Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Central Americans crossing into US are big business. Remittances comprised over 16% of GDP of Honduras and El Salvador in 2013, Guatemala and Nicaragua approx. 10% of GDP

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2013 remittances from US to Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Mexico. Chart from Howard G. Buffett presentation

page 15,  "Financial incentives"

"Many immigrants send money back to family members in their home countries. These remittances play an important role in the livelihoods of the individuals who receive them and the economies of the receiving countries. 1, 2"

"1. The World Bank Remittances
2. USAID website for ODA data"

March 17, 2015, "Written Testimony Submitted by Howard G. Buffett, Chairman and CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Hearing on “Securing the Southwest Border: Perspectives from Beyond the Beltway”," The Howard G. Buffett Foundation

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Note: Following is how I got to the above testimony:
  1. www.hsgac.senate.gov/download/?id=5c7a11e5-7449-4e2a-ab72-6016af0bc1ec
    Written Testimony Submitted by Howard G. Buffett, Chairman and CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, to the Senate Homeland ... issues in the United States, ..."



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Obama's own paid TPP expert said TPP will "do nothing for Americans" except put "constant downward pressure on American wages." "We aren't enforcing today's trade agreements adequately. It would be easier to accept if we were enforcing today's rules"-UK Guardian, Oct. 2015

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Massive trade deals like TPP place "constant downward pressure on American wages"...per Obama administration adviser Wessel

Oct. 2015 article:

10/9/2015, "Wikileaks release of TPP deal text stokes 'freedom of expression' fears," UK Guardian, Sam Thielman in NY  


"Michael Wessel was one of the advisers who was asked by the US government to review what he said were woefully inadequate portions of the document. Wessel said the thrust of the TPP does nothing for Americans. “This is about increasing the ability of global corporations to source wherever they can at the lowest cost,” he said.

“It is not about enhancing or promoting production in the United States,” Wessel said. We aren't enforcing today's trade agreements adequately. Look at China and Korea. Now we’re not only expanding trade to a far larger set of countries under a new set of rules that have yet to be tested but we’re preparing to expand that to many more countries. It would be easier to accept if we were enforcing today’s rules.” 

Wessel said that ultimately, the countries currently benefiting from increased outsourcing of jobs by American firms aren’t likely to see wages rise above a certain level. “If you look in other countries, Mexico and India and others – there’s been a rise in the middle class but there’s been stagnation for those we’re hoping to get into the middle class,” Wessel said. Companies are scouring the globe for countries they can get to produce most cheaply.”

That, he said, results in constant downward pressure on American wages. “Companies are not invested here the way we’d like them to; they’re doing stock buybacks and higher dividends,” Wessel continued. “They may yield support for the stock-holding class but it’s not creating jobs.”"...

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Added, re: the other massive trade deal pending, TTIP:  "It's hard to know what drives politicians to sell out their people and their country." Der Spiegel on TTIP, 5/6/16

5/6/16, "The TTIPing Point: Protests Threaten Trans-Atlantic Trade Deal," Der Spiegel, Dinah Deckstein, Simone Salden, Michaela Schiebl
...........  
"An unprecedented protest movement of a scope not seen since the Iraq war in Germany has pushed negotiations over the TTIP trans-Atlantic free trade agreement to the brink of collapse. The demonstrations are characterized by a level of professionalism not previously seen."....


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Tuesday, August 2, 2016

What a surprise, on 8/1/16 US taxpayers find they're once again forced to spend millions of dollars a day gratuitously bombing Libya. Our 2011 bombing left Libya in chaos and created the main passageway for floods of refugees traveling through Africa to Europe. US taxpayers especially don't bomb countries "at the request of the UN" "in the past few days." BBC Analyst: After this campaign, "the US will probably be left with more questions than answers"-BBC (Apparently the US has been overthown. We're now slaves to the UN)

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8/1/16, "US launches air strikes on IS in Libya," BBC
..........
"The United States has carried out air strikes on positions of so-called Islamic State (IS) in Libya, following a request by the UN-backed government there, the Pentagon [meaning Obama] says. The strikes targeted positions in the port city of Sirte, an IS stronghold.

