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Monday, June 4, 2018

Alex Jones Happens to see Bernie Sanders at Airport and Confronts Him

Info-Wars Founder Alex Jones was on vacation, and happened to see who he called “The King of Communism” Bernie Sanders at LA International Airport. Alex Jones then confronts Senator Sanders about the rigging of the 2016 election, and his support for the “Beast Master” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Senator Sanders immediately became uncomfortable, and fled the scene as a crowd cheered. It shows that the Senator’s none address of the stealing of the 2016 Democrat Primary from him was by design.

Earlier this year, WikiLeaks exposed that the Democrat primary was rigged in favor of Hillary Clinton. Leaked DNC emails revealed top DNC officials were supportive of Mrs. Clinton and made sure it was difficult, if not impossible for Senator Bernie Sanders to ever win his party’s nomination.

DNC lawyers have just responded to a class-action lawsuit over their primary being rigged, arguing that maintaining a fair and balanced primary was merely a “political promise.”

The lawyers argued that “Courts have uniformly rejected attempts to litigate on the basis of purported political promises, including ‘statements of principle and intent in the political realm.”

Essentially, the DNC’s promise to remain neutral and fair during the primary is a political promise similar to “policy proposals made in campaign platforms that aren’t fulfilled when in office.”

What’s worse is that the DNC’s lawyers claimed that Bernie Sanders’ supporters were aware that the DNC and chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz were biased against their candidate, an argument that has never been substantiated.

Conveniently, the DNC lawyers are the same ones Hilary used throughout her presidential campaign, so it should come as no surprise that her personal lawyers would be defending the DNC’s favorable treatment of the party’s then-nominee.

Posted by The Green News Network

Original Publishing by  the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) on the World Socialist Website at wsws.org

By Nick Beams
2 June 2018
The meeting of G7 finance ministers taking place in Whistler, Canada this weekend has begun with a barrage of criticism directed at US Treasury Secretary Steven Menuhin over the Trump administration’s decision to proceed with tariffs on steel and aluminum exports from Mexico, Canada and the European Union.
On his arrival, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz immediately denounced the US actions. “The decision by the US government to unilaterally implement tariffs is wrong and—from my point of view—also illegal,” he told reporters. “We have clear rules, which are determined at the international level, and this is a breach of those rules.”
The Trump administration has imposed the tariffs under section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act on “national security” grounds. Scholz denounced the claim as “spurious.”
“We’ll always be ready to talk about reaching common agreement on trade policy, but that’s only possible if unilaterally implemented tariffs are lifted,” he said.
Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau, the chairman of the meeting, said the issue of trade conflicts had moved to front and Centre. “I don’t want to kid you, we will need to talk about this first and foremost,” he said. “We think it’s absurd that Canada is considered in any way a security risk, so that will be clearly stated by me.”
The invocation of “national security” by the Trump administration is not because it regards Canada or the EU as a threat, but because it is seeking to exploit a loophole in the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that permits such tariff impositions. But the WTO rule is meant to cover only situations where countries are actually at war.
Consequently, there is concern that the Trump move could prompt other countries to invoke “national security” grounds for the imposition of tariffs, leading to the disintegration of the global trading order.
Anthony Gardner, the US ambassador to the EU from 2014 to 2107, said Trump’s actions were “very foolish” and a “serious attack” on the world’s trading rules. “Guns should be pointed at enemies, not at allies,” he declared. He added that there was now little to prevent China or any other country from blocking imports on anything, unrelated to true concerns about national security.
The European Union is pushing ahead with counter-measures against the US and is expected to announce its final list of products to be targeted and the level of the tariffs later this month. At the same time, it has opened a case in the WTO against the US measures.
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström rejected the claim that the tariffs were needed for national security, denouncing them as “pure protectionism.”
“We are not in a trade war, but we are in a very difficult situation caused by the United States,” she said. “I would not use the term ‘trade war’ because it has a psychological effect. The US is playing a dangerous game here.”
At the same time, Malmström announced that the EU was taking China to the WTO for “forcing” European companies seeking to do business in China to disclose technological secrets—the same issue raised by the US.
Malmström said the EU’s actions, against both the US and China, indicated that it was not choosing sides and that “we stand for the multilateral system, for rule-based global trade.” She added, “If players in the world don’t stick to the rule book, the system might collapse.”
She maintained the EU stance that there will be no negotiations with the US while the tariffs remain in place and the EU has “closed the door” on talks. “We offered dialogue and future negotiations under the condition that they took away this threat,” she said. “They didn’t and here we are. When they say America first, we say Europe united.”
Malmström’s emphasis on European unity and for no negotiations while tariffs remain in place reflects the hard line being pushed by France. French President Emmanuel Macron has denounced the tariff measure as “illegal.”
Speaking to reporters, he said the US decision was a mistake because it was “creating economic nationalism … and nationalism is war. That’s exactly what happened in the ’30s.”
However, German trade groups, fearing that further tariff measures by the US targeting the auto industry are in the pipeline, are calling for restraint on the part of the EU. Volkswagen said it would welcome a resumption of talks on a bilateral agreement with the US, without any mention of the prior removal of tariffs.
Christian Vietmeyer, the head of the Steel and Metal Processors’ Association, called for restraint. “Reactions of the EU that lead to an escalation of the situation and more trade barriers would cause more damage. The EU should stay calm.”
The predominant reaction in US political, business and media circles to the tariffs is not opposition to trade war measures per se, but rather that the Trump administration is alienating its allies when it should be trying to win their support for action against China.
The Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady, said the tariffs were “hitting the wrong target” and that when it came to unfair trade in aluminium and steel, Mexico, Canada and Europe were not the problem, “China is.”
Criticism of Trump’s tariffs has been considerably more vocal and pointed from the Republican congressional camp than the Democratic. Most of the Democratic leadership has avoided comment, while the most rabid trade war hawks, such as Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, have backed Trump.
An editorial in the Wall Street Journal said that rather than Trump being a “genius deal-maker” his actions revealed he was “merely an old-fashioned protectionist.” The editorial said that with his tax cuts and deregulation—the handing out of billions of dollars to the corporations and ultra-wealthy and the easing of restrictions on the operations of the banks—Trump had established a solid economic record, but his escalating trade war was putting this at risk. While he has aspired to be Ronald Reagan, his “tariff follies” echo Herbert Hoover, the newspaper declared.
In an editorial titled “America Declares War on its Friends,” the New York Times said the tariff measures would do nothing to reduce steel and aluminium capacity in China, and the president was “effectively isolating the United States from its closest allies—the very countries that it needs to work with to put pressure on China to change its course.”

