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CONFIRMED: Chemical Weapons Assessment Contradicting Official Syria Narrative Is Authentic – Consortiumnews

Posted by M. C. on May 20, 2019

We now have confirmation that, for whatever the reason may be, this assessment was hidden from the public by the OPCW.

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/05/17/confirmed-chemical-weapons-assessment-contradicting-official-syria-narrative-is-authentic/

By Caitlin Johnstone

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has begun responding to queries by the press about a leaked document that contradicts official OPCW findings on an alleged chemical weapons attack last year in Douma, Syria. The prepared statement they’ve been using in response to these queries confirms the authenticity of the document.

To recap, a few days ago the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (WGSPM) published a document signed by a man named Ian Henderson, whose name is seen listed in expert leadership positions on OPCW documents from as far back as 1998 and as recently as 2018. It’s unknown who leaked the document and what other media organizations may have received it.

The report picks apart the extremely shaky physics and narratives of the official OPCW analysis on the gas cylinders allegedly dropped from Syrian government aircraft in the Douma attack, and concludes that “The dimensions, characteristics and appearance of the cylinders, and the surrounding scene of the incidents, were inconsistent with what would have been expected in the case of either cylinder being delivered from an aircraft,” saying instead that manual placement of the cylinders in the locations investigators found them in is “the only plausible explanation for observations at the scene.”

Cylinders Did Not Arrive by Air 

To be clear, this means that according to the assessment signed by an OPCW-trained expert, the cylinders alleged to have dispensed poison gas which killed dozens of people in Douma did not arrive in the locations that they were alleged to have arrived at via aircraft dropped by the Syrian government, but via manual placement by people on the ground, where photographs were then taken and circulated around the world as evidence against the Syrian government which was used to justify air strikes by the U.S., U.K. and France. There were swift military consequences meted out on what appears now to be a lie. At the time, the people on the ground were the Al Qaeda-linked Jaysh Al-Islam, who had at that point nothing to lose and everything to gain by staging a false flag attack in a last-ditch attempt to get NATO powers to function as their air force, since they’d already effectively lost the battle against the Syrian government.

We now have confirmation that, for whatever the reason may be, this assessment was hidden from the public by the OPCW.

British journalists Peter Hitchens and Brian Whitaker have both published matching statements from the OPCW on this report. Hitchens has been an outspoken critic of the establishment Syria narrative; Whittaker has been a virulent promulgator of it. The statement begins as a very mundane and obvious assertion that it takes information from numerous sources and then publishes its conclusions, but concludes with an admission that it is “conducting an internal investigation about the unauthorised release of the document in question.” This constitutes an admission that the document is authentic.

Text of Statement…

I strongly encourage readers to check out the 15-page document for themselves to understand its claims and make up their own minds,…

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Assange

 

 

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Watch “Valentino Rossi pole position lap Jerez 2016 – on board view ᴴᴰ” on YouTube

Posted by M. C. on May 19, 2019

Groovin’! On a Sunday afternoon.

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Why is the US always ‘stumbling’ or ‘sliding’ into war? How the media misleads with language

Posted by M. C. on May 19, 2019

In April, Foreign Policy magazine even had Venezuela’s self-declared interim president Juan Guaido “stumbling toward a coup.” How do you stumble into a military coup?

https://www.rt.com/usa/459429-us-media-language-war-propaganda/

The way the mainstream media tells it, the United States never, ever ends up embroiled in wars and military conflicts on purpose — only ever by mistake, or as a result of things like ‘bad planning’ or ‘strategic missteps’.
Very often when media coverage of war is analysed, there is a focus on how hawkish pundits cheerlead for conflict and journalists parrot official narratives while dissenting voices are drowned out. Mainstream networks, for example, have been heavily criticized by media watchdogs for almost exclusively inviting pro-war guests and ex-military hawks onto their news shows to convince Americans that war is the only reasonable course of action, while refusing to let anti-war commentators get a look in.

But there is another more subtle and unnoticeable way that the media deceives us. Even when they are not outright cheerleading for military action (as was the case in the lead up to the Iraq War), the language they use to describe events is designed to absolve Washington of blame.

Next time you read the news, notice how the US is always “stumbling into” war, or “drifting into” war or “sliding into” war — or even “sleepwalking into” war. To “stumble into” war seems to be a firm favorite among headline writers. The US has “stumbled” into war in Iraq and Syria and has been, at one time or another, at risk of “stumbling” into war with Russia, North Korea and most recently Iran.
According to these headlines, the US has also been “dragged into” (CNN) and “sucked into” (NI) war in Syria and Afghanistan, twice (NI, The Times). In recent weeks, the Trump administration has been “sliding into” (AP) a potential “accidental” war with Iran — and back in 2017, it was “dragged into” (FP) the disastrous Yemen conflict.

