Greener Pastures

I’ve given some thought, and this will likely be the last post from me in this group. I’ll leave it as is, but I’m tired of the media and politics in general. I’m tired of blog posts only a handful of people read.

I knew when Trump got elected, that it would be an uphill battle. I figured I’d was prepared for it. But the honest truth is, I’m not. It’s become 24/7, and I just don’t have it in me to continue with it. It has cost me a lot of life long friendships and amounted to very little in return.

I’ve accomplished very little, for all the hours and energy I’ve put in, and that’s something I’m just not able to do anymore.

For now, I’m happy to let Brandon and Kelsey continue to post to this group, as they like, but this is it for me.

S

That whole women’s rights/gender equality thing

So the meme goes, “As long as you live, you’ll never see a photograph of 7 women signing legislation about what men can do with their reproductive organs.” And we all had a good chuckle at Trump’s expense.

I was really interested in this post for two reasons. Firstly, because it’s a bill diverting US funds away from countries like Mexico that perform many illegal and dangerous abortions using a pill called Misoprostol, also known as Mifeprex, which essentially causes the woman’s body to have uncontrollable contractions and can cause severe liver and kidney damage. Damage that is irreversible.

And secondly, because it’s just another tired meme the mainstream media influenced Liberal snowflakes are using to denigrate someone they clearly know nothing about. When your rights are being taken away, I’ll stand with you and protest, I promise you that. Until then, take the time to research, ask questions and figure things out for yourselves.

What the media fails to bring up is that this isn’t Trump’s bill. Ronald Reagan put the bill into action in 1984. Bill Clinton repealed it, George W. Bush reinstated it, and wouldn’t you know, Obama took it out again.

Women are going to have abortions if they want to. I fully support that right. But for the sake of their health, let’s try to get the procedures done by reputable doctors, not back alley hacks in impoverished countries.

 

5 Bold Predictions for a Donald Trump Presidency

On the eve of his inauguration, we take a look at 5 bold predictions for Donald Trump in the first 100 days as president.

• With one day left for Obama to pardon Hillary Clinton for her email controversy, (which many suspect he won’t do, frankly because Obama never really cared for her), it sets up the possibility of Trump ordering his own inquiry into the scandal. Actual likelihood: 3/10

• Millions of Americans were tired of the status quo career politicians, and Trump is quite clearly the opposite of that. He also has a warm relationship with Putin, who many see as a key to conflicts in the Middle East. Where George W. Bush and Obama failed to reach resolution, the Putin lead, Trump assisted duo will succeed. Actual likelihood: 6/10

• This one is easy. Trump will impeach himself. He’s a loose cannon, make no bones about it. I’d like to hope that he’ll have enough support around him to ask questions and give the right answers, but he just doesn’t strike me as the type. Should this happen, the more reliable, less unpredictable Mike Pence would take over. Actual likelihood 5/10

• Earlier this morning, it was announced that a man with connections to the Clinton family had been held for questioning related to an assassination attempt on Trump during his inauguration. This one may not be so bold, since a vast majority of Pro-Democrat supporters wanted anyone but him in office. Actual likelihood: 5/10

• Trump will scrap Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act as it is officially known. This could prove costly, and highly unsuccessful, but Republican’s control both the senate and the house of representatives, so any bill requiring a high approval rate could easily be pushed through. It’s likely that a Trump presidency will see the act repealed and repackaged. Actual likelihood: 7/10

The Devil is in the Details

It’s been said, that the devil’s greatest trick, was proving to mankind that he never existed. This is certainly true of Obama’s eight years in office. How he has managed to convince a vast majority of his best intentions remains a mystery.

As his last week in the oval office winds down, I’ll be pointing to some of the biggest mistakes he made while in office. If I’ve forgotten any, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll amend the list.

• Certainly his worst mistake was the day after the attacks on Benghazi in Libya. In the rose garden he stated the attacks were in retaliation for a video mocking Mohammed. In truth, the entire handling of the ousting and murder of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011 was poorly executed, and the fall out immeasurable.

