Category: Uncategorized

Remarks on the US/China “Trade Deal”, by Paul Craig Roberts – The Unz Review

Image result for Cartoons of the China/US Trade Deal"

The first thing to understand is that it is not a trade deal. It is Trump backing off his tariffs when he discovered that the tariffs fall on US goods and American consumers, not on China. Trump is covering his retraction by calling it a trade deal. China’s part of the deal is to agree to purchase the US goods that it already intended to purchase.

The purpose of tariffs is to protect domestic producers from foreign competition by raising the price of imported goods. What Trump, his administration, and the financial press did not understand is that at least half of the US trade deficit with China is the offshored goods produced in China by such corporations as Apple, Nike, and Levi. The offshored production of US global corporations counts as imports when they are brought into the US to be sold to Americans. Thus, the cost of the tariffs were falling on US corporations and US consumers.

via Remarks on the US/China “Trade Deal”, by Paul Craig Roberts – The Unz Review

Trump Shares New Details of Soleimani’s Killing With GOP Donors at Mar-a-Lago Fundraiser – Mother Jones

Trump ( Donny from Marketing) becomes LESS convincing the more he makes up the story of the Assassination of Gen Soleimani and some 7 others in his entourage who he can’t talk about because he doesn’t even know who they were. When he makes an attempt he’s WRONG (ODT)

Notably absent from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago speech was the rationale he and administration officials had previously used in the days after the killing: that Soleimani posed an “imminent threat” against the United States.

via Trump Shares New Details of Soleimani’s Killing With GOP Donors at Mar-a-Lago Fundraiser – Mother Jones

Saudi-Led Coalition, Houthis still Ravaging Yemen with War Crimes: Millions at Risk

https://media.juancole.com/images/2020/01/saudi-led-coalition-houthis-stil-750x422.jpg

Trump backs his Saudi allies to do this (ODT)

via Saudi-Led Coalition, Houthis still Ravaging Yemen with War Crimes: Millions at Risk

McConnell Readies Nuclear Option For Shielding Senate Trial From Public View | Crooks and Liars

McConnell Readies Nuclear Option For Shielding Senate Trial From Public View

Too Embarrassing. Too Dangerous for the GOP. (ODT)

via McConnell Readies Nuclear Option For Shielding Senate Trial From Public View | Crooks and Liars

Khamenei: Trump Killed Soleimani to help ISIL Terrorists, but is Impotent; Trump: “Be careful with your Words”

https://media.juancole.com/images/2020/01/khamenei-trump-killed-soleimani.jpg

Back at Trump but with a difference… the Truth (ODT)

via Khamenei: Trump Killed Soleimani to help ISIL Terrorists, but is Impotent; Trump: “Be careful with your Words”

PODCAST: Does Kahanism expose what Israel tries to hide? – +972 Magazine

Rabbi Meir Kahane, August 24, 1984. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

Tell me Israel hasn’t adopted WW2 politics once used against them. (ODT)

“If you look at something like the Jewish Nation-State Law, that is absolutely informed by an idea of supremacism,” she continues. “Kahane could have written that law himself. But it wasn’t put forward by Kahanist parties, it was put forward by parties that, yes, are on the right, but we consider absolutely part of the Israeli mainstream and not at all extremist.”

via PODCAST: Does Kahanism expose what Israel tries to hide? – +972 Magazine

Ike Was Right, by Eric Margolis – The Unz Review

Image result for Cartoons on the military/industrial complex"

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.

Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.”

General Dwight D Eisenhower
Farewell address 1961

All the war party needs is a steady supply of foreign villains (preferably Muslims) who can be occasionally bombed back to the early Islamic age. Americans have largely forgotten George W. Bush’s lurid claims that Iraqi drones of death were poised to shower poisons on the sleeping nation. Even the Soviets never ventured so deep into the sea of absurdity.

The more I listen to his words, the more I like Ike.

via Ike Was Right, by Eric Margolis – The Unz Review

‘The Government Can’t Airbrush History’: National Archives Denounced for Blurring Out Anti-Trump Signs in Women’s March Photos | Common Dreams News

A detail from an unaltered version of a photograph that the National Archive admitted it doctored to remove anti-Trump references. The picture was taken at the Women's March on Washington,D.C. on January 21, 2017. Massive crowds attended the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

“It is the job of the National Archives to document history, not alter it to serve the president’s ego.”