Libyan PM Fayez Sarraj, in a televised address, said the strikes caused "heavy losses". 

Western powers have become increasingly concerned at IS's growing presence in Libya. 

The air strikes are the first such US military intervention co-ordinated with the Libyan unity government.

There have been two previous US attacks on IS targets in Libya - last February and in November. 

The Pentagon said Monday's strikes, authorised by President Barack Obama, were in support of government forces currently fighting IS militants.

"These actions and those we have taken previously will help deny ISIL a safe haven in Libya from which it could attack the United States and our allies," the Pentagon statement continued, using another term for IS.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the strikes hit "precision targets", including a tank, in response to a request from the Libyan administration in the past few days." 
......
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"Analysis by Rana Jawad, BBC News, Tunis"

..........

"It now appears the US has formally started a sustained air campaign to degrade the IS group's capabilities in Sirte. The jihadists have been losing ground there in recent months, but the armed groups fighting it have been witnessing an increasingly high death toll.

An advanced air campaign could speed up the removal of IS militants from their biggest stronghold in the country. The Pentagon [that means Obama] has carefully attributed its latest move to the unity government's request to help its forces

But these anti-IS forces are only loosely allied to the government in Tripoli. The wider military and militia forces across Libya are still embroiled in local rivalry. In the aftermath of campaigns of this kind, the US, and other countries involved in Libya, will probably be left with more questions than answers over the stability of the country and the local forces they backed." 

=========

"The government began an offensive against IS fighters in Sirte in May and said two weeks ago that it had made its largest gains to date.

Western officials say the number of IS militants in Libya, previously estimated at 6,000, is declining in the face of concerted government action and pressure from other militia. 

Mr Cook said fewer than 1,000, possibly several hundred, remained in Sirte, and no US forces were on the ground in connection with "this operation".

Libya has become increasingly divided since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with competing governments and rival militias seeking to gain territory and influence. 

The chaos had left Libya vulnerable to an influx of IS fighters, many from Syria. 

The United States has voiced strong backing for the unity government, or Government of National Accord, which began operating from the capital, Tripoli, in April. 

US Secretary of State John Kerry declared in May that it was the "only way to generate the cohesion necessary to defeat Daesh [IS]"."

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Life in Libya under IS
Beheadings and racial tension


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Comment: Where the hell is "the opposition party" or ANY party who represents the people of the United States? Answer: Long gone.

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June 2016 construction spending drops to lowest since June 2015, declined .6. Experts had predicted rise of .5 based on government assumptions-Reuters

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8/1/16, "Construction spending falls to one-year low in June," Reuters

"U.S. construction spending fell for a third straight month in June as outlays dropped across the board, suggesting a downward revision to the second-quarter economic growth estimate published last week.

Construction spending declined 0.6 percent to its lowest level since June 2015 after an upwardly revised 0.1 percent dip in May, the Commerce Department said on Monday. Construction outlays were up 0.3 percent from a year ago.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast construction spending rising 0.5 percent in June after a previously reported 0.8 percent drop in May. Their June estimates were largely based on the government's assumptions for private residential and nonresidential construction spending in the advance GDP report....

Weak spending on home building and nonresidential structures, including gas and oil well drilling, contributed to anemic growth in the last quarter.

In June, construction spending was held down by a 0.6 percent drop in private construction. Outlays on private residential construction were unchanged as spending on both single-family and multi-family projects fell. Private residential construction spending edged up 0.1 percent in May. Spending on renovations increased in June.


Spending on private nonresidential structures fell 1.3 percent in June, the biggest decline since December 2015,
after rising 0.4 percent in May.

Public construction spending slipped 0.6 percent in June, dropping for a fourth straight month. Outlays on state and local government construction projects, the largest portion of the public sector segment, fell 0.5 percent. That was the fourth consecutive monthly decline. Federal government construction spending dropped 2.3 percent in June."


...