• Guantánamo prison, at the very Eastern tip of Cuba, is infamous for it’s barbaric style torture techniques, including electrocution of inmates with car batteries and waterboarding. Both techniques condemned under the Geneva conventions, outlining proper standards for the humanitarian treatment in war. It was in 2008 that Obama brought forth the idea of closing this detention facility. And it was on January 22, 2009, his second day in office, that he issued an executive order, directing that the prison be shut down. Almost eight years later, it still remains open.

• Obama has authorized 506 drone strikes that killed 3,040 terrorists and 391 civilians (a large amount of them women and children), compared to just 50 issued by the previous president, George W. Bush.

• Obama’s regime has sold more weapons than any administration since World War II. The numbers are staggering, close to $50 billion in 2015, and another $45 billion in 2016. Another report issued states that sales to Saudi Arabia alone topped $115 billion while he was in office.

I’m sure I missed a few, but these stood out the most for me.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2610598/Group-US-switched-sides-War-Terror-facilitating-500-MILLION-weapons-deliveries-Libyan-al-Qaeda-militias-leading-Benghazi-attack.html

http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/01/04/heroes-benghazi-open-kelly-file-ahead-release-13-hours-secret-soldiers-benghazi

Excerpts from the Declassified Intelligence Report

The recently released Grizzly Steppe joint document assembled by the CIA/FBI/NSA and Homeland Security outlined some serious accusations at Russia, and Vladimir Putin’s regime. None of which, to this date, have been proven.

Homeland Security, I might add, also refused to sign off on this document, which you can read here.

Media Watch has received access to the Declassified report which you can read here.

NSA’s level of confidence has also been listed as moderate. And you would think, if anyone had pertinent info related to the supposed hacks, it would be that department.

Here are a few key excerpts from the “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections” document:

• “Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Hillary Clinton and harm her electability and potential presidency.”

But the document also decides that Russia didn’t influence vote tallying.

• “Russian intelligence obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards. DHS assesses that the types of systems Russian actors targeted or compromised were not involved in vote tallying.”

• “We have high confidence in these judgements, CIA and FBI, NSA has moderate confidence.”

• “Russian behaviour since early November 2016, increases our confidence in our assessment of Russian motivations and goals.”

• “Russia’s intelligence services conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US presidential election, including targets associated with both major US political parties.”

• “Russia’s state-run propaganda machine (RT) contributed to the influence campaign by serving as a platform for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences.”

The Unravelling of Eli Lake

This article (if you can even call it that, it’s more like a poorly written book report from someone who never bothered to read the book, and has only a vague idea what the synopsis is), came across my radar by way of a friend and it pains me to admit it, but it’s the very reason I invited him to share his posts on the Facebook page. The article in question, is here.

He’ll get no further mention from me, but this bozo didn’t even bother to spell unravelling right. Try a spell check next time, maybe?

I take issue with this article for two very different reasons. Firstly, all of his statements are personal opinion, not fact. Any journalistic credentials he has should be revoked immediately for forcing us to navigate this tired narrative he’s passing off as intelligent thought.

Secondly, he’s assuming that he knows who Assange’s sources are, by way of the US media, who he insist would never lie to us. Right.

As far as I’m concerned, him and his editor are both idiots.

But I’ll give Bloomberg as a whole, a pass for this elegantly worded foot note: “This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.”

Russian Roulette

Happy New Year, and welcome back to Media Watch. We’ve taken a little break over the holidays, but now we’ve returned to deconstruct the media. Alternately, between posting days, you can also follow our Facebook page.

It’s a curious tale, this Russian hacking spectacle. The US are wont to believe the Russians are involved. It would solve all their problems. It would solve the DNC’s problems. It would solve poor John Podesta’s problems, and it would certainly solve Hillary’s problems.

But the catalyst of all this, is surely Obama, who pointed the gun squarely at the Russians, and pulled the trigger. Click. His statement of intent was clear when he said “These data thefts and disclosure activities could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government.”

It isn’t his party come January 20th. He has created a sea of waves for Trump to calm, and that course of action must take place soon, or a new digital cold age might be upon us.

Cyber security expert Jeffrey Carr, author of Inside Cyber Warfare has stated that a joint report released by the FBI and Homeland Security, titled Grizzly Steppe “adds nothing to the call for evidence that the Russian government was responsible.” Top level security execs have also labelled it “Fatally flawed”, and “poorly done.”

