Tuesday, December 25, 2018

AMERICANS BLAME DEAD CHILDREN FOR TRUMP'S ATROCITIES


EL PASO, Texas - U.S. immigration authorities said an 8-year-old boy from Guatemala has died in government custody, the second immigrant child to die in detention this month.
 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the boy died shortly after midnight Tuesday.
 
CBP says the boy showed "signs of potential illness" Monday and was taken with his father to a hospital in Alamogordo, New Mexico. There, CBP said, he was diagnosed with a cold and a fever. He was given medications and released Monday afternoon.
 
The agency said the boy was returned to the hospital Monday evening with nausea and vomiting. He died just hours later.
 
A CBP spokesman declined to elaborate Tuesday, but said more details will be released later.
 
A 7-year-old Guatemalan girl died earlier this month after being apprehended by border agents.

https://www.mynbc5.com/article/8-year-old-guatemalan-boy-has-died-in-custody-us-immigration-authorities
 
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING. TRUMP'S HANDS ARE SOAKED IN INNOCENT BLOOD AND THE RED PUDDLE OF SORROW WILL GET DEEPER AND DEEPER. 

THE FAKE "CHRISTIAN" REPUBLICANS WILL ANSWER ONE DAY. WE AWAIT THE NEXT NUREMERG WHEN THEY CLAIM THEY WERE "JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS". 

IN TRUTH, THEY ARE FOLLOWING MONEY AND POWER. THEY ARE THE NEW NAZIS. MILLIONS OF AMERICANS - FOLLOWING DONALD TRUMP'S LEAD - WILL BLAME THE VICTIMS.

TRUMP IS FOLLOWING IN THE STEPS OF HITLER AND MUSSOLINI


PASTOR MARTIN NIEMOLLER WARNED US. THE TRUMP REGIME ECHOES NAZI GERMANY, BUT MILLIONS OF AMERICANS ARE WILLING TO REPEAT WHAT THE GERMANS DID. THE HOLOCAUST DIDN'T START WITH THE OVENS. IT STARTED WITH LIES AND ETHNIC CLEANSING. TRUMP IS FOLLOWING MEIN KAMPF FAITHFULLY AND, AS IT WAS IN GERMANY, FAKE CHRISTIANS (NOW EVANGELICALS) ARE SUPPORTING HIM.

MICHAEL STEELER TOOK ON THE VATICAN
 
THE VATICAN BLESSED THE NAZIS - SMOKE AND MIRRORS
MICHAEL STEELER
THE VATICAN AND THE NAZIS, THE GALICIA SS, MUSSOLINI IN MONTREAL, AND ONE MAN WHO FOUGHT THE VATICAN TO HIS LAST BREATH, MICHAEL STEELER.
 
THE VATICAN BLESSED THE NAZI S.S. - SMOKE AND MIRRORS
 
MICHAEL STEELER TOOK ON THE VATICAN
 
THE NAZIS AND THE CHURCH PHOTOGRAPHS
 
BENITO MUSSOLINI AND THE CHURCH IN MONTREAL - WHERE IS GOD IN ALL THIS?
 
THE VATICAN - MAFIA CONNECTION - WASH AWAY YOUR SINS - LAUNDER MONEY - IN GOD'S NAME

Monday, December 24, 2018

DID YOU KNOW THAT CANADA SELLS ARMS TO SAUDI ARABIA? IT MUST STOP!


CANADIANS ARE HELPING SAUDIS KILL CHILDREN IN YEMEN!

A Canadian defence contractor will be selling fewer armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia than originally planned, according to new documents obtained by CBC News.
 
That could be a mixed blessing in light of the ongoing diplomatic dispute between the two countries, say human rights groups and a defence analyst.
 
The scaled-back order - implemented before the Riyadh government erupted in fury over Canada's public criticism of Saudi Arabia's arrest of activists and froze new trade with Canada this summer - could make it politically less defensible for the Liberal government, which has argued it's in the country's business and economic interests to uphold the deal.
 
The documents show General Dynamic Land Systems Canada, the London, Ont.-based manufacturer, was - as of spring last year - going to deliver only 742 of the modern LAV-6s, a reduction from the original 2014 deal.
 
