While many "conventional" indicators of US economic vibrancy and strength have lost their informational and predictive value over the past decade (GDP fluctuates erratically especially in Q1, employment is the lowest this century yet real wage growth is non-existent, inflation remains under the Fed's target despite its $4.5 trillion balance sheet and so on), one indicator has remained a stubbornly fail-safe marker of economic contraction: since the 1960, every time Commercial & Industrial loan balances have declined (or simply stopped growing), whether due to tighter loan supply or declining demand, a recession was already either in progress or would start soon.

This can be seen on both the linked chart, and the one zoomed in below, which shows the uncanny correlation between loan growth and economic recession.

The food industry only allows it to be sold as “tomato seasoning”, not “tomato ketchup”. Triggered by a series of tests conducted by an Israeli food company also selling ketchup. The tests revealed that, although Heinz boasts over 60% tomato as an ingredient, there was only 21% tomato concentrate in each bottle.

What happens when high technology meets harsh religious traditions? That’s right: death sentences for digital blasphemy.

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Pakistan has sentenced a man to death for sharing "blasphemous content about Islam" on social media, according to a report by Dawn.
The 30-year-old convict, who reportedly belongs to the Shia community, was arrested by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), in Bahawalpur city in eastern Pakistan.

According to the court, the offender posted derogatory content about prominent Sunni religious figures and the Prophet Muhammad and his views on Facebook.

The man faced charges on two sections of the law, one of them covering the use of derogatory remarks towards the Prophet Mohammad, and the other involving inducing sectarian hatred.

The death penalty is the harshest of cyber-crime sentences in Pakistan so far. If it is implemented, it would be the first time Pakistan has officially executed anyone for blasphemy.

The US State Department in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said it is reviewing the mishandling of classified information that passed through former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's email server.

"The Department initiated a review of the handling of classified information in this matter," the letter, released by Grassley on Friday, said.

The letter said the investigation was ongoing and could result in the loss of security clearances if any violations took place.

The department, the letter added, waited to begin its review until after the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded its own probe into the matter, "in order to avoid prejudicing the FBI's investigation."

A Florida lawmaker caught driving drunk just a few months ago voted today to keep smoked medical cannabis illegal in the state. Cary Pigman, a Republican congressman representing the 55th District in Florida came out strongly against allowing smokable marijuana in the bill that passed today in response to voters’ decision last year to allow for medical marijuana.

Amendment 2 was a restrictive medical marijuana proposition that “supported legalizing medical marijuana for individuals with specific debilitating diseases or comparable debilitating conditions as determined by a licensed state physician,” Ballotpedia notes.

The measure passed overwhelmingly in the election, and now lawmakers have hammered out the details. Among them is reportedly the prohibition on smoking marijuana, a form of treatment has been documented to help provide relief a wide range of illnesses and symptoms, including HIV-related complications, neuropathic pain, and chronic pain.

The IRS, not content with expropriating the wealth of its citizens on April 15 every year, has now taken up the practice of seizing funds that have been involved in perfectly legal transactions on the basis of a hunch.

Thankfully, legislation in the House and the Senate has been introduced to bring this practice to a halt. Both chambers should act on the bills swiftly.

urrent law circumvents ancient concepts like due process and innocence until guilt is proven. The federal government then places the burden of reclaiming the assets on the citizen it targeted.

This situation threatens the liberty of American citizens.

The Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration conducted a review of this practice and concluded in a March 30 report that the IRS “criminal investigators mainly pursued law-abiding citizens and businesses when seizing assets in civil forfeiture cases because they were easier to go after.”

As ISIS moves across the world, conveniently popping up wherever America wants to touch down, the fact that the terrorist organization is an American creation is becoming more and more obvious to many people. Regardless, the news that ISIS recently managed not only to conduct terror attacks in the Philippines but was able to seize and occupy an entire city caught many people by surprise. Indeed, for those who are unaware of the nature and history of the terrorist organization and what role American imperialism plays in regards to its activity, the recent events in the Philippines no doubt have many Americans absolutely befuddled.

As the Independent article “ISIS-Linked Militants Behead Police Chief And Take Priest And Churchgoers Hostage In Philippines City,” reported on May 24,

A Catholic priest and churchgoers have been taken hostage by Isis-linked militants attempting to seize control of a city in the Philippines, while the local police chief has been beheaded.

It is important to note which countries in the anti-Syria coalition are not part of the anti-Qatar coalition, specifically Turkey. The one thing Turkey and Qatar have in common besides funding and facilitating terrorists for the purpose of overthrowing the Syrian government, is support for the Muslim Brotherhood. After all, Turkey’s Erdogan has long supported the MB and has maintained close ties with them for years. Turkey is also currently debating the possibility of deploying Turkish troops to a base in Qatar.

So what we are seeing is, in part, an anti-Muslim Brotherhood coalition with the focus being placed on Qatar, the country which is seen as being perhaps the biggest patron of the organization.

The Iranian Element

In the case of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VS. Cliven Bundy et al, Judge Gloria Navarro has demanded the defendants all wear chains throughout their trials. The simple question is, why? These are men who have demonstrated they are not violent nor have they attempted to escape from the prison system they have been incarcerated in for almost a year and a half.

In a response to the order by Judge Navarro, attorney for Pete Santilli, Chris Rasmussen, cited the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in May 2017 to bolster the claim that his client's rights are being violated, as are all the other defendants in the case.

"Peter Santilli hereby asserts his Fifth Amendment right to be present in Court without shackles," reads the motion.

South Korea’s national security adviser has said that Seoul will abide by its agreement with the US on deploying the controversial Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), as North Korea continues to pose “very serious and urgent threat.”

This statement follows North Korea’s claim that it has tested a new type of missile that could strike South Korean and US warships "at will" if attacked.

Four missiles were fired Thursday that traveled 125 miles before landing in the sea off North Korea’s east coast, according to South Korea national security head Chung Eui-yong.

"Stop funding, stop teaching hate, and stop the killing," US President Donald Trump said Friday during a news conference with the Romanian president after alleging that Doha has propped up Islamist extremists.

"No more funding," Trump emphasized. His comments come following the diplomatic row that erupted last week between Qatar and major Middle East powers like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Mattis Aware of Steps Planned to Isolate Qatar - Pentagon
The "high level" of support — whether it be financial, logistical or moral — for terror groups originating in Doha must stop, the president said.

"I want to call on all of the nations to stop immediately supporting terrorism," Trump reiterated.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, which includes UAE, Bahrain and Egypt and others, to lift its blockade of Qatar, saying that the cutoff is hindering the fight against the (Qatar-funded) Islamic State. Tillerson also said the blockade had led to food shortages and forced families to uproot themselves and pull their children from school.

