New Post: MBS' Preferred App to Hack His Enemies: Whatsapp. MBS used Whatapp and NSO Group's Pegasus malware to hack Jeff Bezos. When Jared Kushner used Whatsapp to chat with his bro about Middle East peace, did MBS hack his phone too?? [_link]

— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) January 22, 2020

New Post: MBS' Preferred App to Hack His Enemies: Whatsapp. MBS used Whatapp and NSO Group's Pegasus malware to hack Jeff Bezos. When Jared Kushner used Whatsapp to chat with his bro about Middle East peace, did MBS hack his phone too?? [_link]

— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) January 22, 2020

CIA partner in rendition, torture, imprisonment of battle field fighters in Afghanistan and Iraq.

○ Albania and the Kosovo Liberation Army
○ The Rendition Project: Khaled el-Masri

A leading bootcamp for jihadist fighters for the Syrian proxy war against president Bashar al Assad

○ Camp Bondsteel, Secret Prisons in Kosovo
○ Camp Bondsteel and an Independent Kosovo

Clintons' Support for Muslims In Bosnia and Kosovo

The U.S. under President Bill Clinton allowed clandestine arms transport into Bosnia in contravention of U.N. Resolution of an Imposed Arms Embargo. The U.S. State Department accepted funds, arms and support from Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Result was a first Al Qaeda presence inside Europe.

Iran lashes out against Albania after Soleimani killing | DW |

Albania has become caught up in the escalating conflict between the US and Iran. Indeed, leaders in the capital, Tirana, welcomed Soleimani's assassination; they immediately expelled two Iranian diplomats, reportedly for engaging in activities deemed unacceptable for diplomats.

○ Camp Ashraf detention for MEK terrorists during US occupation of Iraq

The US and Albania reached a humanitarian agreement and in 2013, thousands of MEK members were resettled to the Balkan country. Indeed, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said following Khamenei's threats the resettlement resulted from his country's "unwavering alliance" with the US.

Rama concedes that taking in the MEK members poses a risk for Albania. Yet he said it was a risk that "also honors and keeps alive the Albanian tradition" -- by which he means the country's previous role in protecting Jews from the Nazis during World War II. Albania deported not one single Jew to Nazi Germany.

○ How Kosovo Was Turned Into Fertile Ground for ISIS | NY Times - May 2016 |
○ 12,000 Iranians have fallen victim to MKO's acts of terror

CIA partner in rendition, torture, imprisonment of battle field fighters in Afghanistan and Iraq.

○ Albania and the Kosovo Liberation Army
○ The Rendition Project: Khaled el-Masri

A leading bootcamp for jihadist fighters for the Syrian proxy war against president Bashar al Assad

○ Camp Bondsteel, Secret Prisons in Kosovo
○ Camp Bondsteel and an Independent Kosovo

Clintons' Support for Muslims In Bosnia and Kosovo

The U.S. under President Bill Clinton allowed clandestine arms transport into Bosnia in contravention of U.N. Resolution of an Imposed Arms Embargo. The U.S. State Department accepted funds, arms and support from Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Result was a first Al Qaeda presence inside Europe.

Iran lashes out against Albania after Soleimani killing | DW |

Albania has become caught up in the escalating conflict between the US and Iran. Indeed, leaders in the capital, Tirana, welcomed Soleimani's assassination; they immediately expelled two Iranian diplomats, reportedly for engaging in activities deemed unacceptable for diplomats.

○ Camp Ashraf detention for MEK terrorists during US occupation of Iraq

The US and Albania reached a humanitarian agreement and in 2013, thousands of MEK members were resettled to the Balkan country. Indeed, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said following Khamenei's threats the resettlement resulted from his country's "unwavering alliance" with the US.

Rama concedes that taking in the MEK members poses a risk for Albania. Yet he said it was a risk that "also honors and keeps alive the Albanian tradition" -- by which he means the country's previous role in protecting Jews from the Nazis during World War II. Albania deported not one single Jew to Nazi Germany.

○ How Kosovo Was Turned Into Fertile Ground for ISIS | NY Times - May 2016 |
○ 12,000 Iranians have fallen victim to MKO's acts of terror

52-48: Senate rejects Schumer's 10th amdt to allow for additional time to file responses to motions on near party line vote. pic.twitter.com/lu7VoRE7Wx

— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) January 22, 2020

BREAKING: Two minutes before midnight, OMB released 192 pages of Ukraine-related records to American Oversight, including emails that have not been previously released. https://t.co/yJ1IGn3nf7 pic.twitter.com/LZ8KRJoy1M

— American Oversight (@weareoversight) January 22, 2020

All amendments handed in by Democrats were defeated along party lines.