The initial order from the desert kingdom was for 928 vehicles, including 119 of the heavy assault variety equipped with 105 millimetre cannons.
 
Details of the agreement have long been kept under a cloak of secrecy. General Dynamic Land Systems, the Canadian Commercial Corporation (the Crown corporation which brokered the deal) and the Saudi government have all refused to acknowledge the specifics, other than the roughly $15 billion price tag.
 
Saudi Arabia 'allergic to criticism', making example out of Canada, analysts say
Trudeau defends Saudi arms export deal, points finger at Harper government

EXCLUSIVE - Canada's arms deal with Saudi Arabia includes 'heavy assault' vehicles.

Last spring, CBC News obtained copies of internal documents and a slide deck presentation from 2014 outlining the original agreement.
 
The latest internal company documents obtained by CBC News are dated March 29, 2017, and indicate the agreement had been amended a few months prior, perhaps in the latter half of 2016.
 
The documents also indicate delivery of the vehicles is already underway and has been for months.
 
CBC News asked for a response from both Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland's office and General Dynamics Land Systems Canada. Both declined comment over the weekend..
 
A cash-strapped kingdom.

A defence analyst said the amended order likely has more to do with the current state of Saudi Arabia's finances than its frustration over Canada's human rights criticism.
 
"Saudi Arabia - in part because of low oil prices and in part because of corruption and mismanagement of its own economy - has a large budget deficit," said Thomas Juneau, a University of Ottawa assistant professor and former National Defence analyst.
 
"Spending $15 billion over a number of years for armoured vehicles that it doesn't need that much, at least in a pressing sense, is an easier target for budget cuts, for sure."
 
The kingdom has projected a budget deficit of $52 billion US this year and the country's finance minister said last spring it is on track to cut spending by seven per cent.
 
When it was signed, the armoured vehicle deal was a way for Canada to cement relations with an important strategic partner in the region, said Juneau.
 
Should Ottawa cancel the sale?

He said he wonders if it's still worthwhile, in light of the furious diplomatic row that began over the Canadian government's tweeted expressions of concern for jailed activists - and quickly escalated with the expulsion of Canada's ambassador, the freezing of trade, the cancellation of grain shipments and the withdrawal of Saudi medical students from Canadian programs.
 
"Now, with the dust not really having settled after the dispute from August, is that partnership, in abstract terms, still necessary? I think it is. But is it still possible?" said Juneau.
 
Human rights groups say they believe there is even more reason for Ottawa to walk away from the deal now, given the events of this summer and the declining economic benefit.
 
"We're compromising our position on human rights for even less than we thought," said Cesar Jaramillo, the executive director of Project Ploughshares, which has opposed the agreement from the outset.
 
"Even if it's not a huge decrease, it is still a decrease. It should, at least in political and economic terms, make it easier for the Trudeau government to reconsider this deal, especially in terms of the latest diplomatic spat."
 
Spain's example.

Spain's defence ministry has cancelled sales of laser-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia because of concerns over the kingdom's prosecution of the war in Yemen - something human rights groups have pointed to as an example of an arms deal with the Saudis being reversed. 

The Trudeau government put a temporary hold on the export permits for the vehicles while it conducted a review following the release of video last year which purportedly showed Canadian light armoured vehicles being used by Saudi security forces against militants in the Shia-populated eastern part of the kingdom.
 
Alex Neve, the general secretary of Amnesty International Canada, said the Liberal government took a "principled stand and demonstrated real leadership" by not backing down in the diplomatic row.
 
"It's hard to square that with our willingness to continue to proceed with this particular deal, which has direct potential to have such horrific human rights consequences on the ground," he said.

cbc.ca.

THE FILTH THAT RUNS THE WORLD

Image result for netanyahu photo gallery


NETANYAHU-JARED KUSHNER-DONALD TRUMP- PUTIN. GREED, HATE, LIES, DESTRUCTION - THEIR HANDS ARE SOAKED IN BLOOD.

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition announced Monday that early elections will be held in April, sending the Israeli leader back to face the voters at a time when he is confronting mounting criticism over his handling of security and under investigation for bribery.
 
