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Friday December 08, 2017

Trump's 'fake news' mantra a hit with despots
Politico | Jason Schwartz | 12/08/17

Leaders or state media in at least 15 countries use the president's favorite denunciation to quell dissent, question human rights violations.

Authoritarian rulers across the globe are adopting President Donald Trump's favorite phrase to limit free speech, with prominent leaders or state media in at least 15 countries using his "fake news" line to denounce their critics, according to a POLITICO review.

By aligning themselves with Trump's words, despots have been able to use the U.S. president as a shield for their attacks on press freedom and human rights, said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

"I'm seeing it more and more," he said. Trump, he added, "is providing a context and framework for all sorts of authoritarian leaders--or democratic leaders and others who are dissatisfied or upset by critical media coverage--to undermine and discredit reporting." ... Read more

Time Square Live
Time Square CAM | | 12/08/17 | Live

Trump Lights the Middle East on Fire
TYT | author | 12/07/17

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers clashed Thursday in Jerusalem, Ramallah and other places in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with some demonstrators burning American flags and posters of President Trump a day after he sided with Israel by announcing U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. But at nightfall, after the skirmishes died down, the region was bracing for worse.

More than 100 people were injured Thursday, according to the Palestine Red Crescent, despite the deployment of several extra battalions of Israeli troops. The critical test comes Friday, when larger demonstrations are expected as crowds leave mosques after the weekly noon prayers.

In Gaza, the Islamist movement Hamas urged its followers to ignite a third intifada, or uprising, against Israel. The Palestinian Authority called for a general strike. Shops were shuttered in Jerusalem's Old City.

The Great Tax Cut
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America's Interventionist Foreign Policy i.e. Empire
*The Devil's Chessboard by David Talbot Discusses -> The Dark Side of Allen Dulles: The Greatest Untold Story of American Power - U.S. History (2015) | CSpan Book TV | 2015 | 1:10:35
*The Dulles Brothers by Stephen Kinzert Discusses -> The U.S. Has Overthrown Governments for 100 Years: A Compelling and Provocative History (2006) | CSpan Book TV | 2006 | 38:47
Allen Dulles: The Powerful, Moneyed World of International Finance & Politics (2002) | CSpan Book TV | 2002 | 1:00:22
*The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government by David Talbot (2016)

An explosive, headline-making portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful--and secretive--colossus in Washington, from the founder of Salon.com and author of the New York Times bestseller Brothers.

America's greatest untold story: the United States' rise to world dominance under the guile of Allen Welsh Dulles, the longest-serving director of the CIA. Drawing on revelatory new materials--including newly discovered U.S. government documents, U.S. and European intelligence sources, the personal correspondence and journals of Allen Dulles's wife and mistress, and exclusive interviews with the children of prominent CIA officials--Talbot reveals the underside of one of America's most powerful and influential figures.

Dulles's decade as the director of the CIA--which he used to further his public and private agendas--were dark times in American politics. Calling himself "the secretary of state of unfriendly countries," Dulles saw himself as above the elected law, manipulating and subverting American presidents in the pursuit of his personal interests and those of the wealthy elite he counted as his friends and clients--colluding with Nazi-controlled cartels, German war criminals, and Mafiosi in the process. Targeting foreign leaders for assassination and overthrowing nationalist governments not in line with his political aims, Dulles employed those same tactics to further his goals at home, Talbot charges, offering shocking new evidence in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

An exposé of American power that is as disturbing as it is timely, The Devil's Chessboard is a provocative and gripping story of the rise of the national security state--and the battle for America's soul.
*The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War by Stephen Kinzer (2014)

Anyone wanting to know why the United States is hated across much of the world need look no farther than this book. "The Brothers" is a riveting chronicle of government-sanctioned murder, casual elimination of "inconvenient" regimes, relentless prioritization of American corporate interests and cynical arrogance on the part of two men who were once among the most powerful in the world.

John Foster Dulles and his brother, Allen, were scions of the American establishment. Their grandfather John Watson Foster served as secretary of state, as had their uncle Robert Lansing. Both brothers were lawyers, partners in the immensely powerful firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, whose New York offices were for decades an important link between big business and American policy making.

John Foster Dulles served as secretary of state from 1953 to 1959; his brother ran the C.I.A. from 1953 to 1961. But their influence was felt long before these official appointments. In his detailed, well-­constructed and highly readable book, Stephen Kinzer, formerly a foreign correspondent for The New York Times and now a columnist for The Guardian, shows how the brothers drove America's interventionist foreign policy.
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, December 08 [11:12]
PLO Leader Hanan Ashrawi: Trump's Jerusalem Order Violates Int'l Law & "Destroys" Chance for Peace | DN | 12/07/17 | 9:55
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, December 08 (FULL) | 59:02
Note: on the full 59:02 video look for small white (or black) circles on the Progressbar they denote the different news stories. You can move the pointer on the Progressbar to jump to each story, and around the video.
  1. Headlines
  2. No Democracy Here: Ousted Honduran Pres. Zelaya Says 2009 U.S.-Backed Coup Led to Election Crisis
  3. "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump": Psychiatrist Dr. Bandy Lee on Growing Mental Health Concerns
*Bill Black Says -> Children's Health Insurance Program to Expire Under GOP Tax Bill | TRNN | 12/07/17 | 18:40
Wildfires are Leveling LA Neighborhoods, Is There More to Come? | TRNN | 12/07/17 | 9:42
Firefighters Can't Contain California Wildfires | TYT | 12/07/17 | 7:56
Trump Lights the Middle East on Fire | TYT | 12/07/17 | 12:14
The1a.org
Friday News -- Domestic | 1a.org | 12/08/17 | 1hr
Two Democratic members of Congress (Sen. Al Franken and Rep. John Conyers) left their offices this week after calls for them to resign over sexual misconduct.