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Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizen had top secret security clearance at FBI for almost 2 decades, pleads guilty to providing US secrets to Communist China from 2011 to 2016. Relatives of Chun also received money-WSJ. US Justice Dept. has dropped at least 3 high profile Chinese spy cases in past two years

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8/1/16, "FBI Employee Pleads Guilty to Feeding Information to China," Wall St. Journal, Nicole Hong

Reuters

Image, "Kun Shan Chun pleaded guilty in federal court in New York on Monday
to having acted as an agent of the Chinese government. Photo: Nate Raymond/Reuters" 
 
"Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizen faces about two years in prison under plea agreement."

"A longtime Federal Bureau of Investigation employee pleaded guilty on Monday to acting as an agent for the Chinese government and sending sensitive information about the U.S. government to a Chinese official.

Kun Shan Chun, 46 years old, worked at the FBI’s New York field office as an electronics technician and had been granted top-secret security clearance for almost two decades. Mr. Chun, who was arrested in March, was born in Guangdong, China, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1986. On Monday, Mr. Chun admitted in Manhattan federal court to feeding sensitive information to a Chinese government official....

Between 2011 and 2016, on various occasions, I acted in the U.S. at the direction of a Chinese official, Mr. Chun told the judge on Monday. “At the time, I knew that was wrong, and I am sorry for my actions.”...

His lawyer, federal defender Jonathan Marvinny, said his client “deeply regrets” the mistakes he has made.

“The truth is that Mr. Chun loves the U.S. and never intended to cause it any harm,” Mr. Marvinny said in a statement. “He hopes to put this matter behind him and move forward with his life.”

Mr. Chun was introduced to the Chinese government official in 2011 during a trip to Italy and France, prosecutors said....
To conceal his relationship with the Chinese official and other Chinese nationals, Mr. Chun repeatedly lied to the FBI on forms related to his security clearance, prosecutors allege.
...........
The case is likely to raise fears in the U.S. government about suspected economic espionage by China, which has become a heightened focus for the Justice Department in recent years. In 2014, U.S. prosecutors charged five Chinese military employees who allegedly hacked into U.S. companies and won the convictions of two engineers accused of selling trade secrets to Chinese companies.
.........
But the crackdown on Chinese spies has also sparked criticism by Chinese-American leaders, who say the U.S. government is racially profiling their community. Over the past two years, the Justice Department has dropped at least three high-profile cases related to Chinese espionage....
.........
The relationship came with perks. The associates helped Mr. Chun pay for prostitutes and trips overseas, and on at least one occasion, they paid him “a couple thousand” dollars, he told the undercover agent, according to prosecutors. Relatives of Mr. Chun, who also received payments from the associates and invested in Kolion, allegedly urged him to go along with the arrangement.
........
Mr. Chun said he communicated with his Chinese associates through WeChat and tried to avoid using the phone, prosecutors said."...

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Monday, August 1, 2016

Pakistan native convicted of Medicare fraud hid money in Pakistan banks, bought NY mansion with wife Irum Chaudhry with Medicare fraud money. Bail denied since he's high risk to flee to native Pakistan

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Ahmed is considered high risk to flee to his native Pakistan.

7/29/16, "Brooklyn surgeon in Medicare billing scheme convicted of fraud, faces 40 years in prison," NY Daily News, John Marzulli

Syed Ahmed
"A Brooklyn surgeon is facing more than 40 years in prison after a federal jury convicted him of a massive Medicare fraud that included claims he’d performed 600 procedures on one person. 

Dr. Syed Ahmed was found guilty of all six counts late Thursday night in Brooklyn Federal Court. The jury had deliberated about four hours.
 
Prosecutors alleged that Ahmed, a specialist in weight loss surgery and wound treatment, billed Medicare for over $7 million in procedures, many of which were not performed on patients, prosecutors alleged.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Notopoulos told the jury that Ahmed billed Medicare for 5,000 surgeries over a three-year period, including 600 alleged procedures on an elderly woman.

Ahmed admitted there were problems with his billing, but insisted it was not intentional and chalked it up to being disorganized and misunderstanding the Medicare billing codes.

Ahmed, 49, who had offices in Brooklyn and Long Island, waived his right to have the jury decide how much restitution he must pay the government and the amount will be calculated by Federal Judge Dora Irizarry before his sentencing.