While Netanyahu's right-wing coalition had been on the brink of collapse since his defense minister quit last month, it was a dispute over legislation aimed at drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military that ultimately brought down the government.
 
Most political analysts predict that Netanyahu will be reelected. There are no significant challengers in his Likud Party or coalition, and leading opposition figures are considered too weak to unseat him. The main question is whether, after the election, he will be forced to strike a more centrist coalition to assemble a majority in parliament.
 
 
A vote is scheduled for Wednesday to dissolve the parliament, known as the Knesset. If dissolution is supported by more than half the members, a national election will take place on April 9. A full term would have taken the government through to November 2019.
 
Elections will now be held amid growing concern here over the threat posed along Israel's northern border by Iran and its militia ally Hezbollah, especially after the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria where they have helped contain Iranian influence.
 
Even as Israeli officials have pointed to this escalating danger, Netanyahu has been sharply criticized in recent months for his handling of other security challenges, notably the conflict with Hamas, the militant Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu was widely faulted, including by former defense minister Avigdor Liberman, for reaching a temporary truce with the group this fall without a long-term solution for stemming rocket and other attacks from Gaza. The prime minister has also been criticized for a spike in violent attacks against Israelis in the West Bank. 
 
At the same time, the Israeli news media has intently covered a series of corruption investigations into Netanyahu focusing on allegations that he accepted favors and gifts from several wealthy benefactors and business executives.
 
The Israeli police have already recommended indicting him in three cases, and it is now up to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to build a case that can stand up in court. Netanyahu has vowed to remain prime minister even if an indictment is filed against him.
 
[Early elections look likely in Israel with Netanyahu's coalition on verge of collapse]
 
Netanyahu's party said in a statement that "national and budgetary responsibilities" have pushed the leaders of the coalition parties to "dissolve the Knesset and go to new elections at the beginning of April."
 
Speaking in the Knesset, Netanyahu said his government has successfully completed four full years in office, with "tremendous achievements in every field." 
 
"We come to ask for a clear mandate from the voters to continue to lead the State of Israel our way," he said. "This way we have done a great deal for the citizens of Israel, and this way we will go on to do a great deal for the State of Israel."
 
The decision Monday to disband the government appeared to be directly linked to an announcement from Yair Lapid, head of the opposition Yesh Atid party and Netanyahu's main challenger, that his faction would not support legislation aimed at drafting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the army.
 
While all Jewish Israelis are required to serve in the military at age 18, those who study the Torah in recognized yeshivas, or religious schools, have traditionally received an exemption. However, manpower shortages in recent years and growing demands for equality have forced the government to reevaluate the matter and craft new legislation that would exempt only the top religious students — a move that the ultra-Orthodox have resisted. 
 
Drafting a law to satisfy all members of Netanyahu's coalition has proved to be a source of tension over the past year, threatening to break apart the government on several occasions.
 
From the outside, Lapid, who has pushed for new legislation, said the law did not go far enough. He suggested that Netanyahu had "surrendered to the ultra-Orthodox."
 
[Israel's hawkish defense minister resigns from the government over Hamas truce]
 
Liberman, who Netanyahu's coalition had hoped would support the law despite his resignation last month, said the law in its current format had been "emptied of content" after agreements were reached between Likud and the ultra-Orthodox parties.
 
Following the announcement of an election in April, Liberman said it was time to form a new government.
 
"We have already said for a whole month that this is a survival government and not a functioning government, and therefore for the people of Israel it is most important that a new and stable government be established," he told journalists. He also said he would rejoin any future coalition only if the issues surrounding the draft law were resolved. 
 
Reuven Hazan, a professor of political science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said that although Netanyahu appeared to be caught in a weak position, his run for a fourth term as Israeli leader would go more or less unchallenged, both from within his ruling party and from outside.
 
"To say he is weaker going in does not mean he will be weaker going out," Hazan said. "He's an amazing campaigner. When it comes to campaigning, this is his forte."
 
The main challenge Netanyahu faces now is how he will form the next coalition, especially if Mandelblit decides to formally charge the prime minister.
 