Two versions of the tax bill (one by the House and one by the Senate) remain up for debate.

Two former Trump associates (Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort) are back in the headlines for their ties to the Russian government.
Friday News -- International | 1a.org | 12/08/17 | 1hr
Fulfilling a campaign promise, President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital this week. The move sparked riots and protests.

The International Olympic Committee stopped playing games with Russia, banning the country from next year's competition. And while Russia's athletes won't be skiing or skating next year, President Vladimir Putin will be running ... for president ... again.

Meanwhile, the U.K. cleared a hurdle in its attempts to make a graceful Brexit.


Mika: Here's How Democrats Could've Better Handled Senator Al Franken | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/08/17 | 25:13
Donald Trump Speech Revives Questions Of His Fitness | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/08/17 | 8:39
Joe: FBI Director Christopher Wray Did A Masterful Job | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/08/17 | 3:24
Donald Rumsfeld on the impact of Trump's Israel decision | FoxNews | 12/07/17 | 7:59
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Donald Trump Jr. Wants More Privilege? | Stephen Colbert | 12/08/17 | 4:55
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
In Other News: The GOP Loosens Gun Control and a Reporter Claps Back | Trevor Noah | 12/07/17 | 5:46
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Even More Creeps: Journalist Edition | Samantha Bee | 12/06/17 | 6:41
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Trump's Hanukkah Reception, Starbucks' "Christmas Tree Frappuccino" | Seth Meyers | 12/08/17 | 2:47

12.08.2017. 11:27



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Lindsey Graham Mashups
Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the quiet part aloud on why he’s still so close to former President Donald Trump: because we can use him for our goals. "President Trump has gotten people who wouldn't give me or Romney or anybody else the time of day. They believe he is on their side," the senator told the America First Agenda Summit crowd on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

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Environment & Climate Change
Environment

The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.

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AI - Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Deep Learning
AI - Artificial Intelligence

AIArtificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. AI research has been defined as the field of study of intelligent agents, which refers to any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.

The term "artificial intelligence" had previously been used to describe machines that mimic and display "human" cognitive skills that are associated with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem-solving". This definition has since been rejected by major AI researchers who now describe AI in terms of rationality and acting rationally, which does not limit how intelligence can be articulated.
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Quantum mechanics | AI - Artificial Intelligence
Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.  It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.
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Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or New York-based financial interests.

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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis,.

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg and Paul Jay explore Ellsberg's latest book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. In the introduction to the book, Ellsberg writes: "No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral or insane. The story of how this calamitous predicament came about and how and why it has persisted over a half a century is a chronicle of human madness".

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Nukes
Nukes

Nuclear weapons have come a long way and come in all types of different sizes. Some are relatively small while others are enormous, so big they boggle the mind at what they can be capable of, i.e. the Soviet 'Tsar Bomba' is/was 3,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

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Rana Foroohar and Fall of American Business
Rana Foroohar

Ms. Foroohar says financialization delivers stagnant wages, inequality and economic crisis; the Financial Times columnist and author of "Makers and Takers" says the financial sector represents only 7 percent of the U.S. economy, but takes around 25 percent of all corporate profit while creating only 4 percent of all jobs.

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The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick

The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick | 2014 | 10 Episodes

Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter J. Kuznick began working on the project in 2008. Stone, Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham cowrote the script. It covers "the reasons behind the Cold War with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism." Stone is the director and narrator of all ten episodes.

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Kuznick Interviews

Kuznick Interviews

Historian Peter Kuznick says Eisenhower called for decreased militarization, then Dulles reversed the policy; the Soviets tried to end the cold war after the death of Stalin; crazy schemes involving nuclear weapons and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba put the world of the eve of destruction - with host Paul Jay

The Untold History of the United States by Kuznick, Peter.mobi | Book | 6.99 MB

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China Valley of Tunnels

China Valley of Tunnels

A report written by a Georgetown University team led by Phillip Karber conducted a three-year study to map out China’s complex tunnel system, which stretches 5,000 km (3,000 miles). The report determined that the stated Chinese nuclear arsenal is understated and as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads may be stored in the underground tunnel network.

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911
911

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

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The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides--Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.

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Trump's Mashups
Trump's Mashups

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? VICE News' "Trump Talk" mashup series tries to answer that. And, we're happy to say, it was just nominated for two Webby Awards. Now you can watch all the nominated videos.

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Trump's Sexcapades
Trump's Sexcapades.

Jessica Leeds (1980s)
Kristin Anderson (1990s)
E. Jean Carroll (1995 or 1996)
Lisa Boyne (1996)
Cathy Heller (1997)
Temple Taggart McDowell (1997)
Karena Virginia (1998)
Mindy McGillivray (2003)
Jennifer Murphy (2005)
Rachel Crooks (2005)
Natasha Stoynoff (2005)
Juliet Huddy (2005 or 2006)
Jessica Drake (2006)
Ninni Laaksonen (2006)
Cassandra Searles (2013)
Allegations of pageant dressing room visits(1997)
Mariah Billado,
Victoria Hughes,
and three other Miss Teen USA contestants
Bridget Sullivan (2000)
Tasha Dixon (2001)
Unnamed contestants (2001)
Samantha Holvey (2006)

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Trump's Speeches | Rallys |Interviews
Trump's Speeches | Rallys

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? Watch Trump at some of his rallys and see what you think.

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