“We believe there are unintended consequences, especially during this holy month of Ramadan but they can be addressed immediately,” Tillerson said.

The United Nations said the organization is investigating airstrikes that took place on May 31 in Mosul. At the time, it was unclear whether they occurred or which forces were behind what was described as a “carpet bombing.” About 50-80 people were killed; 47 deaths were previously recorded. The U.N. also reported hundreds more Islamic State killings in recent weeks.

Conditions at the Khazir displacement camp near Mosul are deteriorating with summer coming on. Uncomfortable heat, increasing numbers of insects and reptiles, and an outbreak of scabies are making residents miserable and ill.

The United States criticized the upcoming Kurdish independence referendum as a distraction from more important issues such as the war against the Islamic State militants. Germany expressed concern that the referendum could worsen sectarian tension. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Turkoman Front (ITF), an umbrella group of political parties, rejected the referendum.

Water supplies to Kiev-controlled settlements in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass were cut after the government troops shelled a water supply facility near the village of Yasinovataya, a negotiator of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said.
"The vast majority of citizens, who were affected by the water supply cuts, reside on the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government," said Denis Pushilin, the head of the DPR delegation to the reconciliation talks in Minsk.
"Although our citizens faced no major disruptions due to a timely effort by our utility services, residents of about 40 settlements on the opposite side of the contact line will be a lot less lucky," the Donetsk News Agency quoted him as saying.

In what some speculate may be the beginning of the end for Daesh (ISIS), the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) entered Raqqa – Daesh’s Syrian stronghold – for the first time on Tuesday. SDF commander Rojda Felat told the AFP news agency that the group is “fighting street battles inside Raqqa now, and we have experience in urban warfare.” The advance came after heavy airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition, which killed more than 20 civilians trying to flee the offensive by boat.

The push for the U.S.-backed SDF to claim Raqqa from Daesh has been in the works for over seven months, having only been made possible by U.S.-led coalition air support, thousands of military advisers and deliveries of heavy weapons. While the U.S.-led coalition, particularly the U.S. itself, claims that this support is all for the common cause of eradicating Daesh, their plans for Raqqa following a Daesh defeat could make the future goal of a united Syria all but impossible to achieve.

Does America really need a permanent ruling class of career politicians? According to Real Clear Politics, right now Congress has an average approval rating of just 18.8 percent. It is an institution that is dominated by politicians that are able to keep winning elections over and over again because they are extremely good at raising money. And our permanent ruling class of politicians has learned that it greatly pays to pander to the special interests and the wealthy donors that are able to inject large amounts of cash into their campaigns. This incestuous system produces many incumbents that are almost unbeatable, and the result is that some of these Congress critters end up staying in Washington much, much longer than they should.

On Thursday, we witnessed a perfect example of this. Senator John McCain’s incoherent questioning of James Comey got so much attention on social media that USA Today did a whole story about it…

The Qatari-Saudi Cold War is a geopolitical scheme cooked up by the US and the UAE, as I explained in my 21st Century Wire article about “The Machiavellian Plot to Provoke Saudi Arabia and Qatar into a “Blood Border” War”, but it’s not exactly a surprise that it happened. My September 2016 forward-looking analysis about “The GCC: The Tripartite’s Big Barter In The ‘Eurasian Balkans’” presciently forecast that a second round of Gulf tensions was bound to occur, and that the Great Power Tripartite of Russia, Iran, and Turkey could cooperate with Qatar in helping to break Riyadh’s stranglehold on the GCC. Moreover, my Geopolitica.Ru analysis from earlier this week about “Russia’s Energy Diplomacy In The Mideast: Boom Or Bust?” accurately predicted that Russia will play a role in mediating tensions between the two feuding GCC countries, which has now officially come to pass with the Qatari Foreign Minister’s visit to Moscow this weekend.

Does America really need a permanent ruling class of career politicians? According to Real Clear Politics, right now Congress has an average approval rating of just 18.8 percent. It is an institution that is dominated by politicians that are able to keep winning elections over and over again because they are extremely good at raising money. And our permanent ruling class of politicians has learned that it greatly pays to pander to the special interests and the wealthy donors that are able to inject large amounts of cash into their campaigns. This incestuous system produces many incumbents that are almost unbeatable, and the result is that some of these Congress critters end up staying in Washington much, much longer than they should.

On Thursday, we witnessed a perfect example of this. Senator John McCain’s incoherent questioning of James Comey got so much attention on social media that USA Today did a whole story about it…

Twitter users have reacted with surprise and fury over excerpts from Hillary Clinton’s 1996 book It Takes A Village. On June 6,Jeanette Jing, an activist with over 33,000 followers on Twitter who supports Clinton’s Democratic opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders, shared two pages of the work in which Clinton reminisces about the black prisoners who worked in the Arkansas governor’s mansion she shared with her husband, Bill Clinton, who led the state from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992.

“When we moved in, I was told that using prison labor at the governor’s mansion was a longstanding tradition, which kept down costs,” Clinton writes. She adds that most of the workers were convicted murderers and she became friendly with “a few of them, African-American men in their thirties who had already served 12 to 18 years of their sentences.”

Evidence suggests that one of the London attackers, Rachid Redouane, was part of the broad UK-backed covert strategy to oust Syria’s Assad, following his similar role in Libya in 2011.

It is distinctly possible that Redouane was trained by Qatar special forces in Libya in 2011, as part of a broad UK-approved covert operation. Indeed, it is possible that this training was presided over by UK and US ‘liaison’ officers.

The analysis below is based on mainstream media sources, all in the public domain.

Evidence suggests that one London attacker, Rachid Redouane, was part of the broad UK-backed covert strategy to oust Syria’s Assad, following his similar role in Libya in 2011.

The Telegraph reports that London attacker Rachid Redouane fought in the 2011 British/NATO war against Qaddafi – as did Salman Abedi, the Manchester bomber – and joined a militia which went on to send jihadist fighters to Syria. In Libya, he is believed to have fought with the Liwa al Ummah unit.[1]

Saudi Arabia issued an outright ban against watching the al-Jazeera TV channel on Thursday, in the latest bizarre twist in its on-going diplomatic spat with Qatar.

The Saudi commission for tourism and national heritage issued a warning of a 10,000 riyal ($2700) fine if any tourist outlet failed to censor the Qatari news channel.

The former contractor is alleging the FBI covered up mass civil liberties violations against Americans; John Solomon and Sara Carter explain on 'Hannity'

In what commentators have dubbed a "clear escalation", moments ago Arab states including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain, have released a list that designates 59 individuals and 12 entities in Qatar as terrorist. The complete list of those named includes Qataris, Jordanians, Egyptians, Kuwaitis, Libyans.