The Israeli police have already recommended indicting Netanyahu in three cases. Case 100 involves allegations that he received gifts of cigars and jewelry from billionaire benefactors. Case 200 involves alleged illicit deals between Netanyahu and Arnon Mozes, publisher of the popular Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth. And in Case 400, Netanyahu is accused of easing business regulations for the country's largest telecommunications company in exchange for favorable coverage of him and his wife on a popular news website owned by the firm. 
 
[Israeli police recommend charging Netanyahu in third corruption case]
 
In a statement after Monday's election announcement, the Justice Ministry said investigations involving the prime minister would continue as planned.
 
"Netanyahu must have realized this is a serious threat, and the last thing he needs, in the midst of an election campaign, is for the attorney general to prosecute him," said Hazan. "He wants to preempt this, win, and then he can say, 'Before you decide to prosecute me, take note that the people of Israel have reelected me for a fourth time with more seats than ever before, and you cannot overturn the results of a democratic election.' "

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israel-headed-to-elections-as-netanyahus-coalition-dissolves-parliament/2018/12/24/

Saturday, December 22, 2018

A MIRACLE? A REMINDER. A WARNING.

Image result for photo of broken glass

A very strange thing happened to me today. A glass jar full of spaghetti sauce slipped out of my hands and smashed on the floor!

I was shocked. I expected broken glass and a pool of red all over the floor. I was really upset.

I looked. The jar lay there, completely intact. It was impossible. It could not happen! A gift of mercy.

I decided that I must share this miracle. I do believe it was a miracle.

So, here I am, past midnight, trying to convey how powerful this apparently inconsequential incident really is. How often can you drop a glass jar heavy with sauce on the floor and have it remain unbroken?

I looked for a photo to express the idea. I looked for "broken glass", and I was really surprised to come upon The Night of the Broken Glass. Kristalnacht.

I see a dire message. I was spared a "bloody" mess today. The Jews of Germany were slaughtered. And America is on the brink of doing it again.

Sometimes I see things before they happen. It isn't magic. Just awareness of reality.

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAS JOHNSON AND JOHNSON KILLED?


HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED OF CANCER OVER THE YEARS BECAUSE THEIR MOTHERS HAD POWDERED THEIR LITTLE BABY BOTTOMS WITH JOHNSON AND JOHNSON'S POISON? JOHNSON AND JOHNSON KNEW THE DANGER, BUT THEY SOLD OUR CHILDREN'S HEALTH FOR PROFIT ANYWAY. I CALL THAT MURDER.

Many people use baby powder to absorb moisture and cut down on friction. This can help prevent rashes and skin irritation from chafing. Some, but not all, baby powders are talcum powder, made with talc.

Talc is one of the softest minerals in the world. As a powder, it can absorb oils, moisture, and odor, and reduce friction.

While talcum powder helps prevent diaper rash and infections in babies, adults use it as well. Some people use it on their genital areas, such as around their underwear to keep it dry.
 
Talcum powder is also an ingredient of various makeup products, such as setting powder and foundation.
 
Talc became popular as a cosmetic product when Johnson & Johnson started selling it in the late 1800s.
 
Manufacturers have to mine for talc. The mineral naturally tends to occur near asbestos in the earth. Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral with known carcinogenic (cancer-causing) effects. Because of their proximity in the ground, many people claim that talcum powder also causes cancer. In this article, learn about these claims, as well as how to reduce any risk.

While manufacturers should take responsibility to select talc mining sites carefully to prevent asbestos contamination, there is no federal mandate to test the contents of cosmetic products.
 
Over 6,600 consumers have filed baby powder lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson. Most of these consumers are women who have ovarian cancer. According to their claims, they believe that their cancer developed due to using talcum powder on their genitals.
 
These women back their claims with a variety of studies that have found that long-term use of talcum powder on female genitals may increase the risk of ovarian cancer.
 
Another concern regards asbestos contamination. In April 2018, Johnson & Johnson and another company were found guilty of selling products contaminated with asbestos.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323525.php

"WE WERE JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS" - AMERICA

View of some of the nazi leaders accused of war crimes during the world war II during the war crimes trial at Nuremberg International Military Tribunal (IMT) court, held between November 20, 1945 and October 1, 1946. (From L to R) At the first row, Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, at the Second row, Karl Doenitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur Von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel.  AFP PHOTO        (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

AMERICA -2018 -

THE REPUBLICANS ARE JUST FOLLOWING BLOOD-SOAKED MONEY.