Lawyers for Ahmed could not be reached for comment.

He has been held without bail since his arrest in 2014 because prosecutors argued there was a high risk he would flee to his native Pakistan."

  
"The Utica Medical Center in Brooklyn where Dr. Syed Ahmed held his practice." NY Daily News photo. Top image of Ahmed from Facebook

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"Ahmed shifted $3 million in personal funds to other accounts — including two transfers to banks in his native Pakistan." 

2014 article on Ahmed's arrest

March 25, 2014, "Surgeon bills Medicare $85M for ‘procedures he never performed’," Selim Algar 

"A fat-cat Long Island Gold Coast surgeon billed Medicare for $85 million for procedures he never performed — even claiming to have operated on two patients who had already died, according to a Brooklyn Federal Court complaint unsealed Tuesday.

Dr. Syed Imran Ahmed, 49 — who specializes in weight loss and wound treatment and lives in a sprawling $4 million mansion in exclusive Muttontown (Long Island) — was arrested Tuesday on felony fraud raps.

Investigators said he rang up the astounding bill in Medicare claims in just two years, between 2011 and 2013. He received $7.7 million in reimbursements....

Ahmed — who has offices in Brooklyn and Long Island — was finally nabbed after a patient received a Medicare report that listed a slew of bogus procedures and alerted law enforcement....

After authorities interviewed him in September, Ahmed shifted $3 million in personal funds to other accounts — including two transfers to banks in his native Pakistan, according to court papers.
........
The feds are seeking to snatch Ahmed’s mansion that he bought along with his wife, Irum Chaudhry, for $3.7 million in 2012 because $2.4 million of his payments came from fraud money, court papers state....

Magistrate Judge Marilyn Go rejected the bail request."...

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8/1/16, "NY surgeon faces 40 years in prison for Medicare billing scheme, beckershospitalreview.com, Ayla Ellison

"A surgeon who practiced at hospitals in Brooklyn and Long Island, New York, faces 40 years in prison for submitting more than $25 million in false claims to Medicare, according to the Department of Justice.

On Friday, Syed Ahmed, MD, was convicted of one count of healthcare fraud, three counts of making false statements related to healthcare matters and two counts of money laundering.

According to evidence presented at trial, Dr. Ahmed submitted millions of dollars in fraudulent claims to Medicare for incision-and-drainage and wound debridement surgeries that he never performed.

At trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Notopoulos said Dr. Ahmed billed Medicare for 5,000 surgeries over a three-year period — 600 of which were allegedly performed on an elderly woman, according to the New York Daily News.

Dr. Ahmed argued that his billing mistakes were not intentional and blamed his misunderstanding of Medicare billing codes for the problems.

Before his sentencing, a federal judge will calculate the amount of restitution Dr. Ahmed will be required to pay. If convicted on all counts, Dr. Ahmed faces more than 40 years in prison, according to the report."

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While campaigning for Hillary in May, Bill Clinton says Poland and Hungary should take in more potential terorist refugees, accuses the two countries of wanting to have 'authoritarian dictatorships' like Putin. Hungary PM responds that Bill Clinton is a George Soros mouthpiece

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While campaigning in New Jersey for Hillary in May 2016, Bill Clinton accused Poland and Hungary of seeking to have "an authoritarian dictatorship" like Russia's Putin. Bill was very bitter that the two countries hadn't taken more third world refugees. Internal business of these two European countries and their taxpayers is of course none of his business, but Clinton chose to make his dictatorial remarks on the world stage of a US presidential campaign while trying to help Hillary, her globalist donors, and himself obtain 8 more years in the White House. Responding to Bill Clinton's remarks, Hungarian PM Orban said: Although the mouth belongs to Clinton, the voice belongs to Soros.”... Why did Bill blurt out on the world stage that Putin was an "authoritarian dictator?" 

May 18, 2016, "Polish PM wants Bill Clinton's apology for political comment," AP, Warsaw, Poland

"Former U.S. President Bill Clinton should apologize to the Poles for having said they think "democracy is too much trouble" and want to have an "authoritarian dictatorship," Poland's prime minister said Wednesday.

