NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT FRIDAY 12/14/2018

(EDITING, ADDITIONS, UDPATES ETC. POSSIBLE UNTIL 8 AM)

(WARNING:  THE FINAL STORY MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME READERS)

The terrorist attack suspect in Strasbourg France shot dead by police Thursday.  A group of three police officers came upon Cherif Chekatt on a street in Strasbourg.

Gaullist politician Nicolas Dupont-Aignan says the French government is using the terrorist attack in Strasbourg on Tuesday as an instrument to "silence" the yellow vests protest.   The president of the Debout France party told the French news channel LCI:

"We will not ban freedom of expression in our country because the state is unable to provide security against jihadists"

Dupont-Aignan supported the motion of censure against the government proposed by left-leaning parties.  It got 70 votes in the National Assembly dominated by President Macron's party and other "mainstream" political parties.

The latest polling in France for next May's European Parliament elections shows a lead for the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen at 24 percent over President Emmanuel Macron's Republic Marche at 18 percent.  "The Republicans" are at 11 percent and the leftist "La France Insoumise" is at 9 percent.

This polling does not take into account a possible "Yellow Vests" list running in the elections.

And getting back to the 'yellow vests', two representatives appeared before the media in Versailles France Thursday to announce that Phase 5 of the protest is on for this Saturday.  They chose the site where the "founding act of French democracy" took place in 1789.

They called for more dramatic reforms than the measures announced by President Emmanuel Macron in his speech earlier this week saying that people of France face a:

"colossal tax burden"

And there was a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel today with 250 people in yellow vests protesting the cost of living in that country.

The Battle of Brexit.

The word from the European Union summit in Brussels is that there will be no renegotiation or changes to the Brexit deal agreed to by the EU and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

May backed away from a vote on the plan earlier this week in Parliament as the deal appeared doomed to defeat.

The best that the EU offers are additions to the agreement that are not legally binding.

Appearing on ITV's "Good Morning Britain" from Brussels, Member of European Parliament "Mr Brexit" Nigel Farage said that Mrs. May will have to get opposition party support or threaten Conservative Party members to force the deal's passage:

"...to get this through Parliament she's either gonna have to get the Labor Party to support this.  I mean why should they help a government in trouble or she's gonna have to make some very dire threats that if this deal doesn't go through something awful will happen."

The US Senate has voted 56-41 to end US military aid to Saudi Arabia for the war in Yemen where many civilian deaths and a widespread famine affecting millions are reported.  The legislation was co-sponsored by Republican Mike Lee of Utah and Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The move is a response to Saudi Arabia's involvement in the murder of Saudi government opponent journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd.

The Senate also voted to hold Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman responsible for Khashoggi's murder.

The vote symbolic with President Trump's veto of any legislation certain as the President has committed to alliance with Saudi Arabia regardless.

Former US military attache in Saudi Arabia Colonel Pat Lang posted this on his "Sic Semper Tyrannis" blog last week regarding Trump and Saudi Arabia:

"Drop the Saudis.  Drop the relationship.  Save yourself before this destroys you.  Forget Mueller.  This is the real threat"

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today:

"We understand from voice recordings that those closest to the crown prince assumed an active role in the murder"

Erdogan also spoke out about the situation in Syria with Kurdish forces saying that if the US does not remove the Kurdish fighters from Manbij, Syria the Turks will do it.

A Pentagon spokesman is warning against any military action into northeast Syria from any party, saying that would be "unacceptable".

Commander Sean Robertson also said:

"Unilateral military action into northeast Syria by any party, particularly as U.S. personnel may be present or in the vicinity, is of grave concern"

On Wednesday President  Erdogan said that the Turkish military would soon launch operations east of the Euphrates River in northeastern Syria.

The Turks intend to go after Kurdish forces that have been helping in the fight against Islamic State in recent years.   Turkey considers the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) to be terrorists.

An article in the pro-government "Yeni Safak" newspaper Thursday quoted a local official in Raqqa, Syria as saying that Turkish seizure of Manbij in Syria from the PKK would pave the way to Raqqa being "liberated".

The article criticized the United States conduct of the war against ISIS (Daesh).....LINK

Turkey has announced airstrikes in northern Iraq Thursday against Kurdish targets.

And in Syria there are reports that Kurds have launched pre-emptive attacks on Turkish army posts inside the country.

In the south of Syria, the pro-government Al-Masdar news blog reports fighting between the Syrian army and US backed forces near the US Al-Tanaf base.

Two Israeli soliders were killed and two others wounded Thursday in an attack at a bus stop in the West Bank.

Israeli forces sealed off the city of Ramallah following the attack as they hunted for the attacker.

During the manhunt today an Israeli solider at an outpost was attacked with a rock and stabbed.  He was seriously wounded.

Fake bomb threats were sent by email across the United States and Canada Thursday.  The threats demanded 20 thousand dollars in bitcoin as ransom.

Everything from businesses to subway stations to schools were affected by the bomb threats with numerous evacuations reported.

Today is the sixth anniversary of the mass murder attack at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Last Sunday, the "Hartford Courant" newspaper published a report based on documents from the police investigation into the attacker, Adam Lanza.

The police documents revealed that Lanza was fascinated with mass murder incidents dating back to the year 1786 and created a spreadsheet of the various mass murders.

Lanza lived an isolated existence and a medical examiner's report on his body diagnosed him with anorexia.    He expressed his disdain for being overweight with 53 written reasons to remain thin.

Lanza wrote notes for a play with a themes of pedophilia and murdering family members.

Here is a link to the article.....HARTFORD COURANT ADAM LANZA

Grammy Award winning jazz singer Nancy Wilson has died at her home in the California desert at the age of 81.  In the 1960's she released eight albums that reached the top 20 on Billboard's pop album charts.

And there's word that actress Sondra Locke is dead at the age of 74.   She died of a heart attack November 3rd.  Locke is probably best remembered for six films she starred in with Clint Eastwood.

Locke later sued Eastwood twice for fraud, receiving settlements worth 4 million dollars total.

And with a warning that this might offend, she delivered a line in "The Gauntlet" to a law enforcement officer who showed a prurient interest in her character in the film, a prostitute.

Her response to him was "Does your wife know you masturbate?"

And that's the way it really is, this Friday morning December 14th, 2018........