Before the last vote, McConnell addressed Chief Justice John Roberts thanking him for his patience.  

"Comes with the job," Roberts replied.

Years 2000-2020: two decades the American Century - MAGA with Bush, Obama, Trump pushing the Neocon agenda.

A crook in the White House who can't be impeached because of a corrupt U.S. Congress, its majority chosen and a loaded U.S. Supreme Court covers all three branches of Government. Overriding the intended Separation of Powers written into the Constitution by the Founding Fathers.

An authoritarian state bought by oligarchs has been formed.

The Causes for Which a President Can Be Impeached

THE END OF TIMES

PS Criminal charges in Utah

Paul Pillar on GOP assaults against free speech regarding Iran policy. [_link]

— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) January 22, 2020

Paul Pillar on GOP assaults against free speech regarding Iran policy. [_link]

— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) January 22, 2020

Loyalty (to oil) has its price. Damn democracy, damn elections and the Will of The People.

David Rockefeller & October Surprise Case

From the Archive: David Rockefeller's death at age 101 brought effusive eulogies, but no recollection of his mysterious role in the Iran hostage crisis of 1980, which helped sink President Carter's reelection, writes Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry (Originally published April 15, 2005)

On March 23, 1979, late on a Friday afternoon, Chase Manhattan Bank Chairman David Rockefeller and his longtime aide Joseph Verner Reed arrived at a town house in the exclusive Beekman Place neighborhood on New York's East Side. They were met inside by a small, intense and deeply worried woman who had seen her life turned upside down in the last two months.

Iran's Princess Ashraf, the strong-willed twin sister of the Iran's long-time ruler, had gone from wielding immense behind-the-scenes clout in the ancient nation of Persia to living in exile - albeit a luxurious one. With hostile Islamic fundamentalists running her homeland, Ashraf also was troubled by the plight of her ailing brother, the ousted Shah of Iran, who had fled into exile, first to Egypt and then Morocco.

Now, she was turning for help to the man who ran one of the leading U.S. banks, one which had made a fortune serving as the Shah's banker for a quarter century and handling billions of dollars in Iran's assets. Ashraf's message was straightforward. She wanted Rockefeller to intercede with Jimmy Carter and ask the President to relent on his decision against granting the Shah refuge in the United States.

A distressed Ashraf said her brother had been given a one-week deadline to leave his current place of refuge, Morocco. "My brother has nowhere to go," Ashraf pleaded, "and no one else to turn to." [See David Rockefeller, Memoirs]

Spurned Appeals

Carter had been resisting appeals to let the Shah enter the United States, fearing that admitting him would endanger the personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Teheran and other U.S. interests. In mid-February 1979, Iranian radicals had overrun the embassy and briefly held the staff hostage before the Iranian government intervened to secure release of the Americans.

○ Islamic Republic of Iran: Role Giuliani and the MEK Terrorists

○ After 35 Years, Iran Liquidates MKO Terrorist near Amsterdam

○ The White House Once Labeled Them Terrorists. Now They're Being Called Iran's Next Government | Haaretz |

"Ronald Reagan's "October Surprise" Plot Was Real After All." David Rockefeller worked behind the scenes on behalf of Reagan to prevent Carter from freeing hostages before election he lost. [_link] pic.twitter.com/C4mxDsiIQ7

— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) January 21, 2020

○ National Archive: U.S. Policy toward Iran: From the Revolution to the JCPOA, 1978-2015

David Rockefeller & October Surprise Case

From the Archive: David Rockefeller's death at age 101 brought effusive eulogies, but no recollection of his mysterious role in the Iran hostage crisis of 1980, which helped sink President Carter's reelection, writes Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry (Originally published April 15, 2005)

On March 23, 1979, late on a Friday afternoon, Chase Manhattan Bank Chairman David Rockefeller and his longtime aide Joseph Verner Reed arrived at a town house in the exclusive Beekman Place neighborhood on New York's East Side. They were met inside by a small, intense and deeply worried woman who had seen her life turned upside down in the last two months.

Iran's Princess Ashraf, the strong-willed twin sister of the Iran's long-time ruler, had gone from wielding immense behind-the-scenes clout in the ancient nation of Persia to living in exile - albeit a luxurious one. With hostile Islamic fundamentalists running her homeland, Ashraf also was troubled by the plight of her ailing brother, the ousted Shah of Iran, who had fled into exile, first to Egypt and then Morocco.