Beata Szydlo called Clinton's words "unjustified and simply unfair."

"With all due respect, and without using coarse words (Clinton) exaggerated and should apologize to us," she told Polish state radio on Wednesday.

Hungary and Poland "would not be free" if not for the United States, but "have now decided this democracy is too much trouble."


A comparison to Putin is especially shocking in Poland, which is very distrustful and critical of his policies.

Clinton was also referring to Warsaw and Budapest protesting European Union plans to redistribute some of the tens of thousands of refugees flooding into Europe and refusing to take in some of them.

The head of Poland's conservative ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said Clinton is misinformed.

"If someone says there is no democracy in Poland today, that means he should have a medical test," he said....

Frank Spula, the head of an organization in Chicago representing some 10 million Americans of Polish origin, told Polish state radio that Clinton's words "must sicken anybody who knows the history of Poland and of the Poles."

On Tuesday, Hungary also protested Bill Clinton's words."

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Added: Responding to Bill Clinton's remarks, Hungarian PM Orban said: Although the mouth belongs to Clinton, the voice belongs to Soros.”...

"Seeing through Clinton’s comments, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán responded by saying

“The remarks made about Hungary and Poland…have a political dimension. These are not accidental slips of the tongue.
And these slips or remarks have been multiplying since we are living in the era of the migrant crisis. And we all know that behind the leaders of the Democratic Party, we have to see George Soros.”

He went on to say that although the mouth belongs to Clinton, the voice belongs to Soros.

Soros has since said of Orbán’s policy toward the migrants: “His plan treats the protection of national borders as the objective and the refugees as an obstacle. Our plan treats the protection of refugees as the objective and national borders as the obstacle.

It’s hard to imagine that he could be any clearer in his globalist intentions."...


====================

More acknowledgement from Hungary that the Clintons are a Soros mouthpiece:

5/19/16, "Hungary: US wants to fill Europe with Muslim migrants," AP, Budapest, Hungary, via Daily Mail

(Hungarian PM Orban Chief of Staff) "Janos Lazar also described Hungarian-born American financier George Soros as a standard-bearer for Obama's immigration policies for Europe....Lazar called Soros a patron of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the current U.S. presidential candidate, and a Democratic Party supporter who was "ready to step up" against Orban...."Our conviction is that the borders of Europe have to be defended," Lazar said. "If the countries of Europe need immigration, it can be possible only in a limited, controlled manner.""...
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Definition of genocide:

Ongoing invasions of Hungary and other European countries easily fit the definition of genocide:  

"The crime of genocide is defined in the "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.""... 
 
"Raphael Lemkin in his masterpiece "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe" (1943) invented the term "genocide" by combining "genos" (race, people) and "cide" (to kill). Lemkin defined genocide as follows:

"Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. 

It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups."" from Genocide Watch

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7/8/16, "How George Soros Singlehandedly Created The European Refugee Crisis - And Why," by David Galland and Stephen McBride, Garret/Galland Research

(scroll to subhead) "Political Discourse"

"The refugee crisis has raised huge concern in European countries like Hungary. In response to 7,000 migrants entering Hungarian territory per day in 2015, the Hungarian government reestablished border control in order to keep the hordes of refugees from entering the country.

Of course this did not go down well with Soros and his close allies, the Clintons.

Bill Clinton has since come out and accused both Poland and Hungary of thinking “democracy is too much trouble” and wanting to have a “Putin-like authoritarian dictatorship.”

Seeing through Clinton’s comments, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán responded by saying

“The remarks made about Hungary and Poland…have a political dimension. These are not accidental slips of the tongue. And these slips or remarks have been multiplying since we are living in the era of the migrant crisis. And we all know that behind the leaders of the Democratic Party, we have to see George Soros.”

He went on to say thatalthough the mouth belongs to Clinton, the voice belongs to Soros.

Soros has since said of Orbán’s policy toward the migrants: “His plan treats the protection of national borders as the objective and the refugees as an obstacle. Our plan treats the protection of refugees as the objective and national borders as the obstacle.