“Apologizing is not enough,” she said. “The National Archives must explain to the public why it even took the Orwellian step of trying to rewrite history and erasing women’s bodies from it, as well as who ordered it.”

via ‘The Government Can’t Airbrush History’: National Archives Denounced for Blurring Out Anti-Trump Signs in Women’s March Photos | Common Dreams News

In media’s ‘Wild West’, news consumers struggle to find truth, trust and transparency

YouTube has emerged as one of the fastest growing social media platforms for news.

General trust in news dropped from 50 per cent to 44 per cent in 2019.

Australian Broadcasting Authority found more than 85 per cent of Australians thought commercial sponsors were very influential or somewhat influential in news coverage.

The Free TV Code of Practice currently requires broadcasters to present news fairly and impartially, and to distinguish factual material from commentary and analysis.

In radio, current affairs programs are not required to be impartial but a licensee must provide reasonable opportunities for “significant alternative viewpoints” when dealing with controversial issues of public importance.

In media’s ‘Wild West’, news consumers struggle to find truth, trust and transparency

The Pesticide Industry’s Playbook for Poisoning the Earth

Screenshot_2020-01-19 The Intercept.jpg

via The Pesticide Industry’s Playbook for Poisoning the Earth

Behind the smokescreen, the Coalition’s stance on climate change hasn’t changed at all | Opinion | The Guardian

Bushfire smoke haze blankets Melbourne

via Behind the smokescreen, the Coalition’s stance on climate change hasn’t changed at all | Opinion | The Guardian

Trump’s new impeachment defense team has been on Fox News over 350 times in the past year | Media Matters for America

A stylized image of President Donald Trump waving, with headshots of Pam Bondi, Robert Ray, Alan Dershowitz, and Ken Starr

via Trump’s new impeachment defense team has been on Fox News over 350 times in the past year | Media Matters for America

How a Hidden Parliamentary Session Revealed Trump’s True Motives in Iraq, by Whitney Webb – The Unz Review

Much of the U.S. pressure exerted on Iraq’s government with respect to China has reportedly taken place covertly and behind closed doors, keeping the Trump administration’s concerns over China’s growing ties to Iraq largely out of public view, perhaps over concerns that a public scuffle could exacerbate the U.S.-China “trade war” and endanger efforts to resolve it. Yet, whatever the reasons may be, evidence strongly suggests that the U.S. is equally concerned about China’s presence in Iraq as it is with Iran’s. This is because China has the means and the ability to dramatically undermine not only the U.S.’ control over Iraq’s oil sector but the entire petrodollar system on which the U.S.’ status as both a financial and military superpower directly depends.

via How a Hidden Parliamentary Session Revealed Trump’s True Motives in Iraq, by Whitney Webb – The Unz Review

The Three Biggest Lies Trump and His Deputies Have Been Telling Us About Iran – Mother Jones

via The Three Biggest Lies Trump and His Deputies Have Been Telling Us About Iran – Mother Jones

The Trump Organized-Crime Style: Bullying Europe, Bullying Iran and Impeached for Bullying Ukraine

https://media.juancole.com/images/2020/01/the-trump-organized-crime-style-750x422.jpg

A path well travelled by Mussolini, Hitler, Pinochet, Franco, Netanyahu, the de-democratisation of Democracy not by ideology but a pragmatic grab for power & wealth by a single-minded Party of self-interested gangsters with only 30% support of the nation.(ODT)

via The Trump Organized-Crime Style: Bullying Europe, Bullying Iran and Impeached for Bullying Ukraine

For Abuse of Office and Covering for Trump, Watchdog Group Files Formal DOJ Complaint Against AG William Barr | Common Dreams News

Attorney General William Barr chooses not to speak as President Donald J. Trump participates in a ceremony to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Edwin Meese III in the Oval Office at the White House on Tuesday, Oct 08, 2019. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The De-Democratisation of the USA under Trump (ODT)

The nonpartisan government oversight group Democracy 21 on Friday filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice against Attorney General William Barr, calling for a formal investigation and “remedial action” over accusations that Barr has failed to comply with “norms, rules and standards of conduct” while overseeing President Donald Trump’s DOJ.