DURING THE NUREMBERG TRIALS after World War II, several Nazis, including top German generals Alfred Jodl and Wilhelm Keitel, claimed they were not guilty of the tribunal's charges because they had been acting at the directive of their superiors.
 
Ever since, this justification has been popularly known as the "Nuremberg defense," in which the accused states they were "only following orders."
 
The Nuremberg judges rejected the Nuremberg defense, and both Jodl and Keitel were hanged. The United Nations International Law Commission later codified the underlying principle from Nuremberg as "the fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him."
 
This is likely the most famous declaration in the history of international law and is as settled as anything possibly can be.
 
However, many members of the Washington, D.C. elite are now stating that it, in fact, is a legitimate defense for American officials who violate international law to claim they were just following orders.

Specifically, they say Gina Haspel, a top CIA officer whom President Donald Trump has designated to be the agency's next director, bears no responsibility for the torture she supervised during George W. Bush's administration.

Haspel oversaw a secret "black site" in Thailand, at which prisoners were waterboarded and subjected to other severe forms of abuse. Haspel later participated in the destruction of the CIA's videotapes of some of its torture sessions. There is informed speculation that part of the CIA's motivation for destroying these records may have been that they showed operatives employing torture to generate false "intelligence" used to justify the invasion of Iraq.
 
John Kiriakou, a former CIA operative who helped capture many Al Qaeda prisoners, recently said that Haspel was known to some at the agency as "Bloody Gina" and that "Gina and people like Gina did it, I think, because they enjoyed doing it. They tortured just for the sake of torture, not for the sake of gathering information." (In 2012, in a convoluted case, Kiriakou pleaded guilty to leaking the identity of a covert CIA officer to the press and spent a year in prison.)
 
Some of Haspel's champions have used the exact language of the popular version of the Nuremberg defense, while others have paraphrased it.
 
One who paraphrased it is Michael Hayden, former director of both the CIA and the National Security Agency. In a Wednesday op-ed, Hayden endorsed Haspel as head of the CIA, writing that "Haspel did nothing more and nothing less than what the nation and the agency asked her to do, and she did it well."
 
Hayden later said on Twitter that Haspel's actions were "consistent with U.S. law as interpreted by the department of justice." This is true: In 2002, the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department declared in a series of notorious memos that it was legal for the U.S. to engage in "enhanced interrogation techniques" that were obviously torture. Of course, the actions of the Nuremberg defendants had also been "legal" under German law.
 
John Brennan, who ran the CIA under President Barack Obama, made similar remarks on Tuesday when asked about Haspel. The Bush administration had decided that its torture program was legal, said Brennan, and Haspel "tried to carry out her duties at CIA to the best of her ability, even when the CIA was asked to do some very difficult things."
 
Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd used the precise language of the Nuremberg defense during a Tuesday appearance on CNN when Wolf Blitzer asked him to respond to a statement from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.: "The Senate must do its job in scrutinizing the record and involvement of Gina Haspel in this disgraceful program."
 
Hurd, a member of the House Intelligence Committee and a former CIA operative as well, told Blitzer that "this wasn't Gina's idea. She was following orders. … She implemented orders and was doing her job."
 
Hurd also told Blitzer, "You have to remember where we were at that moment, thinking that another attack was going to happen."
 
This is another defense that is explicitly illegitimate under international law. The U.N. Convention Against Torture, which was transmitted to the Senate by Ronald Reagan in 1988, states that "no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture."
 
Notably, Blitzer did not have any follow-up questions for Hurd about his jarring comments. 
 
Samantha Winograd, who served on President Obama's National Security Council and now is an analyst for CNN, likewise used Nuremberg defense language in an appearance on the network. Haspel, she said, "was implementing the lawful orders of the president. … You could argue she should have quit because the program was so abhorrent. But she was following orders."
 
Last but not least there's Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, who issued a ringing defense of Haspel in Politico, claiming she was merely acting "in response to what she was told were lawful orders."
 
Remarkably, this perspective has even seeped into the viewpoint of regular journalists. At a recent press conference at which Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul criticized Haspel, a reporter asked him to respond to "the counterargument" that "these policies were signed off by the Bush administration. … They were considered lawful at the time."
 