Published 3 June 2018 by TeleSurTV

Link Here:

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

Roger Waters, singer, pro-Palestinian activist and former member of the legendary rock band Pink Floyd, asked German authorities not to criminalize the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, after broadcasters refused to collaborate with him or promote his concerts in Germany over his support for the peaceful anti-Israel boycott.

Just before the encore section of the concert he gave in Berlin Friday night, Waters read a long speech criticizing Israel’s policies towards Palestinians and their territories.

“Anti-Semitism is obscene,” said Waters before urging the commissioner for the fight against anti-Semitism Felix Klein to stop criminalizing the BDS movement. He then quoted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’s “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

Waters joined the movement in2011 but he had supported it for years before, when Palestinian advocates of the boycott convinced him to visit the separation wall to reconsider his planned 2006 concert in Tel Aviv.

“In 1980, a song I wrote, Another Brick in the Wall Part 2, was banned by the government of South Africa because it was being used by black South African children to advocate their right to equal education,” wrote Waters in an opinion piece published by The Guardian in 2011, in which he embraced the BDS movement.

“Twenty-five years later, in 2005, Palestinian children participating in a West Bank festival used the song to protest against Israel’s wall around the West Bank. They sang: ‘We don’t need no occupation! We don’t need no racist wall!’,” he continued.

Now, Waters is one of the most high-profile members of the movement and his activism has proven to be controversial.

Waters’ performances are often full of political significance, as he and his team prepare speeches and visuals related to the country they are visiting and its political situation, and his support for the BDS movement in Germany, where anti-Semitism accusations still play a strong role in public opinion, cost him the support of at least five public broadcasters and Klein’s criticism.
In 2017, five state television and radio affiliates of the ARD, the German consortium of public broadcasters, refused to broadcast Waters’ concerts scheduled in Berlin and Cologne this 2018 summer “in reaction to anti-Semitism accusations against him,” according to the Berlin and Brandenburg public radio (RBB).

During Berlin’s concerts, the Berliner Zeitung reported that members of the BDS movement were handing flyers and that fans inside the venue were carrying Palestinian flags.