Now, she was turning for help to the man who ran one of the leading U.S. banks, one which had made a fortune serving as the Shah's banker for a quarter century and handling billions of dollars in Iran's assets. Ashraf's message was straightforward. She wanted Rockefeller to intercede with Jimmy Carter and ask the President to relent on his decision against granting the Shah refuge in the United States.

A distressed Ashraf said her brother had been given a one-week deadline to leave his current place of refuge, Morocco. "My brother has nowhere to go," Ashraf pleaded, "and no one else to turn to." [See David Rockefeller, Memoirs]

Spurned Appeals

Carter had been resisting appeals to let the Shah enter the United States, fearing that admitting him would endanger the personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Teheran and other U.S. interests. In mid-February 1979, Iranian radicals had overrun the embassy and briefly held the staff hostage before the Iranian government intervened to secure release of the Americans.

○ Islamic Republic of Iran: Role Giuliani and the MEK Terrorists

○ After 35 Years, Iran Liquidates MKO Terrorist near Amsterdam

○ The White House Once Labeled Them Terrorists. Now They're Being Called Iran's Next Government | Haaretz |

"Ronald Reagan's "October Surprise" Plot Was Real After All." David Rockefeller worked behind the scenes on behalf of Reagan to prevent Carter from freeing hostages before election he lost. [_link] pic.twitter.com/C4mxDsiIQ7

— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) January 21, 2020

○ National Archive: U.S. Policy toward Iran: From the Revolution to the JCPOA, 1978-2015

How many senators want to be remembered as having convicted beloved POTUS #44 or 45 for "impermissible policy" impoundment?

I always thought that Republicans opposed abortion.

Yet today I watched as the Senate Republicans performed an abortion on the Senate floor.

Round Up

I sat in chamber for entire Schiff speech. That was a mauling. Trump team thought they were there to debate process and Schiff ambushed them with a full-throated case for impeachment. Republicans were visibly uncomfortable. Sekulow & Cippolone responses were rambling & bombastic

— Jon Ward (@jonward11) January 21, 2020

The Chief Justice of the United States is presiding meekly over a trial that may well have no evidence or witnesses.  Thereby, he is lending the gravity of his office and the institution he represents to the wholesale dismantlement of the rule of law in the US.  It's obscene.

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) January 21, 2020

Democrats blocked three times from subpoenaing documents in Trump trial

Members of the public packed the balcony overlooking the chamber, including actress and activist Alyssa Milano, who sat in the front row, listening intently.

evidence: Excluding press clippings, EU database records, and POTUS prepared remarks for public events from my footnote count, "Material Facts" attached to the House "Trial Memorandum" are 70 unique items, of which complete H. Rep. (reports), witnesses' transcripts, or depositions, video recordings, and correspondence, Apr-Dec 2019. I might have missed some. These are cited by House server URL for review. If the Trial Memorandum, summarizing indisputable evidence for impeachment, does not obviate display of each exhibit, again, I shudder to think what more could.

Yet another reason #ilikebernie. A great sarcastic sense of humor with a touch of humility and self-deprecation. [_link]

— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) January 21, 2020

"Hillary Clinton Is Not Helping." Her bitter comments about Bernie Sanders reveal her as an enemy of the Party and her own legacy. She is irrelevant, and comments like this only confirm that. The same goes for Obama, who's been only slightly more cautious. [_link]

— Tikun Olam (@richards1052) January 21, 2020

In 2011, Putin had stepped aside and Medvedev was President of Russia.

Russian PM accuses NATO of cynically deceiving UNSC ahead if attacks on Syria

After invoking Article 5 on NATO partners after 9/11 for participating in Afghanistan, the military intervention in Libya was a test case for military partnership of European nations.

The Kosovo intervention was a trial and illegal by standards of International Law and UN Charter. Lessons learned by FLOTUS under husband Bill.

Salman's What's App to Jeff Bezos infected phone for a hack | The Guardian |

Earlier I have written about the suspected ties UAE (Erik Prince) - Saudi Arabia monarchy - Israel (Netanyahu) - Trump billionaire supporters to steal presidential election 2016. Add Steve Bannon - Cambridge Analytica - Facebook Zuckerberg - rightwing crazies in the US and UK ... what is the result of US Congress oversight and intelligence arm :: Putin did it!