The four countries released the names in “light of their commitment to fighting terrorism, drying up their sources of funding, combating extremist ideology and its dissemination and working together to eradicate it and immunize communities,” according to a statement made available to Al Arabiya.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan broke his silence over the crisis engulfing his country’s closest Arab ally Qatar today, condemning the actions of the group of Gulf countries that cut off ties with the emirate over its alleged support for extremist groups and Iran. In a related move, Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has decided to fast-track bills to deploy Turkish forces in Qatar and train Qatari troops in its legislative agenda. Turkey is building a base in Qatar that will eventually host up to 10,000 troops under an accord in which Turkey pledged to defend the Gulf state.

Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Wednesday announced it would hold a referendum on independence, in a move the central government in Baghdad is likely to oppose strongly.

"I am pleased to announce that the date for the independence referendum has been set for Monday, Sept. 25, 2017," Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said on Twitter.

Barzani's assistant Hemin Hawrami tweeted that voting would take place in the disputed region of Kirkuk and three other areas also claimed by the central government; Makhmour in the north, Sinjar in the northwest and Khanaqin in the east.

The president of Iraq's ruling Shi'ite coalition told Reuters in April it would oppose a Kurdish referendum. Ammar al-Hakim especially warned the Kurds against any move to annex oil-rich Kirkuk.

The referendum date was set after a meeting of Kurdish political parties chaired by Barzani, who heads the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

In 2015, US logistics coordinator Scott Darden was captured by Houthi forces in the Yemeni capital city of Sanaa, and held for six months before his release. During that time, he was presented purely as participating in helping the delivery of humanitarian aid into the country.

He did that, as part of his employment for New Orleans-based Transoceanic Development was overseeing the transportation of humanitarian aid to the nation, which in the midst of a Saudi invasion is struggling with a nascent famine. Today, however, the New York Times is reporting that his job also had him delivering shipments of war materiel to US special forces operating in Yemen.

Some officials were willing to confirm the broad details of this, but they and Darden himself were unwilling to provide specifics, citing its “highly classified” nature. This is fueling new calls within the House Armed Services Committee to exercise at least some oversight over what was being done.

A public official in Flint, Michigan, blamed the city's ongoing water crisis on black residents who "don't pay their bills" in a recorded conversation with an advocacy journalist last month, The Washington Post reported.

Phil Stair is the sales manager for a county agency that manages tax-foreclosed homes. Stair, who is white, used the N-word, according to the recordings.

The day after the recording was published in an online blog, Stair resigned from the Genesee County Land Bank.

The murder of Seth Rich has brought a fresh round of condemnation from establishment figures of so called “fake news.” Mainstream press outlets have claimed without justification that there is no evidence to suspect political involvement in Rich’s death despite strong indications from multiple sources, including Wikileaks, that this may have in fact been the case. Extreme censorship in the media of the story fails to account for a botched and corruption tinted investigation by the D.C. Police Department. Additionally, close connections between the DNC, White House and individuals at the center of the incident do nothing but continue give rise to accusations of a cover up.

On May 15th, FOX 5 DC carried claims from private investigator Rod Wheeler that Rich was in contact with Wikileaks prior to his death. American media figures and political groups have subsequently engaged in an unprecedented frenzy of attacks against media outlets who even mention the story.

International rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has downgraded Qatar’s credit rating as outflows from portfolio investments have dragged the emirate’s national currency to 11-year lows.

The Arab Gulf state's long-term rating was cut one notch to AA- from AA. The agency put the rating on CreditWatch with negative implications, expecting further lowering.

Earlier this week, some Muslim countries led by neighboring Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar due to alleged support of terrorism, a charge that Doha denies.

S&P said the blockade could exacerbate Qatar's external vulnerabilities and put pressure on economic growth and fiscal stability.

“We expect that economic growth will slow, not just through reduced regional trade, but as corporate profitability is damaged because regional demand is cut off, investment is hampered, and investment confidence wanes,” said the US-based agency.

After an audit from the Department of Defense revealed that the Pentagon couldn’t account for over $1 billion in weapons and equipment that was meant for fighters in Iraq, the question remains: Did ISIS gain $1 BILLION in weapons and equipment as a result?

The September 2016 audit was declassified after the human rights organization Amnesty International filed a Freedom of Information Act request. It revealed that the Pentagon “did not have accurate, up-to-date records on the quantity and location” of the majority of the equipment that was meant for the Iraqi Train & Equip Program.

The missing equipment came from the $1.6 billion budget Congress allocated for the program in 2015. The budget was approved in the name of fighting the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria—a group of militants that didn’t exist until nearly a decade after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.

Forget the media-hyped back and forth between President Donald Trump and London Mayor Sadiq Khan that has Trump rightfully condemning Khan for Khan’s “no big deal” approach to dealing with the repeated terrorist attacks in London. What continues to go largely unreported are Khan’s long-standing ties to Islamic extremists, including his defense of a 9/11 terrorist.

What is going on here? How is it a supporter of radical Islam becomes mayor of London and is being fast-tracked to be a future Prime Minister of Great Britain? And why is the Mainstream Media so clearly determined to cover up Khan’s shocking extremist past?

All of the above are true – including Khan’s defense of 9/11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui.

And the cold hard truth needs to come to light: the U.S. has illegally invaded Syria’s territory. The fact that the Syrian military cannot realistically drive the U.S. military out (especially while it is embroiled in numerous battles with ISIS and other radical guerrilla forces) does not constitute tacit acceptance of the U.S. military presence there. In fact, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has called the U.S. and its associated forces “invaders” numerous times because the U.S. has no legal basis to operate inside Syrian territory.

On top of this unwarranted invasion, the U.S. claims it has the right to defend itself from troops loyal to Syria’s current government. It also claims it has the right to defend forces that operate under the control of the U.S.-led coalition. This is not a new proposal under Donald Trump; Barack Obama authorized U.S. air power to defend the U.S.-trained fighting forces in Syria, even if that meant attacking Syrian government troops.

Have you ever wondered why stocks just seem to keep going up no matter what happens? For years, financial markets have been behaving in ways that seem to defy any rational explanation, but once you understand the role that central banks have been playing everything begins to make sense. In the aftermath of the great financial crisis of 2008, global central banks began to buy stocks, bonds and other financial assets in very large quantities and they haven’t stopped since. In fact, as you will see below, global central banks are on pace to buy 3.6 trillion dollars worth of stocks and bonds this year alone. At this point, the Swiss National Bank owns more publicly-traded shares of Facebook than Mark Zuckerberg does, and the Bank of Japan is now a top-five owner in 81 different large Japanese firms.

The father of the iconic "Syrian Ambulance boy," whose photograph was plastered all over the Western media as an excuse to overthrow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, says he supports Assad and his son was used by the media "for the sake of propaganda."