Klein is the first commissioner for anti-Semitism, a position created this year to combat the increasing violent threats towards the Jewish community in Germany.

While it is a necessary agency, given the rising xenophobia that’s taking over Europe, but Klein’s stance is following the narrative that sees any opposition to Israel’s occupation policies as anti-Semitism, which has been rejected by Palestinian and Jewish activists who oppose Israeli policies and argue that to be against the Israeli government is not to be against the Jewish people as a whole.
“I consider BDS to be an anti-Semitic movement whose activities I strongly condemn,” said Klein speaking with the Judische Allgemeine newspaper, arguing that “with its calls for boycott against Israel, it acts using Nazi argumentation that is simply unbearable.”

As part of his “Us + Them” tour, based on Pink Floyd’s repertoire, Waters has scheduled concerts in Berlin, Cologne, Mannheim and Munich.

Contributor Op Ed originally published in Medium.com

Russell Meyers~ 
Not going to claim to be a professional journalist. I am a nurse and a long time social activist on many subjects. I focus on issues. Issues unite, names divide

May 21
Pompeo, Iran Sanctions Are A Turning Point

Today, Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State (sorry if I vomit in my mouth a little as I type those words) issued a statement of US policy toward Iran. That statement included a list of 12 demands for Iran or face the toughest US sanctions so far.
First, let’s examine the demands and a few observations about the demands.
1- Declare to the IAEA a full account of prior military dimensions of it’s nuclear program and permanently, verifiably abandon such work in perpetuity.
Iran has not made any agreement nor has there been any prior demand to account for all dimensions of it’s program. Mostly this was done under the JCPOA. So was verification that they had abandoned their nuclear weapons program. That WAS confirmed by the IAEA inspectors.
2- Stop enrichment of plutonium preprocessing, including closing it’s heavy water reactor.
What this means is abandoning their nuclear power system. Something they have every right to keep in place.
3- Provide the IAEA unqualified access to all sites throughout the entire country.
This had already been achieved through the JCPOA.
4- End proliferation of ballistic missiles and halt further launching or development of nuclear-capable missile systems.
Nuclear CAPABLE? You know what makes a missile nuclear CAPABLE? The ability to carry a nuclear warhead. Which basically describes every damn missile in existence!!!
Give up their ballistic missile systems? Will Israel be required to do the same? No, not at all. So that is telling Iran to surrender their ability to defend themselves against a country that has at some point attacked and/or invaded EVERY country near them at some point in my lifetime and is becoming more aggressive than ever right now.
5- Release all US citizens and US allies.
What were Americans doing in Iran? ALLIES? That would include Israeli and Saudi spies caught inside Iran. Want them released? Then negotiate and bring something to the table besides threats.
6- End support to Middle Eastern “terrorist” groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah.
Pardon me but both Hamas and Hezbollah are political parties with militant components. Both groups were formed as a RESPONSE to threats and actual attempts at invasion and attack by Israel in their respective countries. Neither was formed as an aggressive organization. Can they be aggressive? Of course they can but that is not typically their role, no matter what MSM likes to claim.
7- Respect the sovereignty of the Iraqi government and allow for the disarming, demobilization and reintegration of the Shia militias.
This is TOO RICH!!! The US government calling for respecting the sovereignty of another country’s government?!!! Especially Iraq?!!! Whom WE invaded illegally and removed their government to install a puppet regime?!!
Disarming and demobilization of the Shias? Basically calling for surrender to US proxy forces.
8- End support for Houthi rebels in Yemen and work towards a peaceful political settlement in Yemen.
Try not to choke on this one. Has he paid any attention? Saudi Arabia is committing genocide in Yemen and he expects any resistance to lay down their arms in the belief that the Saudis who have slaughtered civilian women and children will cease hostilities? No, he does not believe that would happen. He knows it would not. That would be suicide for them.
9- Withdraw all forces under Iran’s command from the entirety of Syria.
Iran’s forces are there legally and by agreement with the democratically elected Syrian government. The US has no right to be there. Israel has no right to be there. Turkey has no right to be there. All are invaders under international law. The same is true for the UK, Dutch and French forces.
10- End support for terrorist groups in Afghanistan “and the region”and stop harboring senior Al Qaeda leaders.
The same Al Qaeda that we were arming directly and openly? The same ones whose weapons consist of at least 70% US weapons?
11- End the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Quds force support for terrorists and militant partners around the world.
Yeah, that is basically conspiracy theory and nothing more.