via For Abuse of Office and Covering for Trump, Watchdog Group Files Formal DOJ Complaint Against AG William Barr | Common Dreams News

Australia Spends $4.5 Million Detaining Biloela Family

Where’s Dutton he’s on first priority alert (ODT)

via Australia Spends $4.5 Million Detaining Biloela Family

Australian mother of five stripped of citizenship, leaving two children potentially stateless | World news | The Guardian

a woman and children in Syria's al-Hawl refugee camp

via Australian mother of five stripped of citizenship, leaving two children potentially stateless | World news | The Guardian

Murdoch’s flagship Australian newspaper pushes climate denial as devastating bushfires rage | Media Matters for America

Rupert Murdoch on an orange background with The Australian masthead

via Murdoch’s flagship Australian newspaper pushes climate denial as devastating bushfires rage | Media Matters for America

Google searches on bushfires ‘eclipse’ records, new benchmark for decade set – Politics – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

Headlines about koala losses following the Australian bushfire crisis.

Morrison has made International Interest in Australia Spike (ODT)Googl

Bushfire searches were almost twice as popular as the next most-clicked search
Interest in bushfires rose more than 500 per cent over the past three months
Global interest in Australia soared by 340 per cent in the first week of 2020, compared to usual levels

via Google searches on bushfires ‘eclipse’ records, new benchmark for decade set – Politics – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

What has Morrison done? Jacinda Adern Heaps and Funny

Old Dog Thoughts- There’s a pot of gold at the end of Morrison’s rainbow if he can find it.

Fighting Fake News with REAL,18/1/20; Bushfire Relief for marginal seats only; Coal’s Biggest Lobbyist promised a pot of Gold for ending the rainbows;

We Must Remedy Discrimination in Our Media System | The Smirking Chimp

via We Must Remedy Discrimination in Our Media System | The Smirking Chimp

‘I Made a Lot of Bankers Look Very Good,’ Brags Trump as Wall Street Titans Enjoy $32 Billion Tax Bonanza | Common Dreams News

Activists rally against President Donald Trump's reported plans to loosen Wall Street Regulations and repeal the Dodd-Frank Act outside of Goldman Sachs headquarters in Lower Manhattan, February 7, 2017 in New York City. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

via ‘I Made a Lot of Bankers Look Very Good,’ Brags Trump as Wall Street Titans Enjoy $32 Billion Tax Bonanza | Common Dreams News

Republicans Shrug Off Damning Developments In Ukraine Scandal | HuffPost Australia

Is Trump on his way to becoming America’s Dictator? Mussolini had a Party behind him prepared to tear up Italy’s Constitution. Hitler modelled himself on Mussolini. and both ensured the separation of powers were literally non existant. Interest and Social Darwinism is all that counted reason rationality and science were not required. Sounds like Trump to a tee. GOP has made every effort to take over the courts and fund the police and Military at every opportunity. (ODT)

On Wednesday evening, an associate of Trump’s private lawyer said on national television that Trump knew all about their schemes to push the president of Ukraine into announcing a sham investigation of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

And on Thursday morning, the Government Accountability Office announced that the White House broke the law when it withheld security assistance for Ukraine in that effort to pressure Ukraine into doing Trump’s bidding.

It’s the same thing Republicans have been saying for months, even though the White House only released the Ukraine aid after learning that someone from within the administration had filed a formal whistleblower complaint about the illegal holdup.

via Republicans Shrug Off Damning Developments In Ukraine Scandal | HuffPost Australia

‘Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy’: Trump Hotel Trends After Bonkers Interview | HuffPost Australia

‘Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy’: Trump Hotel Trends After Bonkers

The interview and the implications of Republican lawmakers and Trump insiders mingling with shady figures at the hotel caused #TrumpHotel to trend on Twitter, especially after MSNBC analyst David Corn compared it to the cantina at Mos Eisley from the first “Star Wars” movie:

via ‘Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy’: Trump Hotel Trends After Bonkers Interview | HuffPost Australia

The Real Reasons for the Israeli Race to Annex the Palestinian West Bank and Jordan Valley

https://media.juancole.com/images/2020/01/the-real-reasons-for-the-israeli.jpg

via The Real Reasons for the Israeli Race to Annex the Palestinian West Bank and Jordan Valley

News Corp Denies Link Between James Murdoch And Murdoch Family – The Shovel

 

Screenshot_2020-01-17 Entertainment – The Shovel.png

via News Corp Denies Link Between James Murdoch And Murdoch Family – The Shovel

A Murdoch does a ‘Prince Harry’: James and the climate according to News Corp

Rupert Murdoch flanked by sons Lachlan, left, and James at Rupert and Jerry Hall's wedding blessing at St Brides Church in Fleet St, London, in 2016.