But it was the US that interfered in 1996 to help Boris Yeltsin win. And it was Hillary who paid protesters to interfere in the Russian elections in 2008. We have short term memories, when it suits us.

The reality here, is that Putin has never liked Hillary, and never liked Obama. And the key to Middle East resolution is through Russia, so perhaps it’s not such a terrible idea that Trump and Putin get along.

 

Aleppo Part iii: The City of Aleppo

Once considered the crown jewel of Syria, Aleppo has been the hardest hit and suffered the heaviest violence over the last five years. For a war that started in July of 2012, and cost the country more than 300,000 lives, it’s an all too constant reminder that the city has become a battleground for the Western section controlled by the Syrian Army and Eastern section patrolled by the Jihadi terrorists.

• Syria’s largest city, and the third largest in the region behind Constantinople and Cairo
• Located at the Northeastern tip of Syria
• First settled in 5000 BC
• Consistently inhabited since 4000 BC due to it’s proximity between the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq
• First city council established in 1868
• Population of about 2.3 million, roughly the same size as Toronto, Ontario
• UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986, Aleppo citadel (seen in the photo above), was built over three centuries from the 10th century and damaged in July 2015 by heavy air raid blasts

ALEPPO PART II: PROPAGANDA

Since 2012, it has proven to be too dangerous for Western journalists or foreign correspondents to report directly from Syria. Most now file their reports from nearly 300 km away, in Beirut, Lebanon. Or roughly the distance from Ottawa, Ontario to Drummondville, Quebec. How could we possibly expect accurate news given such a distance?

In their place, through either self interest or naivety, “local activists” unable to escape jihadi control have taken over. These sources operate under the complete control of al-Qaeda sponsored news groups like Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham.

Below is a list of some of the most questionable propaganda tools:
• Omran Daqneesh, the Aleppo boy
– if his injuries were so bad that he required an ambulance, why were media allowed to take photos of him before he received treatment?
– his image has resurfaced in numerous other photos/videos in several different situations, including in one where he’s about to become beheaded
– from most reports, it appears to be Trauma makeup
• White Helmet staged mannequin challenge rescue videos
– illustrates how easily it would be to stage other rescues
• Seven year old Syrian girl, Bana Alabed who has a verified twitter account
– in an area as badly hit as Eastern Aleppo, how was she able to maintain a twitter account, when many of the city’s remaining residents are without power?
– why would a mother (who is apparently helping her run this account) choose to remain in Aleppo where food and water is scarce?
– how did she become verified on twitter so quickly?
– why is her mother dressed as a jihadist fighter in some of the photos on her original twitter account?
– why was her account registered in the UK?

Part 3 will feature a profile on the city of Aleppo for late Wednesday night.

Aleppo Part I: The White Helmets

I’ve put together this 3 part fact sheet on various topics related to the city of Aleppo. It is the worst hit and largest city in Syria, and according to Wikipedia is the site of “major military confrontation between the Syrian opposition (including Free Syrian Army, and Sunni fighters, including Levant Front) in partial cooperation with the Army of Conquest, which includes within it Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly al-Qaida‘s Syrian branch,^[88] against the Syrian Armed Forces of the Syrian Government, supported by Hezbollah and Shiite militias and Russia,^[65][89] and against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units.”

Part 1 will focus on the White Helmets, as they’re known within the media, or the Syrian Civil Defence, their official title.

• Founded in 2013 (by a British ex-military officer, James Le Mesurier, more than one year after the ongoing Battle of Aleppo began in 2012)
• In Eastern Aleppo and Idlib (a city South of Aleppo), the hardest hit areas, their presence is minimal
• Major funding is being provided by USAID, to the tune of more than $23 million
• Total funding since 2012 is estimated at $100 million by the US/UK and other influential countries
• As of 5 days ago, 95% of the area has been liberated by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA)
• They purport to be neutral, yet some carry guns and reports have stated that some are posing for photos standing over dead Syrian soldier’s bodies
• Their videos contain children identified in multiple video sources used primarily as propaganda

Monday will feature Part 2: Propaganda