It’s hard to imagine that he could be any clearer in his globalist intentions.

So why is Soros going to such lengths to flood Europe with hordes of third-world Muslims?...

We can’t be sure, but it has recently come to light that Soros has taken a large series of “bearish derivative positions” against US stocks. Apparently, he thinks that causing chaos in Europe will spread the contagion to the United States, thus sending US markets spiraling downward.

The destruction of Europe through flooding it with millions of unassimilated Muslims is a direct plan to cause economic and social chaos on the Continent.

Another example of turmoil equaling profit for George Soros, who seems to have his tentacles in most geopolitical events.

We all understand correlation is not causation. However, given Soros’s extraordinary wealth, political connections, and his long track record of seeing and profiting from chaos, he is almost certainly a catalyst for much of the geopolitical turmoil now occurring.

He is intent on destroying national borders and creating a global governance structure with unlimited powers. From his comments directed toward Viktor Orbán, we can see he clearly views national leaders as his juniors, expecting them to become puppets that sell his narrative to the ignorant masses....

He uses his vast political connections to influence government policy and create crises, both economic and social, to further this agenda.

By all appearances, Soros is conspiring against humanity and is hell-bent on the destruction of Western democracies.

To any rational thinker, some global events just don’t make sense.

Why, for example, would Western democracies take in millions of people whose values are completely incompatible with their own?

When we look closely at the agenda being actively promoted by the leading globalist puppet master, George Soros, things become a little clearer....

What I find most interesting about Soros is that he is so obvious in his intentions and persistent in their pursuit. Given the consequences of his actions, it is also clear he’s a believer in moral relativism and that the ends justify the means.

That he turns a nice buck in his crusade for what certainly rhymes with a one-world government is a Soros hallmark.

“It allows me the money needed to fund my philanthropies” he might answer to the charges he is profiting from blood in the streets he was instrumental in spilling.

Going forward when something big is happening geopolitically, I am going to start my analysis by checking under rocks for signs of Soros....
Nothing comes close to the Get Out of Jail card handed by the clowns at the FBI to Hillary over her private email servers. This despite pretty much no one disputes she broke any number of federal laws of the sort which would have landed a lesser clown in jail.

To quote FBI Director James Comey, “Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”

There is nuance in that statement. For starters, that there is evidence of violations. But also the stark political reality that no “reasonable prosecutor” would enforce the laws, considering who the perp is: the standard bearer for the Democrats going into this election.

Besides, going after Clinton means crossing swords with Soros and no “reasonable prosecutor” would want to do that."...

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Added: The Hungarian government seeks to protect its citizens from refugee invasions they can't afford. Selfless US billionaire Soros says European taxpayers should pay $16,800 more per year to each third world "asylum seeker" for 2 yrs-CNBC

Oct. 2015 article

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10/14/2015, "Billionaire Soros comes under fire in homeland," CNBC,

"Hedge fund mogul George Soros has come under fire in his native Hungary, where politicians have accused him of supporting illegal migration amidst a refugee crisis that's brought the right-wing government under pressure.
Government representatives including Prime Minister Viktor Orban have slammed Soros in recent weeks for promoting liberal migrant policies and backing a variety of organizations through his pro-democracy charity that have criticized the way Orban's government has dealt with the crisis. In opinion pieces published by the Financial Times and Project Syndicate, Soros has said frontline states like Hungary were shirking their asylum obligations, and controversially suggested that a comprehensive European refugee plan should provide each asylum seeker with $16,800 annually for two years to help cover housing, health care and education costs. 

"[Soros] keeps bombarding the international public with his earth-shattering plans, quite obviously, in the name of true selflessness which he has manifested in so many ways in the countries where his activities have resulted in sovereign default in the past 30 years," Hungarian Minister János Lázár, who currently heads the Prime Minister's Office, said at a press conference earlier this month (Oct. 2015)....

Soros, who is best known for his namesake Soros Fund Management firm, is also the founder of a charity network under the Open Society Foundations (OSF) umbrella, which runs many of its programs out of the Hungarian capital of Budapest....

