update 2

Yesterday five individuals were attacked with a ceramic knife that was smuggled through the security screening at the Préfecture de police de Paris Headquarters building. Four are dead and one critically injured. That did not strike me as an act of rage over a management dispute but rather as a premeditated act of murder. Is it terrorism?

Dean Swift wanted this for the Irish? Perhaps

"Swift's essay is widely held to be one of the greatest examples of sustained irony in the history of the English language. Much of its shock value derives from the fact that the first portion of the essay describes the plight of starving beggars in Ireland, so that the reader is unprepared for the surprise of Swift's solution when he states: "A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout.  Jonathan Swift in "A Modest Proposal ..."

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I emerged from an eye appointment today to learn that the Larouche Raiders had staged an embarrassment at an AOC town hall  in which they had a young woman plead passionately for cannibalism as a means of saving the planet from the insidious effects of human population of the earth.  Was AOC smart enough to laugh at this farce?  Apparently she was not.

My learned committee members will of course recall that Jonathan Swift archly proposed in his essay "A Modest proposal ..."  that poverty in Ireland could be avoided in much the same way ..  pl

https://www.newsweek.com/eat-babies-twitter-reacts-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-town-hall-meeting-1463114

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

More Panic from Flynn Prosecutors? by Larry C Johnson

A few weeks back I wrote about Honey Badger Sidney Powell's legal brief demanding Brady material, i.e., information that is possibly exculpatory that must be turned over to the defendant and his legal team. The Prosecutors (Jenny Liu, Brandon Van Grack and Jocelyn Ballantine) submitted their response and, instead of a measured, well-reasoned brief they opted for outrage, anger, stone walling and obfuscation. Most importantly, they admit that the Government did not believe General Flynn lied. Let me repeat that with emphasis--THE GOVERNMENT DID NOT BELIEVE GENERAL FLYNN LIED. But, despite that material fact, the Government charged Flynn with lying and coerced him into signing a plea in order to keep the Feds from ruining his son.

This is the type of tyranny that led my ancestors to take up arms and fight the Brits and kick their ass out of the United States.

Let me take you through some of the key passages of the Government response:

Michael T. Flynn entered a plea of guilty to a single count of knowingly and willfully making material false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) regarding his contacts with the Government of Russia’s Ambassador to the United States (“Russian Ambassador”) during an interview with the FBI on January 24, 2017, Prior to his guilty plea, the government provided to the defendant information that could arguably be construed as exculpatory to that offense. The defendant subsequently waived any right to additional discovery, as part of his guilty plea.. . . The Court found that the defendant’s earlier guilty plea was entered “knowingly, voluntarily, intelligently, and with fulsome and satisfactory advice of counsel.”

Allow me to translate. Michael Flynn was represented by incompetent (and possibly corrupt) lawyers who did not press for the Brady material they were entitled to. The prosecutors argument is simple--Flynn pled guilty and he cannot recant.

" ... we are close to finding life on Mars."

" Green argues that finding the faint traces of Martian life, past or present, will unleash countless new questions that we’re not prepared to answer.

There is, of course, a religious angle to all of this. The origins of life on Earth are still the subject of debate today and science has always had to compete with stories for mindshare.

I mean, we live in a time where a not-insignificant chunk of people still claim to believe that the Earth is flat, so finding alien life on another world is sure to come with its own host of conspiracy theories and true believers spouting… whatever it is they truly believe.

Green may be right and mankind may not be ready to deal with the implications of finding life outside of Earth. But science waits for no one and if there’s life to be found on Mars, those discoveries aren’t going to wait until we’re ready to deal with them. Brace yourselves."  NY Post

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One of the old timers on SST wrote me recently to admonish me to abandon my "frivolous" interest in humanity's coming migration from Terra.  He suggested that I should embrace climate change as the focus of SST.  I declined to do so since I think the leftist theme song of impending doom is yet another manifestation of the result of allowing teachers  who are the spiritual offspring of the nutty sixties and seventies to indoctrinate our children for decades.

People are causing climate change?  What an amusing thought!  I will try to live long enough to dance on the grave of this stupidity.  pl

https://nypost.com/2019/10/02/nasa-chief-says-we-are-close-to-finding-life-on-mars-but-the-world-wont-be-ready-for-it/

"Moroccan" sword tonight.

A couple of fine, wild caught, North Atlantic swordfish steaks (not from a supermarket).  Marinated three hours in:  olive oil, ponzu (drops), garlic, paprika, cumin, cayenne, salt, pepper, parsley and cilantro.  Five minutes on a side temp 140 degrees F.  A wonderful medium.  pl

My Whistleblower Complaint on the Alleged Russian Hack by Larry Johnson

Since Intelligence Community Inspector General Atkinson opened the door for anyone to report anything without having firsthand knowledge, I think I have a far more substantive complaint than the current alleged whistleblower.

The Intelligence Community claim that the DNC emails were taken via a Russian spearphishing attack is a lie. All 35,813 DNC emails posted on Wikileaks are in a FAT format according to the metadata. This means the emails were downloaded onto a recordable media, such as a thumb drive.

James Clapper, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, released a document in January 2017 with the title, Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections. This document has been described in the media as an “Intelligence Community Assessment” aka “ICA.” But it includes the contribution of only three agencies—the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA). Two other members of the Intelligence Community that had key expertise on this subject matter—the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) at the U.S. Department of State and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)--and should have been involved in this assessment were excluded from contributing to and “coordinating” on this document.

(Note—the term “coordination” is a term used in the Intel Community as shorthand for describing the process that the analyst, who drafts this kind of report, follows prior to submitting the draft for publication. Once a draft is prepared the analyst must share it with those agencies/intel sources cited in the report and request their concurrence with the statements and conclusions. For example, if a CIA analyst is the lead writer and refers to or cites a piece of intelligence produced by the NSA, the analyst is supposed to get his or her counterpart at the NSA to review and approve what has been drafted or suggest alternative language or refuse to clear the use of the material in the report.)

A key conclusion of the ICA Key Judgments focuses on the actions of the Russia’s military intelligence organization, the GRU.

A useful map