It fell to Paul to make the obvious observation that appears to have eluded almost everyone else in official Washington: "This has been historically a question we've asked in every war: Is there a point at which soldiers say 'no'? … Horrendous things happened in World War II, and people said, well, the German soldiers were just obeying orders. … I think there's a point at which, even suffering repercussions, that if someone asks you to torture someone that you should say no."

PHOTO: Some of the nazi leaders accused of war crimes during the world war II during the war crimes trial at Nuremberg International Military Tribunal (IMT) court, held between November 20, 1945 and October 1, 1946. (From L to R) At the first row, Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, at the Second row, Karl Doenitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur Von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel.  


https://theintercept.com/2018/03/15/washington-breaks-out-the-just-following-orders-nazi-defense-for-cia-director-designate-gina-haspel/

Friday, December 21, 2018

PROPHECIES ARE SLOW


More than half a century ago, 
When I was a young girl, 
And airplanes operated on propellers, 
I said that if we did not 
Help poor people in other countries, 
They would come here.

AMERICAN DEFENSE SECRETARY JIM MATTIS SPEAKS TRUTH TO POWER


President Trump on Thursday tweeted that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis would be leaving the Pentagon in February. The news comes a day after the president announced troop withdrawals in Syria.
 
Shortly after Mr. Trump's post, Mr. Mattis released a letter he wrote to Mr. Trump acknowledging that the president had a right to a defense secretary with views "better aligned" with his.
 
Below is the full text of that letter, as released by the Defense Department.
 
Dear Mr. President:
 
I have been privileged to serve as our country's 26th Secretary of Defense which has allowed me to serve alongside our men and women of the Department in defense of our citizens and our ideals.
 
I am proud of the progress that has been made over the past two years on some of the key goals articulated in our National Defense Strategy: putting the Department on a more sound budgetary footing, improving readiness and lethality in our forces, and reforming the Department's business practices for greater performance. Our troops continue to provide the capabilities needed to prevail in conflict and sustain strong U.S. global influence.
 
One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies. Like you, I have said from the beginning that the armed forces of the United States should not be the policeman of the world. Instead, we must use all tools of American power to provide for the common defense, including providing effective leadership to our alliances. NATO's 29 democracies demonstrated that strength in their commitment to fighting alongside us following the 9-11 attack on America. The Defeat-ISIS coalition of 74 nations is further proof.

Similarly, I believe we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours. It is clear that China and Russia, for example, want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model — gaining veto authority over other nations' economic, diplomatic, and security decisions — to promote their own interests at the expense of their neighbors, America and our allies. That is why we must use all the tools of American power to provide for the common defense.
 
My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues. We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.
 
Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position. The end date for my tenure is February 28, 2019, a date that should allow sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed as well as to make sure the Department's interests are properly articulated and protected at upcoming events to include Congressional posture hearings and the NATO Defense Ministerial meeting in February. Further, that a full transition to a new Secretary of Defense occurs well in advance of the transition of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September in order to ensure stability within the Department.
 
I pledge my full effort to a smooth transition that ensures the needs and interests of the 2.15 million Service Members and 732,079 DoD civilians receive undistracted attention of the Department at all times so that they can fulfill their critical, round-the-clock mission to protect the American people.
 
I very much appreciate this opportunity to serve the nation and our men and women in uniform.
 
Jim N. Mattis

The New York Times

Dec. 20, 2018

Thursday, December 20, 2018

PG AND E EXECUTIVES - HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE THEY MURDRERED FOR PROFIT?

             
                 Image result for pg&e fires california


SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Shares of Pacific Gas & Electric soared Friday after California's top utility regulator said his agency will help the company deal with potentially crippling liability costs from wildfires.
 
 
Stock prices soared nearly 38 percent after plunging 60 percent and losing $15 billion in valuation in the week following the Northern California wildfire that is the nation's deadliest in a century.


Death toll rises in California's Camp Fire as number of unaccounted for leaps.

No cause has been determined, but speculation has centered on PG&E, which reported an outage around the time and place the fire ignited.