From RT:

Omran Daqneesh was rescued from the rubble in the aftermath of a bombing in the rebel-held Qaterji district of Aleppo in August 2016. The controversial Syrian Civil Defense group, better known as the White Helmets soon released harrowing footage of Omran sitting in an ambulance chair.

The White Helmets group has a controversial reputation. While they are hailed as hero volunteers by the Western mainstream media, and even have an Academy Award-winning documentary about them, their reputation on the ground in Syria is much more sinister.

An explosive device as been thrown into the grounds of the American embassy in Kiev. The blast occurred in the early hours of the morning injuring no one.

This comes after a far larger rocket attack on the Polish consulate in the Galician city of Lutsk in March of this year.

Ukraine is not only a lawless state and a military aggressor against the Republics of Donbass, but it is moreover a failed state that is a breeding ground for violence and terrorism.

Just because no group claims responsibility for an attack does not mean that it is not a terrorist attack and the low-grade attack on the US Embassy in Kiev, like the more serious attack on a Polish consulate months ago, is a manifest act of terrorism.

The frequent acts of political and random violence in post-coup Ukraine has made it so that Ukraine’s security services simply cannot be trusted to keep the peace.

After the Manchester suicide bombing only two weeks ago I warned my readers that the repetition of terror attacks is breeding complacency within the public, in Europe most acutely. It is not uncommon now for attacks killing dozens to be forgotten within a week of the event. The news feeds are awash in distraction, and of course, sometimes these events themselves act as distractions.
In a recent newscast of MSNBC's “Morning Joe”, BBC anchor Katty Kay stated:

“Europe is getting used to attacks like this, Mika. They have to, because we are never going to be able to totally wipe this out...”

NOTE - After finishing this article on Sunday, I find this quote from Theresa May on Tuesday:

“We should do even more to restrict the freedom and the movements of terrorist suspects when we have enough evidence to know they present a threat, but not enough evidence to prosecute them in full in court."

Syrian rebels from Eastern Lions and Ahmad al-Abdo Army formations – the elements of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) - state that they are «intensely» attacking Iranian-backed pro-government militias in the eastern Syrian desert in an operation dubbed «The Land is Ours». The forces’ strength is around four thousand. The main enemies are the Islamic State (IS), Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and Syrian government-allied forces. The operation is conducted near Syria’s borders with Iraq and Jordan. This time, the mission is to squeeze the SAA and its allies out from the desert areas.

Evidently, one of the goals pursued by the escalation of hostilities is to demonstrate that the armed opposition is a force to reckon with at a time the crisis management talks are held in Astana and Geneva. Obviously, this is an attempt to subvert the ongoing international peace efforts.

It's not just bankers that are leaving the UK, broad-based Brexodus continues as EU citizens flee the apparently sinking-ship and now, courtesy of the latest report from Public Health England, they have another good reason to leave 'Ol Blighty - cases of syphilis have reached their highest level since 1949, new figures have shown.

After the Brexit referendum, more EU citizens are leaving Britain, while less Europeans are coming in. As the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show, 2016 brought 84,000 less migrants, compared to the previous year. Statista's Fabian Moebus points out that the net migration of 248,000 people is the lowest number of yearly newcomers in over three years. Immigration from EU countries decreased by 43,000 people while emigration increased by 31,000, which makes Europeans the main factor behind the trend with a net change of minus 74,000.

With Gulf tensions still rising, and culminating with last night's report on Arabia CNN that Qatar has put its armed forces on the highest military preparedness level, the small nation may be preparing to unveil its "Eastern pivot": moments ago Russia's RIA news agency reported that the Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani will Visit Moscow on Saturday where he will hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"Negotiations will be held on Saturday," a Russian foreign ministry official said. However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin does not yet plan to meet with al-Thani.

Even as the world's attention turns to the Comey testimony for the next few hours, the Qatar diplomatic crisis (where CNN's "report" of Russian hacking now appears long forgotten) continues, and moments ago a barrage of headlines from Qatar suggests that the small nation, which may or may not be preparing for military action, is happy to welcome the Turkish troops that will be arriving soon as reported yesterday, with its foreign minister stating that "we are not ready to surrender and will never compromise the independence of our foreign policy." Also, and perhaps even more critically, Qatar - whose foreign minister is set to fly to Moscow on Saturday - also announced that Iran is ready to help with food and that three of Iran's ports will be designated for use for Qatar.

From the wires:

QATAR FM SAYS IRAN SAID THEY ARE READY TO HELP QATAR WITH FOOD & 3 OF THEIR PORTS WILL BE DESIGNATED FOR QATAR: RTRS.

Bahrain joins UAE in introducing law criminalizing sympathy for Qatar over Saudi-led sanctions imposed by its Gulf neighbors.

The terrorists who rampaged across London on the night of 3 June were part of a wider extremist network closely monitored by MI5 for decades. The same network was heavily involved in recruiting Britons to fight with jihadist groups in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

Police have confirmed that Khuram Shazad Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba were the three terrorists shot dead after participating in a brutal van and knife attack in the London Bridge area.

According to press reports, both Butt and Redouane were longstanding members of the proscribed extremist network formerly known as al-Muhajiroun. After 9/11, the group operated under different names such as Shariah4UK, Muslims4Crusades and Islam4UK. Originally founded by Lebanese firebrand, Omar Bakri Mohammed, who was banned from returning the UK after the 7/7 attacks, the network was later run by Bakri’s deputy, Anjem Choudary.

RED FLAGS, MISSED

The Trump administration, this week, appeared to take a potential step closer to backing efforts plotted by Saudi Arabia and the UAE to destabilize Iran; possibly topple its Islamic government; and force Qatar to fall into line with Gulf policies that target Iran, political Islam, and militants; with the appointment of a seasoned covert operations officer as head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Iran operations.

Saudi support of militant groups in Pakistani Baluchistan that operate across the border in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan is abetted by a US policy.

As the American media machine continues its baseless attacks against President Trump, lobbing unsubstantiated accusations against him on the daily regarding imaginary connections to Russia, there’s a much bigger story brewing that the public isn’t being told about shamed former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey. New evidence has emerged from classified government documents showing that, under Comey’s leadership, the FBI actually committed major acts of treason against the American people by sharing raw intelligence about American citizens with unauthorized third parties, including foreign entities.

According to the Japanese broadcaster NHL, the aircraft carriers left the sea on Monday after completing the military exercises last week.

The Carl Vinson will return to the home port in the US city of San Diego, the same reports added. However, the situation around North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile program will be further monitored by USS Nimitz carrier which is supposed to join Japan and India for joint military exercises in the Indian Ocean in July and head to the Persian Gulf subsequently, the outlet suggested.