The examples of the US stumbling, blundering and bumbling its way into wars are endless — and it does raise a question that no one ever seems to ask: If it’s so easy to trip and fall into massive never-ending wars, why isn’t it happening to everyone else? Is Washington just especially clumsy? Read the rest of this entry »

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Facebook Blames ‘Mistake’ After Censoring Candace Owens

Posted by M. C. on May 19, 2019

Poverty rate among MARRIED blacks: 7%

Mustn’t let this get out. The unwashed masses will mis-understand.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/05/17/facebook-blames-mistake-after-censoring-candace-owens/

by Alana Mastrangelo

The founder of the Blexit movement, Candace Owens, was suspended on Facebook after posting about “liberal supremacists” and statistics regarding poverty rates in fatherless homes. The social media giant restored Owens’ account several hours later after Breitbart News requested comment, claiming it had “made a mistake.”

Candace Owens said that she was notified her Facebook account had received a seven-day suspension for violating the platform’s “community standards” after posting about “liberal supremacists” and the negative effects that leftist policies have on the black community.

“Dear [President Donald Trump], My [Facebook] page has been suspended for 7 days for posting that white supremacy is not a threat to black America, as much as father absence and & liberal policies that incentivize it, are,” tweeted Owens on Friday, “I am censored for posting the poverty rates in fatherless homes.”…

“Black America must wake up to the great liberal hoax. White supremacy is not a threat. Liberal supremacy is,” read Owens’ censored Facebook post, which included a screenshot of one of her recent tweets, which read:

Poverty rate among blacks: 22%
Poverty rate among whites: 11%

Poverty rate among MARRIED blacks: 7%

Do not let liberal supremacists convince you that white people are the problem at the same time that their policies encourage the 77% father absence rate in black households.

“Facebook has allowed every post that has falsely and horribly accused [President Trump] of white supremacy to remain on its platform,” added Owens in a follow-up tweet, “But when a black woman begins discussing the TRUTH—which is that liberal policies have systematically ruined black homes—they censor.”…

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mark of the beast

The Mark of the Beast

 

 

 

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The Income Tax is Destroying the World Economy | Armstrong Economics

Posted by M. C. on May 18, 2019

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/taxes/how-the-income-is-destroying-the-world-economy/

by Martin Armstrong

The first income tax was created in 1861 during the Civil War as a mechanism to finance the war effort. In addition, Congress passed the Internal Revenue Act in 1862, which created the Bureau of Internal Revenue, an eventual predecessor to the IRS. The Bureau of Internal Revenue placed excise taxes on everything from tobacco to jewelry. However, the income tax did not last and was not renewed in 1872. In the Springer v. United States 102 US 586 (1881), the Supreme Court upheld the income tax.

Justice Swayne wrote the opinion of the court. The central and controlling question in the case was whether the tax which was levied on the income, gains, and profits was Constitutional since it forbid any direct taxation. The court played games with the words to uphold the government. It wrote: “Our conclusions are that direct taxes, within the meaning of the Constitution, are only capitation taxes, as expressed in that instrument, and taxes on real estate; and that the tax of which the plaintiff in error complains is within the category of an excise or duty.” A Capitation tax is an assessment levied by the government upon a person at a fixed rate regardless of the property, business, or other circumstances. The reasoning used was clearly overruled later which necessitated amending the Constitution in 1913.

Moreover, the Revenue Act of 1862 created a federal estate and gift tax system. Following the end of the Civil War, those taxes were rolled back but the War Revenue Act of 1898 created another death tax to raise revenue for the Spanish-American War.

An 1894 statute was ruled unconstitutional in the case of Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company 157 U.S. 429 (1895) delivered by Chief Justice Fuller. He wrote for the court: ” Whether the void provisions as to rents and income from real estate invalidated the whole act? 2, whether, as to the income from personal property as such, the act is unconstitutional as laying direct taxes? 3, Whether any part of the tax, if not considered as a direct tax, is invalid for want of uniformity on either of the grounds suggested? — the justices who heard the argument are equally divided, and, therefore no opinion is expressed.”

Read the rest of this entry »

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Watch “Talking About Stoicism Part 19: Dealing with Remarks That Hurt” on YouTube

Posted by M. C. on May 18, 2019

…but names can’t hurt me.