OK, guys -- I put all of this in my Philadelphia Inquirer column. It ties everything all together, has a lot of new details about Saudi hacking capabilities and why this is so scary for democracy. Check it out! [_link]

— Will Bunch 🆘 (@Will_Bunch) February 10, 2019

Episode 73: Western Media's Narrow, Colonial Definition of "Corruption" podcast

"No, I wasn't wrong. I have a more sophisticated basis for my argument now."

Harvard Law Professor @AlanDersh, who is part of the President's impeachment trial legal team, addresses a historical inconsistency in his position on impeachment requirements. [_link] pic.twitter.com/815e91uze4

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) January 21, 2020

○ High Crimes Without Law

Responding to Laurence Tribe & Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency (2018)
Response by Nikolas Bowie

○ Dismiss The Articles of Impeachment

Well, that can only end with the total cratering of what's left of the UK economy.

The problem with these imperialist free market fanatics is that they don't really understand economics, free markets, trade or imperialism at all. These absences tend to restrict their ability to find their way out of the paper bag which imprisons them.

Impeachment comes with its own rules - or lack thereof - on standard of proof

"My INTUITION is that this is likely to be even more true with regard to politicians," said Louis Michael Seidman, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University Law Center. "Either you think that Trump should be impeached or you don't. In the real world, people just don't focus on abstract questions like the standard of proof," Seidman said.

supra
"There are no standards of proof. There are no rules of evidence."

McConnell drops two-day limit on opening arguments

McConnell amended his organizing resolution for President Trump's impeachment trial at the last minute to give each side three days to make their opening arguments, which can last for up to 24 hours, the same amount of time given to the prosecution and defense during the 1999 impeachment trial of President Clinton.

The GOP leader made another significant amendment to his resolution by allowing the House impeachment inquiry to be entered into the Senate's official trial record - subject to hearsay objections - something McConnell declined to greenlight in his initial proposal. The resolution also allows each side to choose how many people may make those arguments.

reference
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, The Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report (pdf 298 pp), Dec 2019; HTML; no witness transcripts enclosed
House Committee on Oversight and Reform, (unclassified) Transcripts as Part of Impeachment Inquiry, witnesses, subpoenas, statements listing, Oct 2019-present

Democrats decry McConnell's impeachment rules as 'cover-up'

• Trump in Davos
  
• Pelosi touring Poland and Israel
  

"The McConnell rules seem to be designed by President Trump for President Trump," said the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer.
[...]
Rep. Jerry Nadler, the Judiciary Committee Chairman also leading the House team, said: "There's no trial in this country where you wouldn't admit relative [sic] witnesses."
[...]
The first several days of the trial are expected to be tangled in procedural motions playing out on the Senate floor and behind closed doors. Senators must refrain from speaking during the trial proceedings.

LOCAL.FR | Paris Metro returns to near-normal service as union ends pension strike after 46 days

The Unsa union, which has the largest membership among employees of the RATP Paris transport network, announced over the weekend that it would be suspending its strike from Monday - 46 days after it first began unlimited action against plans to reform the French pension system.

Although some other unions, including the hardline CGT, are continuing the strike, the return of the Unsa members was enough for RATP to offer a near- normal service on Monday, to the relief of weary Parisian commuters.
[...]
Throughout the week there will continue to be localised strikes and protests over the government's plans to do away with the 42 different 'pension regimes' that France currently has and replace them with a single universal pension.

AP | Changing tack, French strikers turn off power to press govt
"The deliberate outage lasted around two hours. It hit users in the southern suburbs of Paris, which include the Orly international airport and the massive Rungis market that supplies food to the Paris region. ...'It's symbolic,' Jouanno said of the power cut, speaking in a telephone interview. "It made a buzz and that's what everyone wants.'"
REUTERS | French workers turn to SABOTAGE as transport strike flags
"In the past week, members of hardline unions have also twice entered the headquarters of the moderate CFDT union - which backs the key principles of Macron's pension reform - and cut power there and have blocked ports and refineries in a bid to force Macron's hand. "

I sez to myself, "1974 looks special." I check, wikiwtf; no econic omens of unusual size listed except Nixon and end of OPEC embargo. (Personal note: I didn't learn about Lt. Calley's court martial and appeal until it emerged one day in our 5th grade social studies-"current events" lesson. At which point, my parents informed me of the nuance separating US "war" and "conflict" with Viet Nam.)

I sez, "SELF, there's got to be more to the story of the '74 SPIKE." So I refine my innerboob terms, give NFL players' strike a hard pass, smh over Bal'more municipal uprising, and low-and-BEHOLD: Taft-Hartley versus United Mine Workers of America, from '74 and each relative SPIKE thereafter until guess who took all of the fun out of industrial action.