The Carl Vinson carrier and its strike group including two destroyers and a cruiser was initially to the area close to North Korea in April in response to the repeated ballistic missile tests by the country. Since then, the situation around Pyongyang escalated further with several more missile launches by North Korea including the most recent on May 29. The launches were carried out by Pyongyang in violation of the UN resolutions.

While President Trump has personally claimed credit for the split between Qatar and the other Gulf Arab states, some US investigators are engaged in particularly wild speculation today, aiming to make the whole situation a plot carried out by Russian hackers.

A little over a week into the latest row, tensions between Qatar and other Gulf states is a hugely complicating factor for US foreign policy in the region, particularly since Qatar hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East. Qatar’s split is something that’s been an ongoing issue for years, based around differing views on the Arab Spring.

Fake news helped though, too, as while that row between Qatar and the Saudis has been a thing for years, this latest escalation centered around a report in the Qatar state media, right after President Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia to make hawkish speeches about Iran, quoted the Qatari Emir warning against seeking military confrontation toward Iran.

Israel on Sunday conducted a surprise two-day drill to test its military’s readiness for war.

The unannounced exercise, which began on Sunday, comprised a surprise 36-hour drill to determine the army's readiness for battle, according to The Times of Israel.

The drills focused on conscripted infantry ground troops, supported by air force units, according to an unnamed Israeli Defense Force (IDF) official with knowledge of the move who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"It's about a fast switch from routine to a situation that's not routine, where you're preparing for it to be something else," the IDF official said, adding that the drill scenario incorporated a gambit showing "Hezbollah carrying out a terror attack against our troops," the Times of Israel reported.

An unnamed senior Israeli military official recently noted that Israel has implemented an enhanced evacuation plan for Lebanese border regions in the event of renewed fighting, according to The Jerusalem Post.

President Trump thrust himself into a bitter Persian Gulf dispute on Tuesday, taking credit for Saudi Arabia’s move to isolate its smaller neighbor, Qatar, and rattling his national security staff by upending a critical American strategic relationship.

In a series of tweets, Mr. Trump said his call for an end to the financing of radical groups had prompted Saudi Arabia and four other countries to act this week against Qatar, a tiny, energy-rich emirate that is arguably America’s most important military outpost in the Middle East.

“During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology,” he wrote in a midmorning post. “Leaders pointed to Qatar — look!”

A former U.S. intelligence contractor tells Circa he walked away with more than 600 million classified documents on 47 hard drives from the National Security Agency and the CIA, a haul potentially larger than Edward Snowden's now infamous breach.

And now he is suing former FBI Director James Comey and other government figures, alleging the bureau has covered up evidence he provided them showing widespread spying on Americans that violated civil liberties.

The middle class in America has been shrinking for decades, and our leaders seem powerless to do anything about it.

Two years ago, the middle class became a minority in this country for the first time ever. In other words, the middle class now accounts for less than 50 percent of the population. But back in the early 1970s, the middle class made up more than 60 percent of the population. I have often compared being in the middle class to playing a really bizarre game of musical chairs. When the music stops playing each month, more chairs are being pulled out of the middle class, and most of us are just hoping that we will still have a chair for the next go around.

The head of Amnesty International Turkey has been arrested by the authorities over suspected links with exiled cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for a failed 2016 coup, the group said. It added that Taner Kilic was “swept up in the post-coup purge.”

Kilic, the chair of Amnesty International Turkey, “was detained from his house in [the city of] Izmir at 6:30 this morning [Tuesday] before being taken to his office. Both properties were searched. He is currently in police custody in Yesilyurt district of Izmir,” Amnesty International said in a statement.

According to the group, Kilic’s detention “does not seem to be connected to any of Amnesty International’s work, nor to be specifically targeting the organization.”

Speaking on the election trail, the Prime Minister told supporters she would change any laws that got in the way of preventing jihadis from launching attacks in Britain.

Mrs May used one of her final speeches of the General Election campaign to step up her rhetoric against Islamist extremism in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack that left seven people dead and more than 40 injured.

According to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brian Kemp, foul play was discovered when a hacker failed at attempting to breach the firewall that protected the Georgia voter’s registration database. The IP address in question was discovered to originate from the Department of Homeland Security itself.

On a Facebook post on Thursday, Kemp said he has “sent a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson demanding to know why.”

In a world where defense budgets are astronomical and wars of occupation and destabilization never end, political leaders in the UK and in Europe want you to accept street-level terror as the new everyday normal. The attacks are unstoppable, they say, and the world must embrace this hopelessness with faith that the government is doing all it can to create a better, safer world. Run, hide, and call the authorities, for you are helpless in this reality, so they say. But who creates and sustains this reality?

Obama Administration Vice President Joe Biden boasted about how he personally played a key role in helping Greece stay in the European Union, and avoid a Grexit scenario.

In an interview with Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Joe Biden noted that a Grexit “could potentially have triggered a wider crisis of confidence in the global economy.”

And so Greece, and its destroyed economy, 26% unemployment rate, and close to 2 million citizens now living below the poverty line, thank former VP Biden for keeping them bound in EU shackles, with no foreseeable end to the suffering in sight.

Khuram Shazad Butt, one of the three London Bridge attackers, was allowed to work at Westminster Tube station, even after he featured in a TV documentary about British jihadists in which he prayed to a black flag in Regent’s Park.
He was also free to carry out Saturday’s atrocity despite working for a man accused of helping to train the 7/7 bombings ringleader, and being investigated by police and MI5, it has emerged.

The third terrorist behind the London Bridge attack has been named as Youssef Zaghba. It emerged he was arrested last year trying to reach Syria, yet was still able to get into the UK. Reports in the Italian media said Zaghba was stopped in Bologna. His mother is Italian and still lives there.

Butt, 27, from Barking, East London, was deemed “low priority” by the Metropolitan Police despite being reported to them at least twice. He had slipped down in priority because there was no intelligence he was planning an attack.

On June 8, 1967, an Israeli torpedo tore through the side of the unarmed American naval vessel USS Liberty, approximately a dozen miles off the Sinai coast. The ship, whose crew was under command of the National Security Agency, was intercepting communications at the height of the Six Day War when it came under direct Israeli aerial and naval assault.
Reverberations from the torpedo blast sent crewman Ernie Gallo flying across the radio research room where he was stationed. Gallo, a communications technician aboard the Liberty, found himself and his fellow shipmates in the midst of an attack that would leave 34 Americans dead and 171 wounded.

The real reason behind the diplomatic fallout may be far simpler, and once again has to do with a long-running and controversial topic, namely Qatar's regional natural gas dominance.

Recall that many have speculated (with evidence going back as far back as 2012) that one of the reasons for the long-running Syria proxy war was nothing more complex than competing gas pipelines, with Qatar eager to pass its own pipeline, connecting Europe to its vast natural gas deposits, however as that would put Gazprom's monopoly of European LNG supply in jeopardy, Russia had been firmly, and violently, against this strategy from the beginning and explains Putin's firm support of the Assad regime and the Kremlin's desire to prevent the replacement of the Syrian government with a puppet regime.