During an interview with Hungarian channel TV2, Orban said many civil society organizations supported by Soros have "launched themselves into action. They all demand that the Government leave the border open."... 
..........
"I ask civil society organizations active in Hungary to reveal who their supporters are and what amounts they receive from them." 

It's not the first time OSF and Soros have hit a sore spot in eastern Europe. OSF came into trouble with the Russian government in July (2015), which nearly banned the foundations alongside a number of pro-democracy organizations accused of launching "soft aggression" in the country.
An OSF spokesperson told CNBC the organization is determined to continue supporting Russians who seek its assistance, as long as it is within the network's mandate and remains in legal limits. OSF went on to highlight its 30-year track record in charitable work in Hungary."... 
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=====================

Added: Bill Clinton and the nuclear codes: In 2010 it came out that Bill Clinton had lost the nuclear codes at some point during his time as president, but never told anyone, per a former Clinton official autobiography:

2010 article:


Oct. 22, 2010, "Why Clinton's Losing the Nuclear Biscuit Was Really, Really Bad," The Atlantic, Marc Ambinder 

"Former President Clinton's office declined to comment today on reports that he managed to lose the personal identification code needed to confirm nuclear launches and never told anyone about it. Gen. Hugh Shelton,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the last few years of Clinton's term, writes about the episode in his new autobiography. Shelton is especially sensitive to the proper authentication procedures, having served as deputy commander of the National Military Command Center (NMCC), through which all nuclear launch progression action chains are processed. The National Command Authority (NCA), as the process and the person of the commander in chief is called, passes from the President to the Vice President to the Secretary of Defense. (In the absence of the SecDef, the Deputy Secretary of Defense can stand in.) 

In effect, without Clinton's "biscuit," as the personal identifier is called, the President would not have been able to initiate a launch order or confirm a launch order executed by someone else.
The football itself, which contains code authenticators, a transceiver, targeting menus, and continuity of government options, was always with the military aide."...







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Americans in a presidential election year deserve a debate on serious matters instead of McCarthy era attacks on Trump. Why has NATO remained in post WWII posture instead of focusing on terrorism? American taxpayers are being primed for another Cold War with Russia. The media and war lobby assume Americans will agree to yet another endless foreign war without discussion of the issues. Trump simply said he didn’t want to restart the Cold War-Stephen Cohen-CNN, 7/30/16

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7/30/16, Russia Expert Stephen Cohen: Trump Wants To Stop The New Cold War, But The American Media Just Doesn’t Understand,” Real Clear Politics, Tim Hains
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Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies at NYU and Princeton, spoke with CNN’s ‘Smerconish’ Saturday morning about Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the ‘New Cold War.’
.........
Cohen says the media at large is doing a huge disservice to the American people by ignoring the substance of Trump’s arguments about NATO and Russia, and buying the Clinton campaign’s simplistic smear that Trump is a Russian “Manchurian candidate.”
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“That reckless branding of Trump as a Russian agent, most of it is coming from the Clinton campaign,” Cohen said. “And they really need to stop.
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“We’re approaching a Cuban Missile Crisis level nuclear confrontation with Russia,” he explained. “And there is absolutely no discussion, no debate, about this in the American media.”
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“Then along comes, unexpectedly, Donald Trump,” he continued, “Who says he wants to end the New Cold War, and cooperate with Russia in various places… and –astonishingly– the media is full of what only can be called neo-McCarthyite charges that he is a Russian agent, that he is a Manchurian candidate, and that he is Putin’s client.”
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“This is a moment when there should be, in a presidential year, a debate,” he said. “And that is not what we are given in the media today.
...........
“Let’s go back to what you said Trump said about NATO,” Cohen also said. “Trump said early on, he wanted to know, 60 years after its foundation, what was NATO’s mission today. 100 policy wonks in Washington since the end of the Soviet Union, 25 years ago, have asked the same question. Is NATO an organization in search of a mission?”
.............
“That’s a legitimate question –but we don’t debate it. We don’t ask it. We just say, oh, Trump wants to abandon NATO.”
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Full transcript:

"MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN: When looking to blame someone for the cyberattack [against Hillary Clinton an the DNC], Russia was more than convenient. Is this a new cold war or political pot-stirring? Does this accusation have any basis in fact, and if not, could it cause real harm? Here to discuss is Stephen F. Cohen, American scholar of Russian studies at both Princeton and New York Universities. Professor Cohen, does Vladimir Putin indeed have a dog in our U.S. [election]?