What if Rupert Murdoch’s legacy is not that of being labelled the “great climate change denier” but the man who told the world: “The planet deserves the benefit of the doubt.”

 A Murdoch does a ‘Prince Harry’: James and the climate according to News Corp

James Murdoch shows News Corp climate criticism goes to top of family tree

SmoKo’s Brisbane Line – » The Australian Independent Media Network

via SmoKo’s Brisbane Line – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Bridget McKenzie Announces New 100,000 Seat Stadium For Launceston – The Shovel

Screenshot_2020-01-17 The Nation – The Shovel.png

via Bridget McKenzie Announces New 100,000 Seat Stadium For Launceston – The Shovel

But, that’s the way we always do it in the National Party! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

McKenzie is now Agriculture Minister and Deputy Leader of the National Party and her comments today fall into the categories of ;

that’s the way we always do things in the coalition. Otherwise how would we win ?
My career is going quite nicely, thank you. So please don’t rock the boat.

We should sack the National Office of Audit as they are clearly all Lefties

You all need to take a cold shower because we won the election : so there !

Are you from the ABC ?

So far, the Prime Minister hasn’t commented but in true Westminster fashion it is fully expected that he will sack McKenzie before the week is out … or perhaps not.

via But, that’s the way we always do it in the National Party! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Old Dog Thoughts- Blowing smoke and not just from fires;

https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_828/t_resize_width/q_86%2Cf_auto/593569e2030ee7c7141398477ee101cad0ab5e67

Fighting Fake News with REAL, 17/1/20; When the smoke is intentional; LNP Pork Barreling; Clearing the Trump Smoke; Iran and Trump’s tricks;

Surprise: Trump himself is the Deep State

https://media.juancole.com/images/2019/10/impeach-trump-for-his-crimes-aga-750x422.jpg

Just as we had gotten used to the fact that the president is, in effect, under congressional indictment, just as we had settled into a more or less stable stalemate over when (and if) the Senate will hold an impeachment trial, the president shook the snow globe again, by ordering the assassination of foreign military officials and threatening the destruction of Iran’s cultural sites. Nothing better than the promise of new war crimes to take the world’s attention away from a little thing like extorting a U.S. ally to help oneself get reelected.

via Surprise: Trump himself is the Deep State

Republicans Suffer Major Setbacks In Their War On Democracy | Crooks and Liars

Republicans Suffer Major Setbacks In Their War On Democracy

via Republicans Suffer Major Setbacks In Their War On Democracy | Crooks and Liars

Journalists denounce “security crackdown” against them for Senate impeachment trial | Media Matters for America

capitolbuilding.jpg

Free Press in GOP and Trump’s America (ODT)

via Journalists denounce “security crackdown” against them for Senate impeachment trial | Media Matters for America

Filed under:

Challenge to Trump: Muqtada al-Sadr & Iraqi Shiite leaders Call for a Million-Man March against US Military Occupation

https://media.juancole.com/images/2020/01/sadr11420.png

March against Trump in Iraq we have seen nothing yet. Will Trump become the ISIS ally he really is? (ODT)

Challenge to Trump: Muqtada al-Sadr & Iraqi Shiite leaders Call for a Million-Man March against US Military Occupation

US-China declare trade war truce with ‘phase one’ deal

Trump, China sign 'Phase 1' of trade deal

There is no celebration in the act of 4 steps backwards which Trump initiated in the first place lying his tits off that tarriffs were an income producing policy. But then when the damage done was hurting  moving 2 steps forward again to ease the pain and calling that a win.. That’s what Kim Jong un is an expert at. doing. Threatening, promising and then threatening again gaining  regaining inches maybe but losing all respect the nation once had for being trusted. Republicans are doing it for themselves and not the country (ODT)