Walmart hired global security giant Lockheed Martin a few years ago to monitor activism in its massive workforce, according to new documents. The defense contractor tracked employees’ social media and reported protest participation to the retail giant.

The email account of one of Washington’s most influential foreign operatives, Yousef Al-Otaiba, has been hacked. A number of those emails were sent to the Intercept, as well as the Huffington Post and the Daily Beast, the Intercept reports. The hacker has allegedly promised to release a trove of these emails publicly.
Otaiba is the United Arab Emirate’s ambassador to the United States, and the Intercept confirms that the Hotmail account in question is the one he used for his business in Washington. The Huffington Post further confirmed that at least one of the emails is authentic, and a UAE spokesperson confirmed Otaiba account had been hacked. None of the eight individuals whose names were involved in the email exchanges – and who were contacted by the Huffington Post for comment – denied that the exchanges took place.

The dishonest and dangerous response of Theresa May’s UK government to the horrific terrorist attacks of the past month is unfortunately all too common when it comes to those in power. Rather than look inward at the glaring shadiness and corruption inherent throughout UK government polices, its “leaders” are looking to use these barbaric acts as a excuse to push through an authoritarian and illiberal expansion of state power. Specifically, Theresa May’s government is despicably using the attacks to push for regulation and censorship of the internet.

Detroit police and city officials are drafting an ordinance that would make it mandatory for all venues that serve customers after 10 p.m. to join Project Green Light, a program that allows officers to monitor businesses’ high-definition video feeds in real time.

All businesses open that late — from party stores and gas stations to sports stadiums like Comerica Park and venues like the Fox Theatre — would be subject to the ordinance if it’s passed, police said.

Police report double-digit reductions in violent crime at businesses that have enrolled in Project Green Light, and they hope the ordinance will result in similar drops in crime citywide. Others insist it would be government overreach to force businesses to join the program, raising privacy concerns and questioning whether such a broad ordinance would be legal.

The scandal erupted last Thursday, when Turkey's foreign minister said it is not possible to allow German lawmakers to visit troops stationed at Turkey's Incirlik air base now, although he said Ankara may reconsider if it sees "positive steps" from Berlin. It was not immediately clear just what Turkey's "demands" or expectations, monetary or otherwise, were from Merkel for it to change its view. Ties between the NATO allies deteriorated sharply in the run-up to Turkey's April 16 referendum that handed President Tayyip Erdogan stronger presidential powers.

"We see that Germany supports everything that is against Turkey," Mevlut Cavusoglu told a news conference in Ankara last week. "Under these circumstances it is not possible for us to open Incirlik to German lawmakers right now ... If they take positive steps in the future we can reconsider."

Speaking over the weekend at a conference in Singapore, Defense Secretary James Mattis urged the world to “bear with” the US as they adjust to the election of a new president, insisting that the US remains committed to engaging in global intervention, and that it is “very deeply rooted in the American psyche.”

Mattis insisted the 20th century ended any idea of America not constantly intervening in the world, and that Americans knew it would be “a crummy world” if they weren’t constantly involved in other countries’ affairs.

The comments were mostly directed at an audience of US allies who don’t like President Trump, and while he tried to assure them that nothing with respect to US policy had changed, other officials said they had the sense that what Mattis was saying was far different that what Trump himself is saying.

NBC News was forced to issue a correction on Sunday evening after spinning its newest talent Megyn Kelly’s interview to falsely claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not deny having compromising information” on President Donald Trump.

To promote the debut of Kelly’s “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly” program, NBC News tweeted, “EXCLUSIVE: Putin does not deny having compromising information on President Trump in interview with @megynkelly.”

CNBC, NBC’s sister station, did not send out fake news, linking to the same story after tweeting, “Russia’s Putin denies having compromising information on Trump.”

Clearly, the only sane thing to do after a terrorist attack is to take rights away. Maybe if we build a prison around society, we will all be safe. Maybe it is just a matter of the government having more power over the citizens, and they will finally rid the world of terrorism.

Or maybe the UK’s priorities are all wrong. For instance, did you know that in the United Kingdom, you are required to pay a tax to acquire a TV License in order to watch broadcast and online media? And they are not messing around. Look at these posters and billboards.

Yet Prime Minister Theresa May seems to think the UK is simply not invasive enough of their citizen’s personal lives. They are going full-on “Big Brother” over TV licenses; they know who you are.

But they don’t know who the terrorists are. The government identifies in a database every last home without a TV license, but they cannot track and stop terrorists.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland has confirmed that it is examining a criminal complaint against former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, accused of war crimes by a Geneva-based pro-Palestinian group. Livni recently traveled to Lugano in southern Switzerland for a celebration organised by the Swiss-Israel Association.

According to the Le Temps newspaper, Livni has been named in a legal suit filed on Monday by the Geneva-based Urgence Palestine activist group external link in relation to her role in the Israeli military's “Operation Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip between December 2008 – January 2009. She was foreign minister and acting prime minister at the time.

The Attorney General’s Office external link confirmed to swissinfo.ch that this ‘[legal] request is presently being studied’.

New international agreements should be introduced to regulate the internet in the light of the London Bridge terror attack, Theresa May has said.

The Prime Minister said introducing new rules for cyberspace would “deprive the extremists of their safe spaces online” and that technology firms were not currently doing enough.

The Prime Minister made the comments outside Downing Street on Sunday morning in the aftermath of the van and knife attack that saw seven people killed and dozens injured.

London attack shows too much tolerance for extremism in UK, May says
"We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed - yet that is precisely what the internet, and the big companies that provide internet-based services provide,” Ms May said.

“We need to work with allies democratic governments to reach international agreements to regulate cyberspace to prevent the spread of extremist and terrorism planning.

America divided – this concept increasingly graces political discourse in the U.S., pitting left against right, conservative thought against the liberal agenda. But for decades, Americans have been rearranging along another divide, one just as stark if not far more significant – a chasm once bridged by a flourishing middle class.

Peter Temin, Professor Emeritus of Economics at MIT, believes the ongoing death of “middle America” has sparked the emergence of two countries within one, the hallmark of developing nations. In his new book, The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy, Temin paints a bleak picture where one country has a bounty of resources and power, and the other toils day after day with minimal access to the long-coveted American dream.

The other day I was in my local branch of a Too Big To Fail bank where I have a few accounts. One of them is a savings account in which I keep some of my "dry powder" cash stored.

It had been a while since I had checked what kind of return the savings account offered. I knew it was pretty low, but there have been a few Fed rate hikes since the last time I had checked. So I asked the teller to look up the current rate the account was yielding.