12- End threatening behavior against Iran’s neighbors, many of whom are US allies (sic). Including threats to destroy Israel and firing missiles at Saudi and UAE and threats to international shipping and cyberattacks throughout the world.
Okay, so now it’s IRAN conducting cyberattacks around the world? I thought that was Russia’s job!! Damn, Russia, you had ONE JOB and you left it to Iran?!!! Lazy bastards!! (sic)
The only missiles fired against Saudi or UAE countries has been in league with and defense of countries whom THEY ATTACKED!! Threats to shipping? Pardon me but wasn’t it a US ship that fired on an Iranian vessel last year when the Iranian ship had a right to be there? The right for the US ship to be in that area is highly debatable.
Basically this entire list sounds like it was dictated by Netanyahu and merely read off by Pompeo. Because most of this list is a wish list for Israel and Saudi Arabia to be able to invade every country in the ME with no resistance at all.
Note that Iran has not invaded another country in over 200 years. Their threats against Israel for decades have been defensive. Promises that if Israel keeps threatening and/or attacking Iran or Iran’s allies, that Iran will respond. Israel on the other hand in the last 50 years has attacked or invaded Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Cyprus and even bombed a US ship at one point. I’m pretty sure I’m leaving some victims of Israel out of this list. In some cases they have attacked the same victims multiple times.
Who gave the US the right to dictate such terms? There was no discussion about any of this in the UN. The UNSC had no input in this. Nor did the UN General Assembly. None of this was included in the JCPOA, which AMERICA abandoned with no evidence or justification. Iran and all the other signatories of the JCPOA are still engaged in the agreement. The US has NOT offered any evidence to remotely prove that Iran has violated that agreement. There are claims and vague references but basically the entire affair is a weakened semblance to WMD’s in Iraq.
All this talk of respecting the sovereignty of other countries. In what way is the US respecting sovereignty of other countries? Sanctions are not respect. Giving orders to other countries is not respect. Military threats are not respect. Bombing is not respect. Invasion is not respect. Overturning elected governments is not respect. The US does not respect the sovereignty of ANY country.
The US likes to claim itself to be the police force of the world. I have to concur but ONLY when you make a direct comparison to the behavior of American police. Militarized, weaponized, drunk on steroids and abuse of power. Willing to shoot innocent unarmed civilians and claim it was because they were afraid.
We have to face the fact that our country is the rogue cop robbing, beating, killing and planting evidence. Sooner or later, the victims and families will band together. I am surprised that so far that has not happening but it is slowly. In the Middle East, I expect to see Iran, Syria, Turkey, Qatar, Lebanon, Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis band together to fight against Israel and the US. It’s likely to happen soon, while their countries are in ruins. Because now is when they have nothing left to lose. They are battle hardened, their pain endurance and emotional determination is high. They still grieve for their losses and that grief and anger is a powerful weapon. They have already learned they can join forces against common enemies. They may have differences but will soon realize “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” They know they can reach compromise with one another. They know that they will never have compromise with their enemies because the US and Israel will never allow it. Their enemies demand complete surrender. The actions in recent days of the US and Israel have illustrated that fact. Neither can be trusted to ever even attempt peace. Unarmed Palestinian protesters shot down while the US withdraws from the JCPOA and makes threats against Iran.
Some people will try and let this speech by Pompeo fade in the distance. Ignore the correlation to what Israel has done. The people in the Middle East have long memories and have already drawn the correlations. This was a turning point. It may not show itself immediately but this was a full pivot which cannot be reversed.

News Brief’

Incumbent President Nicolas Maduro wins Venezuelan Presidential elections. 

Venezuelan voters dance and celebrate during the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, May 20, 2018. | Photo: Reuters

Venezuelans head to the polls today amid protests speculation and reported prayers from the Pope.

Among those voting.  Incumbent President and frontrunner candidate Nicolas Maduro  who is seeking re election, was seen voting (presumably for himself)  in Caracas. Nationwide voting for Venezuelans in in progress through the day until 6pm. read more about this in this report by telesurtv.

ALSO:

Growing tensions amid rising Palestinian death toll at “Right of Return” protests helps boost already growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, As popular Portuguese Director Tiago Rodrigues

joins movement and cancels presentation of show at Israel Festival in June . more on this here.