The death toll from the so-called Camp Fire has risen to at least 63, with hundreds of people still unaccounted for.
California state investigators in June faulted PG&E-owned power lines for sparking a dozen blazes in Northern California in the fall of 2017 that killed 46 and incinerated nearly 9,000 homes and other structures.
 
Late Thursday, California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker sought to calm financial markets by indicating support for the continued viability of PG&E and other publicly traded utilities.
 
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Picker said his agency will soon implement a provision in a new state law that makes it easier for utilities to pass costs for past wildfires to their customers. He said additional legislation may be needed to ensure that provision applies to this year's fires.
 
"They have to be financially healthy to be able to provide those goods and services that ratepayers need," he told the Chronicle. "If they can't borrow money, if they have liquidity problems and they can't do vegetation management, that's a problem. That's not good policy, to really let them get financially unstable."
 
 
He also said he will widen an investigation of PG&E's safety culture, which started following the regulator's investigation of a 2010 gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people.

 
PG&E said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that it could face "significant liability in excess of insurance coverage" if its equipment is found to have caused the Camp Fire.  
 
 
It's unclear whether the Legislature and incoming Gov. Gavin Newsom will have the appetite to offer more help for PG&E after last year's legislation was blasted as a bailout.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pg-e-fires-in-california-camp-wildfire-utility/

Monday, December 17, 2018

I WISH FOR DONALD TRUMP WHAT HE DOES TO OTHERS


The boy and his father


US 'bans Yemen mum from visiting dying toddler in California'

The boy cannot survive for much longer, and must urgently see his mother, the family say.

The Yemeni mother of a dying boy in California is being prevented from seeing him due to a US ban on visitors from her country, the family says.
 
Two-year-old Abdullah Hassan was born with a brain disease that doctors say he will not survive.
 
His relatives say his mother wants to see him one last time before they take him off life-support.
 
His father says the boy's mother cannot come to the US due to the Trump administration's travel ban.
 
Abdullah and his father are American, says the family.
 
"All she wishes is to hold his hand for the last time," the boy's father, Ali Hassan, 22, told the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday.
 
He said the boy would probably die if he is taken to Egypt, where his mother is currently living.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46597106.

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

TRUMP SELLS OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOOD - NOT HIS OWN


Trump announces Jamal Khashoggi investigation but says he won't halt Saudi arms sales.
 
Donald Trump said US investigators are looking into how Jamal Khashoggi vanished at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, but made clear that whatever the outcome, the US would not forgo lucrative arms deals with Riyadh.
 
The president's announcement raised concerns of a cover-up of evidence implicating Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in plans to silence the dissident journalist. Those fears were also heightened by an announcement that the Turkish and Saudi governments would conduct a joint investigation into the case.
 
The Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV network described the 15 suspects as "tourists" who had traveled to Istanbul by commercial plane.
  
Yemen: End airstrikes and give child victims justice, says UN body.

 Senior Republicans in Congress, briefed on US intelligence, have meanwhile signaled they were prepared to force the US to take punitive action if Khashoggi was found to have been murdered by the Saudi regime.
 
"We're being very tough. And we have investigators over there and we're working with Turkey, and frankly we're working with Saudi Arabia. We want to find out what happened," Trump told Fox News.
 
US officials could not confirm that US investigators were in Turkey, which has hitherto resisted US help. The state department spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said: "The US government has offered its support to the Turkish government to provide law enforcement assistance to the Turkish government."
 
Nauert said she could not comment on whether there were US investigators "on the ground". The state department had referred earlier questions about the case to the FBI.
 
Nauert revealed that the Saudi ambassador to Washington, the Crown Prince's younger brother, Khalid bin Salman, had flown back to Riyadh.
 
"We have said to him that we expect information upon his return to the United States," she said.
 
Any sense that the administration might seek to impose serious consequences on Saudi Arabia was dispelled by the president. Asked at an impromptu press conference in the Oval Office whether the US would cut arms sales if the Saudi government was found to be responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance, the president demurred, saying the US could lose its share of the huge Saudi arms market to Russia or China.
 