Any guesses?

It's 0.06%.

Not 0.6%. And definitely not the 6% I remember receiving when I was a teenager. 0.06%.

As in, put $100,000 into your savings account and get back a whopping $60 per year.

In March 2011, Obama launched war on Syria, using ISIS, al-Nusra and other terrorists as imperial foot soldiers.

The aim then and now is destroying Syrian sovereignty, ousting Assad, replacing him with a pro-Western puppet, eliminating an Israeli rival, isolating Iran ahead of a similar scheme against its government, and claiming another US imperial trophy.

That’s what the war is all about, orchestrated by Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. There’s nothing civil about it – one of many Big Lies about what’s going on.

Russia’s good faith efforts to resolve things diplomatically are consistently undermined by Washington and its rogue allies – NATO, Turkey, the Saudis, Israel and others.

NATO’s announced escalated “fight against terrorism” beyond its current involvement in Syria and elsewhere, along with the enormous arms deal Trump arranged with Riyadh is bad news for hoped for Middle East peace.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in no uncertain terms Saturday that North Korea presented a "clear and present danger," while also criticizing China for ratcheting up the tension over contested islands in the South China Sea.

His sharp words for both countries suggested he believed China would, out of self-interest, pressure North Korea to halt its nuclear and missile programs even as Washington pushes Beijing to change course in the South China Sea.

Speaking at an international security conference in Singapore, Mattis said the Trump administration was encouraged by China's renewed commitment to working with the U.S. and others to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons. He also said he thought Beijing ultimately would see Kim Jong Un's regime as a liability rather than an asset.

Horrific conditions in Yemen continue to grow worse:

Cholera deaths in war-torn Yemen have surged into the hundreds, more than a quarter of Yemenis face famine, and parents are selling girls into marriage to buy food, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Wall Street analyst and Trends Research Institute head Gerald Celente says that the hysterical hatred and distrust of Russia being force-fed to the US public by politicians and the media is immoral and preparing the way for new attempts at repression.

The mainstream media’s obituaries for Gen. Manuel Noriega missed the real story: the U.S. government’s rank hypocrisy in justifying a bloody invasion that deepened Panama’s role in the drug trade, explains Jonathan Marshall.

The death of former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega on May 29 elicited few if any tears. But it should have sparked more reflection in the United States on his ugly history of service to the CIA, the hypocrisy of Washington’s sudden discovery of his abuses once Noriega became an unreliable ally against the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, and the George H.W. Bush administration’s bloody and illegal invasion of Panama in December 1989.

Nearly six months after Donald Trump was sworn into office, more than 200 protesters who gathered in Washington, D.C. to protest his inauguration are facing felony charges that carry sentences of 70 to 80 years.

According to Al Jazeera, the 212 protesters were arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department and initially charged with felony rioting, a crime that carries a 10-year prison sentence and a $25,000 fine. On April 27, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia added additional charges that include urging to riot, conspiracy to riot and destruction of property.

Obama-era State Department officials engaged in what they are describing as an “intense,” behind-the-scenes campaign to prevent President Trump from normalization US relations with Russia shortly after he took office. The officials, who include former Obama Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski, claim to have been the impetus behind the Senate resolution which aimed to forbid easing sanctions on Russia without Congressional permission.

Though President Trump made much of his intention to normalize ties with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, he had publicly abandoned that proposal by the late-January, early-February period during which this effort supposedly happened, insisting he was holding off on sanctions relief on Russia for concessions.

According to Israeli NGO Peace Now, the Israeli Civil Administration is planning to announce some 2,600 new settlement housing units across the occupied West Bank. This includes 2,500 in existing settlements, and 102 units in the new Amichai settlement.

In addition to the controversial new settlement, some 1,000 of the settlement units are said to be slated for isolated settlements outside of the major blocs, and other areas deep within the West Bank, moves likely to significantly undermine any chances for peace talks.

The CIA has appointed Michael D’Andrea, who is colloquially known as “Ayatollah Mike,” as the new chief of their anti-Iran operations. D’Andrea had previously participated in the hunt for bin Laden, was said to be heavily involved in the CIA’s torture program against al-Qaeda detainees, and then oversaw the CIA drone war worldwide, with its huge death toll of both civilians and “suspects.”

As someone who oversaw torture and widespread killing by CIA forces, and is seen as a particularly aggressive figure, D’Andrea’s appointment to the Iran post is seen as a sign that the Trump Administration is taking a “hard line” toward Iran.

Exactly what a hard line toward Iran means, in the midst of repeated international confirmations that Iran is complying with its requirements under the P5+1 nuclear deal, is not clear, though Trump has repeatedly expressed opposition to the P5+1 deal, and may still be looking for an out.

The latest quarterly report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has once again confirmed that Iran is continuing to comply with all of its requirements under the P5+1 nuclear deal, and that its stockpiles of low enriched uranium remain well below negotiated caps.

The IAEA report also confirmed that Iran has made no attempt to construct a heavy water reactor at Arak. Iran is expected to ultimately build a reactor at Arak to produce medical isotopes, though under the P5+1 deal the international community is to offer an alternative design that produces less plutonium as a waste product.

The lack of an active heavy water reactor, along with continued struggles to sell their excess heavy water on the international market, means Iran is once again nearing the “cap” on a heavy water stockpile. The P5+1 deal was supposed to assure Iran an export market for excess heavy water, to help recoup the cost of a production facility no longer needed because of the Arak redesign.

Social media accounts belonging to attorney Elizabeth Lee Beck recently reported receiving a voice modulated phone call from a number which matched Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ office. Earlier today, Beck stated via social media that co-counsel, Cullin O’Brien had received threatening anonymous calls.

The Becks wrote that the latest call to their co-counsel Cullin O’Brien had referenced Cullin’s family and mentioned the recent death of U.S. Federal Prosecutor Whisenant, whose body was found on Hollywood beach, located in the same county as Cullin O’brien. Disobedient Media previously reported that Beranton Whisenant’s body was found in Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ 23rd district in Southern Florida.

Elizabeth Lee Beck reported further threatening calls.
Attorneys Jared Beck and Elizabeth Lee Beck filed a class-action lawsuit last year against the DNC and former DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz after the DNC leaks exposed deep corruption in the Democratic Party establishment.

A letter was sent Friday to students by the faculty at Evergreen State College, saying they stand behind the protesters and wish to pursue disciplinary action against Professor Brett Weinstein.

The Oregon college of about 4,000 students erupted in protests last week after Weinstein, a leftwing biology professor, told student activists he did not agree with their “Day of Absence” plans. The Day of Absence is usually conducted by students of color leaving the campus for the day, to bring awareness to their presence and issues. This year, however, student activists wanted all white students and faculty to leave for the day. Weinstein, who supported the former Days of Absence, called this year’s plan an act of oppression.