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Watch “Thomas Sowell on the Origins of Economic Disparities” on YouTube

Posted by M. C. on May 18, 2019

The best 46 minutes you will spend today.

“You can redistribute wealth but you can’t redistribute the capital it took to create that wealth”

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EconomicPolicyJournal.com: New York City Restaurant Jobs Are Collapsing in the Face of a Higher Minimum Wage

Posted by M. C. on May 18, 2019

Some tend to tip less when they know wages are up. Oops!

Another central planning success story.

https://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2019/05/new-york-city-restaurant-jobs-are.html

The New York City minimum wage has been exploding:

….and restaurant jobs in the city have crashed.

In addition to the general minimum wage of $15.00 for large employers,  restaurant employers are required to pay servers and bartenders who generally get a lower hourly base pay but substantial tips, $10 an hour, a 16 percent jump from the previous $8.65 per hour mandate.

Is it any wonder the jobs are disappearing, with restaurants running with less staff?

–RW

Be seeing you

https://christianfunnypictures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/free-lunch-cartoon.gif

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Punishing baseball fans with a high-priced publicity stunt

Posted by M. C. on May 18, 2019

https://outline.com/3fge5c

Ron Paul

..Liberty-minded Americans agree with the rhetoric of Mr. Trump that we need better relations with Russia and to end the war in Afghanistan, while staying out of civil wars like the one in Syria. Somehow, Mr. Bolton has undermined Mr. Trump’s rhetoric and has slow-walked the president’s stated goal of dialing back America being everywhere all the time.

One area one would think that Mr. Bolton could do no harm is with our national pastime — Major League Baseball (MLB). Mr. Bolton recently ended a Trump administration agreement that allowed Cuban baseball players safe passage to the United States to play in Major League Baseball. This act by the Trump administration will result in Cuba’s most talented baseball players seeking out human smugglers to play professional baseball in the United States. A December agreement between Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association and the Cuban Baseball Federation had allowed Cuban players to avoid hardship when coming to play in the United States.

The agreement had the stamp of approval from the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the U.S. Treasury Department and was similar to agreements with other baseball organizations in other nations. Andrew Zimbalist wrote in Forbes on April 11, 2019, “MLB and the [Cuban Baseball Federation] reached an agreement that was similar to the agreements that MLB has with baseball organizations in Japan, South Korea, China and Mexico. In addition, the new system would have allowed Cuban players to live in or visit Cuba and would have promoted the integration of Cuban players into the major leagues. It also would have provided for MLB scouts to travel to Cuba to identify promising players, avoiding the situation where a Cuban player defects but is then not signed to a professional contract and is stuck in a third country without employment and unable to return home.”

Seems reasonable, yet Mr. Bolton has falsely claimed that the Major League Baseball agreement somehow helped to prop up the regime in Venezuela.

As we have learned through experience, sanctions against Cuba don’t work. The U.S. government recognized this fact when it carved out big U.S.-based companies from existing sanctions regimes. U.S. airlines, financial institutions and telecommunications companies have been allowed to avoid the Cuban embargo and have provided $100 million directly to the Cuban government over the past few years. By contrast, the MLB deal was with a Cuban-based baseball organization. The MLB-specific sanctions are a high-profile publicity stunt and not based in any real policy outcome.

Before the agreement, Cuban baseball players who wanted to come to play Major League Baseball were moved by criminal organizations. Players paid large sums of money to human traffickers to get themselves and family members out, resulting in a dangerous trip out of the country. Many who left family members behind had them threatened by the government and criminal human trafficking enterprises attempting to extort money. Once the players left, they could not go back to Cuba.

Cubans who have worked their whole lives to become good enough to play in the world’s most competitive baseball league in the United States had their dreams dashed because of politics…

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Friendly Fire: US Airstrike Killed at Least 18 Afghan Police in Helmand – News From Antiwar.com

Posted by M. C. on May 18, 2019

Agent orange, napalm, drones…part of the reason we are there, the win your hearts and minds or we burn your village strategy. It worked so well the first time.

https://news.antiwar.com/2019/05/17/friendly-fire-us-airstrike-killed-at-least-17-afghan-police-in-helmand/

…This is part of the recurring problem with airstrikes, that the US makes no more than very superficial efforts to find out what they’re bombing. It is this same reason that not only are friendly fire incidents happening, but that US airstrikes are killing more Afghan civilians in recent months.

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gaza

Middle East foreign policy.

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