In the Oval Office Trump pointed out that the disappearance took place in Turkey and that Khashoggi was not a US citizen. On being told that the journalist was a US permanent resident, Trump said: "We don't like it even a little bit. But whether or not we should stop $110bn [£83bn] from being spent in this country – knowing they have … two very good alternatives. That would not be acceptable to me."
 
He continued: "I don't like stopping massive amounts of money that's being poured into our country – they are spending $110bn on military equipment and on things that create jobs for this country."
 
The president's desire to protect weapons sales and his family's close relationship with the Saudi monarchy could lead to a clash with congressional Republicans, some of whom are already uneasy about the high civilian death toll from the Saudi aerial bombardment of Yemen, using US-made bombs.
 
The Republican chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, Bob Corker, one of a handful of senators briefed on US intelligence on the case, said he believed Khashoggi was murdered and that the "intel points directly" at the Saudi government. "I think they did it and unfortunately I think he is deceased. But they certainly could produce him and change the narrative," Corker told CNN.
 
The senator told MSNBC he had seen intelligence in a secure room at the Senate and concluded: "It does appear that he's been murdered, and I think over the next several days, things are going to become much clearer."
 
 State-directed abductions are on the rise – and the Saudis are dark masters.

Corker and 21 other senators sent a formal letter to the president triggering a mandatory US investigation into Khashoggi's fate. Under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the administration would have to report on the conclusions of the investigation and a decision on sanctions against the perpetrators.
 
A Turkish presidential aide, İbrahim Kalın, said there would be a joint Turkish-Saudi investigation into the Khashoggi case.
 
Turkish officials have released a relentless drip-feed of information about an alleged crime that has shattered diplomatic norms and rocked Ankara and Riyadh. A report in the Washington Post, citing US intelligence sources, said Bin Salman had earlier authorised an operation to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia and detain him.
 
The Post reported that Turkey had told the US that it has audio and video recordings that prove Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate.
 
"You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic," one person with knowledge of the recordings told the paper. "You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered." A second person said men could be heard beating the journalist.
 
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has challenged Saudi Arabia to provide CCTV images to back up its claims that Khashoggi had left the consulate safely, indicating he did not find the current Saudi explanations sufficient.
 
Turkish officials have told reporters that Khashoggi was killed soon after he entered the consulate last Tuesday by a hit squad of 15 assassins who had flown in from Riyadh that day. Accounts of his apparent death have been widely circulated by officials, who have released the names of the Saudi citizens who arrived on two private jets; all were connected to state security agencies.
 
The Middle East Eye website cited Turkish officials as saying that Khashoggi was ushered to the consul general's office when he entered the consulate, then quickly seized by two men. "We know when Jamal was killed, in which room he was killed and where the body was taken to be dismembered," the official said. "If the forensic team are allowed in, they know exactly where to go."
 
Riyadh had previously pledged to allow Turkish officials into the consulate, which is considered sovereign Saudi territory under international convention. However, access was rescinded after the names of the alleged assassins were revealed. Among the group, according to a passenger manifest supplied by Turkish authorities, was the head of forensics for the Saudi General Intelligence Presidency.
 
While investigators believe Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, suspicion about where his body may have been disposed of continues to focus on the Saudi consul general's home, about 500 metres away. The building has an underground garage, and cars that were seen leaving the nearby building are believed to have spent several hours in the garage before leaving for Atatürk airport in Istanbul.
 
Officials also told Reuters they were examining data from an Apple Watch that Khashoggi was wearing when he entered the building. Central to the investigation is whether data from the smartwatch could have been transmitted to a cloud, or his personal phone, which was with his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside.
  
Jamal Khashoggi case: sponsors urged to pull out of Saudi conference
 Saudi officials had refused to engage with their Turkish counterparts until Tuesday, a source told the Guardian. Riyadh had used Washington as a conduit. "They have been behaving very strangely," said an official. "It's like they don't care about the consequences. Is this incompetence, or arrogance? We really don't know."
 
On his first international trip as president, Trump visited Saudi Arabia and announced $110bn in proposed arms sales.
 
The US treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, is due to represent the administration at a trade and investment conference in Saudi Arabia next week, known as "Davos in the Desert". His attendance would be a powerful gesture of support for Riyadh in the face of allegations of the premeditated murder of a US resident and journalist.