STEPHEN F. COHEN: Vladimir Putin wants to end the ‘New Cold War — and so do I. 

Let me say, I have no ties to the Trump campaign or the Clinton campaign. But if I were to write your headline for you today, I tried on the way down here, I couldn’t fit it on the front page, but it would go like this: 

“We’re in a new and more dangerous Cold War with Russia.” 

We’re approaching a Cuban Missile Crisis nuclear confrontation with Russia, both along Russia’s borders and possibly over Syria. There is absolutely no discussion, no debate, about this in the American media — including, forgive me, on CNN. 

Then along comes (unexpectedly) Donald Trump, who says something that suggests he wants to end the new Cold War, cooperate with Russia in various places. What we used to call detente, and now —astonishingly– the media is full of what only can be called neo-McCarthyite charges that he is a Russian agent, that he is a Manchurian candidate, and that he is Putin’s client. 

So the real danger is what’s being done to our own political process.  This is a moment when there should be, in a presidential year, a debate. 

Because Mrs. Clinton’s position on Russia seems to be very different [than Mr. Trump’s], has been a long time. 

Trump speaks eliptically. You’ve got to piece together what he says. But he seems to want a new American policy toward Russia. And considering the danger, I think we as American citizens, deserve that debate, and not what we are given in the media today, including on the front page of the “New York Times.”

I end by saying, that this reckless branding of Trump as a Russian agent, most of it is coming from the Clinton campaign and they really need to stop. 

SMERICONISH: Okay. I don’t know where to begin in unpacking all that you just offered to us. But I guess I’ll start as follows. As one who can’t match your credentials, here’s what I see from the outside looking in. I see Donald Trump having said to the “New York Times,” just within the last ten days, that he’s not so sure he would stand with NATO allies, and I’m paraphrasing, he would want to know whether they would be pulling their own weight. The inpart of his comments seems to suggest he could provide Putin with unfettered, undeterred access to the Baltic states –whose independence he resents. So it all seems to fit, therefore, that Putin would have a dog in this fight, would want to see Donald Trump win this election so that he, Putin, could do as he pleases, in that part of the world. CNN is covering that. I have to defend the network in that regard. But why does that not all fit, and why does it not all fit in the headline in today’s “New York Times,” which says Russian spies said to have hacked Clinton’s bid. 

COHEN: “Said to have.” Said to have. That’s not news, that’s an allegation. James Clapper. I don’t know who hacked. Everybody hacks everybody. I mean, we hacked into Chancellor Merkel’s cell phone. We learned that from Snowden. The Israelis hack, the America. Everybody hacks. The point is, and I know you said it, not to defend it, but as a provocation, that let’s take the position you just set out. That Putin wants to end the independence in Baltic states. There is no evidence for that. None whatsoever. 

The point is, is that on the networks — and I’m not blaming CNN, and there’s none on any network. There is none in the “New York Times.”

I am old enough to remember that during the last Cold War, all these issues were debated in that you had a proponent to each point of view. But you have now got accusations, both against Putin, both against Trump, which needed to be debated. 

The most — let’s go back to what you said — Trump said about NATO. Trump said early on, he wanted to know, 60 years after its foundation, what was NATO’s mission today. 

100 policy wonks in Washington since the end of the Soviet Union, 25 years ago, have asked the same question. Is NATO an organization in search of a mission? For example, it’s a mission for the last 20 years was to expand ever closer to Russia. So people have now asked why isn’t it fighting international terrorism? That’s a legitimate question –but we don’t debate it. We don’t ask it. 

We just say, oh, Trump wants to abandon NATO. I don’t defend Trump. Trump raises questions. And instead of giving answer to the substance of the question, we denounce him as some kind of Kremlin agent. That’s bad for our politics, but still worse, given the danger we’re not addressing it.""





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