The blowup was highly publicized by the media, and the campus was shut down yesterday and today due to a man calling local police, threatening to shoot up the school.

Though he waited until the last possible moment to actually sign the document, President Trump today signed a waiver for the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, delaying the relocation of the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Trump Administration had been indicating such a delay for weeks, though officially he’d been “undecided” until today, the deadline for the waiver.

White House officials, who were refusing all comment as recently as yesterday, today confirmed that President Trump they are maximizing chances of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians by holding off on the embassy move. The Israeli government is harshly criticizing the delay, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying not moving the embassy would “delay” the peace deal.

The likelihood of the full version of the 2014 CIA torture report compiled by the Senate Intelligence Committee ever being made public has dropped precipitously, as President Trump has begun returning all copies of the still-classified document to the committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R – NC).

Government documents, even classified ones, are supposed to eventually be made public under the Freedom of Information Act, and while the federal government has long gone out of its way to skirt FOIA requirements anyhow, Congress is outright exempt,, meaning if they get all the copies, they likely disappear forever.

Burr’s call to recover all the documents is highly unusual, and Trump’s agreement to do so is even more-so. The 6,700 page document excoriated US torture policies after 9/11, and noted that not a single incident of a terrorist attack had been foiled because of the torture.

Moscow is considering appropriate response to the latest US sanctions against Russian companies but does not want to bring bilateral relations to an impasse, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Sputnik on Thursday.

"We will be determine our answer based on the need not to drive our relations completely to a dead-end and work on the prospect of improving them. Today's actions of the US Treasury do not help accomplishing this task," he added.

Moreover, the Treasury sanctioned Russian, Chinese and North Korean nationals in connection with Pyongyang’s ballistics and nuclear programs. The individuals sanctioned were Igor Aleksandrovich Michurin of Russia, Ri Song-hyok from China and Kim Su-kwang from North Korea.

As a result of the sanctions, all of Michurin and the companies’ assets subject to US jurisdiction are frozen and US companies are prohibited from doing business with them.

A judge has ruled that a lawsuit against the NYPD for officers’ use of a Long Range Acoustic Device sound cannon at a Black Lives Matter protest can proceed, because “sound can be used as a force.”

The city had sought to get the federal lawsuit thrown out in part on the basis that “the LRAD is not an instrumentality of force, but a communication device,” and that “the officers’ creation of a sound that plaintiffs happened to hear cannot be considered ‘physical contact.'”

The lawsuit stems from a demonstration in Midtown in December 2014 in response to a grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo, one of several cops who killed Eric Garner in Staten Island. The evening protest bled into early the next morning, and around 1 a.m. at East 57th Street and Madison Avenue, marchers were gathered in the street, and some in the crowd were throwing bottles and garbage at police when two officers with the NYPD Disorder Control Unit activated the LRAD.

Despite initial claims by the British government, it is now clear that Salman Abedi, the man responsible for the bombing of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, was not a “lone wolf” but a member of terrorist network living in the United Kingdom under the protection of the government.
The UK has hosted a group of Libyan exiles with links to Al Qaeda in Manchester for decades. The exiles were part of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) opposed to the Gaddafi government.

Among that group was Abedi and his family. Abedi’s father, Ramadan Abedi, was a prominent member of LIFG.

Also, Abd al-Baset Azzouz, who left the UK to run a terrorist network in Libya overseen by Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, was part of the group.

LIFG was listed as a terrorist organization connected to Al Qaeda by the United Nations and banned from the UK under anti-terrorism laws.

During the election campaign of 2008 before he was elected as the president, Barack Obama made an artificial distinction between the “just war” in Afghanistan and the unjust war in Iraq. In accordance with the flawed distinction, he pledged that he would withdraw American troops stationed in Iraq.

More to the point, however, when President Obama decided to withdraw American troops from the unjust war in Iraq, at the same time, he pledged that he would commit additional American troops and resources into the purportedly “just war” in Afghanistan. And consequently, the number of US troops in Afghanistan jumped from 30,000 during the Bush Administration to more than 100,000 during the supposedly “pacifist” Obama Administration.

Pentagon officials are reporting that they are hiking the US military “footpriint” as well as “combat power” in southern Syria in recent days, sending more troops into the area with a specific eye toward fighting against the Shi’ite militias that are trying to advance, hoping to connect Syrian government territory to the Iraqi border.

Shi’ite militias who had been involved in the Mosul invasion in Iraq have been making for the Syrian border, looking to help the Shi’ite militias inside Syria with fighting ISIS. The problem is that US-backed rebels are smack in the middle of these two sides, and the US has even targeted the militias inside syria to some extent to keep them away from the border region, accusing them of “threatening” the rebel territory.

Democratic Party leaders and liberal pundits make a big deal out of President Donald Trump’s tenuous grasp on reality. Trump is often described as a “post-truth” president. Yet, former secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has crafted her own alternative reality about why she lost the 2016 election.

This profound hubris, which Clinton intends to publish in a book, is reinforced and encouraged by Democrats and liberal media professionals. It virtually guarantees a subsection of the liberal class, who pledge resistance to Trump, will simultaneously fail to confront the truth of why Clinton did not win and likely engage in the same politics that led to one of the most embarrassing political losses in the history of the United States.

At an invitation-only conference, Clinton was interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, who founded Recode, a site owned by Vox Media.

After the Freddie Gray riots in 2015, Baltimore residents began noticing small planes circling the city. As reporters later uncovered, Baltimore Police had quietly begun using a "wide-area surveillance" system, which deploys Cessna planes to constantly record the movements of an entire metro area. Police never bothered to tell the public they were using the invasive technology, which had been developed by the U.S. Air Force to help soldiers fight in the Middle East.

Now Miami-Dade Police are quietly trying to deploy the same system. In a county document posted online Tuesday, MDPD revealed the force has applied for Department of Justice funds to begin using wide-area surveillance (WAS) tools throughout the county. In a move that echoes Baltimore's lack of disclosure to the public, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has already applied for the grant — and the county is now asking commissioners to sign off on the act retroactively at its next meeting June 6.

A federal prosecution of a doctor in California revealed that the FBI has been working for several years to cultivate informants in Best Buy’s national repair facility in Brooks, Kentucky, including reportedly paying eight Geek Squad employees as informants.

According to court records in the prosecution of the doctor, Mark Rettenmaier, the scheme would work as follows: Customers with computer problems would take their devices to the Geek Squad for repair. Once Geek Squad employees had the devices, they would surreptitiously search the unallocated storage space on the devices for evidence of suspected child porn images and then report any hits to the FBI for criminal prosecution.

Court records show that some Geek Squad employees received $500 or $1,000 payments from the FBI.