The US and China have declared an official truce in their two-year long trade war, signing a deal that will see the US reduce some tariffs and China purchase hundreds of billions of dollars worth of American goods and services.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed the “phase one” agreement at a ceremony at the White House on Wednesday morning (Thursday morning Australian time).

via US-China declare trade war truce with ‘phase one’ deal

UK-US trade deal under threat unless Iran stance changes, says Trump ally | World news | The Guardian

Boris Johnson

America and it partners 1) Don’t tell them what you’re doing when committing murder 2) tell them to jump and insist on how high. 3) if they don’t comply turn your backs. (ODT)

via UK-US trade deal under threat unless Iran stance changes, says Trump ally | World news | The Guardian

Brisbane Archbishop slams laws to compel priests to report child abuse

Brisbane's Archbishop Mark Coleridge says confession encourages true disclosure, "which is the opposite of cover-up".

Human Rights of Catholic pederasts need to bo protected. but not all pederasts. Is this archbishop running a recruitment program for exclusion and division or an inclusive program for all Australians Australians. It’s time this country had a Bill of Rights? (ODT)

The state’s teachers, doctors, nurses, childcare workers and school principals already have to report crimes against children to authorities, but Archbishop Mark Coleridge says the laws would “limit and unjustly interfere” with the human rights of Catholics.

Brisbane Archbishop slams laws to compel priests to report child abuse

The Search for Clean Air Amid Australia’s Smoky Fires

 

https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/01/air-purifier-byler-1579034403.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90&w=1024&h=683

An example of the planet, the best of possible worlds the LNP government has been leading us into this century. (ODT)

The AQI hit 4,650 on New Year’s Day in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. That was the day that fires chased us home from the beach. When we got to our house, I stuffed paper towels in the crevices of the doors, but it was wasn’t enough. That night, I didn’t sleep. It was sweltering. And every breath tasted like sticky tar.

The Search for Clean Air Amid Australia’s Smoky Fires

2019 capped off the world’s hottest decade in recorded history

2019 was the second-hottest year on record, trailing only 2016.

via 2019 capped off the world’s hottest decade in recorded history

Australia fires: Climate change, our greatest threat, is overlooked by defence expenditure

Australian Defence Force troops and members of Forest Fire Management Victoria clear felled trees on the Princes Highway just outside Genoa.

Moreover, there are basic questions such as why we are building inferior French-designed subs instead of leasing from the US; or why have we made ourselves more of a target for terrorists and the likes of Iran by having joined wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now the US armada in the Straits of Hormuz; or why would we contemplate an additional “national guard” to handle disasters.

All this rather than assigning national disaster responsibilities to all three arms of the ADF – for transport and logistics, recovery programs, our own fleet of water-carrying aircraft.

via Australia fires: Climate change, our greatest threat, is overlooked by defence expenditure

They Just Don’t Make ’em like Goebbels Anymore | The Smirking Chimp

via They Just Don’t Make ’em like Goebbels Anymore | The Smirking Chimp

Intercepted Podcast: Iran — What Next?

via Intercepted Podcast: Iran — What Next?

Top People who Dress like Muslims who are a Thousand Times Better than Donald Trump

https://media.juancole.com/images/2020/01/top-people-who-dress-like-muslim-750x422.jpg

via Top People who Dress like Muslims who are a Thousand Times Better than Donald Trump

The baggage they have lugged from one year to the next means 2020 will be a hard slog (part 4) – » The Australian Independent Media Network

via The baggage they have lugged from one year to the next means 2020 will be a hard slog (part 4) – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Meet Some Of The Australian Animals Hardest Hit By The Bushfire Disaster | HuffPost Australia

Purkunas the koala at Taronga Zoo's Wildlife Hospital in Sydney. The zoo has received a $1 million boost...

via Meet Some Of The Australian Animals Hardest Hit By The Bushfire Disaster | HuffPost Australia

Craig Kelly Disputes Claim That Smoke Will Do Lap Of Earth, Reminding NASA That Earth Is Flat – The Shovel

Screenshot_2020-01-15 The Shovel - Australia's satire news website.png

Craig Kelly Disputes Claim That Smoke Will Do Lap Of Earth, Reminding NASA That Earth Is Flat – The Shovel