I note with interest the BLS series begins at '47. Am I to assume no strikes occurred prior to that year, because FULL EMPLOYMENT? I think not.

(h/t: @natogreen) pic.twitter.com/ANmVjkaNmh

— bern thugs n harmony🌹 (@uhshanti) January 20, 2020

uncertain if this is millennial humor, so ...
BLS | Table 1. Work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers, 1947-2017
... I'll assume, it is.

Absolute red alert: This is unbelievably naked retaliation for revealing extreme corruption at the highest levels of #Bolsonaro's administration,  and an existential threat to investigative journalism in #Brazil. https://t.co/qo6v0XjgyZ

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 21, 2020

uh huh. How's the weather in Moscow?

Norway government collapses over IS spouse repatriation spat

"I brought [Norway's right-wing Progress Party] into government, and I'm now taking the party out,"* [Finance Minister Siv] Jensen told a news conference. The move means that Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg no longer has a parliamentary majority.
[...]
Last week, Norway's Cabinet decided to allow the woman to return to Norway with her two children so that her 5-year-old son could receive medical treatment. The three had been living in the Kurdish-controlled al-Hol refugee camp in Syria.
[...]
Countries across Europe have been struggling with whether or not to allow their citizens who left to join the fight in Syria, or marry IS militants, to return home. In November, Germany repatriated a woman suspected of being an IS member along with her three children.

archived
ISIS bride
--
* ancient afro-merican mom curse: "I brought you into this world, and I will take you out."

Anticipating SOFA expiration (CYE 2011) and US military withdrawal, Bush admin prepared the "U.S.-Iraqi Strategic Framework Agreement" (a treaty) for the US-selected "Shia" Iraq PM and next POTUS to sign. It was a GE year in the US, 2008, as it is again in 2020, when  ostensible US-Iraq security purposes are moot. POTUS declared victory over IS/ISIL/Daesh/al-Qaida-in-Iraq. Hence, Team Trump's obstinate machinations (covert and overt) to forestall Iraq sovereignty and induce formal co-operation from Iraq's government--as well as opposition from homicidal maniacs in US Congress, of which Klobuchar and Warren indebted to doctrinaire foreign "conflicts".

CRS, U.S.-Iraq Strategic Framework and Status of Forces Agreement: Congressional Response (2008)
U.S.-Iraqi Strategic Framework Agreement: Update on Implementation (2013)

Since Vice President Biden traveled to Iraq in November 2011 and convened a meeting of the U.S.-Iraq Higher Coordinating Committee, the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA) has served as the backbone of our relationship with the Government of Iraq (GOI). The United States and the GOI value the SFA, as evidenced by public statements by each side, the three Higher Coordinating Committee meetings and 24 Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meetings held in the areas of cooperation outlined in the SFA, the Working Groups within each JCC that meet on a regular basis, and the myriad of developments across these sectors, a sampling of which is listed below: ...

Desire and Reality: Proposed law designed to drive US forces out of Iraq, Feb 2019

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) may well be regarded by future historians and US-Eng. translators as the Scholars of the North Gate, preserving canonical commentaries on imperial politics, bureaucratic mandates, and legal, or moral, doctrine.

Congress never declared war against Iraq, this we know with certainty. Nor did it effectively denounce US military actions in Iraq et seq. to repel the "axis of evil".

• AUMF 1991, 2002 (before Klobuchar's time) formally delegated war powers to any POTUS. Searches for public laws--other than appropriation for US military deployments and benefits, contractors' concessions,  allied "aid," or sanctions against "adversaries"--from Congress are futile. Post-WWII resolutions for so-called cold wars is another topic altogether.
  
• CRS, U.S.-Iraq Withdrawal/Status of Forces Agreement: Issues for Congressional Oversight (2009): "The report then provides a general background as to the content of agreements traditionally considered Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs)"
  
• H.R.2757 - Iraq Withdrawal: "Accountability Act of 2011: one can see, no one introduced a related bill in the senate, ergo.
  

In 2011, Putin had stepped aside and Medvedev was President of Russia.

Russian PM accuses NATO of cynically deceiving UNSC ahead if attacks on Syria

After invoking Article 5 on NATO partners after 9/11 for participating in Afghanistan, the military intervention in Libya was a test case for military partnership of European nations.

The Kosovo intervention was a trial and illegal by standards of International Law and UN Charter. Lessons learned by FLOTUS under husband Bill.