IS IRAN THE GREAT SATAN OR JUST A NOISY PROVOCATIVE DISTRACTION FROM WHAT'S REALLY COMING DOWN?

(COMMENT AND ANALYSIS)

"We do not believe Iran is currently undertaking to make a nuclear weapon"

US Director Of National Intelligence Dan Coats

"At the moment technically they are in compliance"

CIA Director Gina Haspel On Iran's Adherence To The Nuclear Deal

Some startling testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday from top US intelligence officials that point to an Iran that is not developing nuclear weapons.

Its been sacred writ that Iran is a big threat but when it comes to nukes, but the answer is NO as it stands now.

CIA Director Haspel did say that the Iranians are considering being less adherent to the agreement in response to loss of economic benefits from the nuclear deal that were expected with the lifting of sanctions.

It appears that the US action against Iran in pulling out of the nuclear agreement is making it potentially more hostile.

And when it comes to Iran's conventional capabilities it appears that Israel is trying to unleash them through its actions.

Here is how US Director Of National Intelligence Dan Coats explained it:

"Iran continues to pursue permanent military bases and economic deals in Syria and probably wants to maintain a network of Shia foreign fighters there despite Israeli attacks on Iranian positions in Syria.

"We assess that Iran seeks to avoid a major armed conflict with Israel.  However, Israeli strikes that result in Iranian casualties increase the likelihood of Iranian conventional retaliation against Israel."

While Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and President Trump take actions that threaten to trigger Iranian responses, there are conservative voices in Israel warning about the "Deal of the Century" plan crafted in President Trump's name by the likes of Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, and Saudi Arabia's de-facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salman.

Naftali Bennett, Education Minister and now one of the leaders of the "New Right" Party in Israel, has been speaking about details of the proposed deal he is aware of.

He told FM 103 Radio in Israel this week that 85 percent of Judea and Samaria ("The West Bank") will be used under the deal to create a Palestinian state.

Bennett and the other co-leader of the "New Right" Party, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked have warned about the "Deal of the Century" in the past when they were associated with the Jewish Home party.     More in this December 2018 post.....HERE

To wrap it up, there's so much obsession with "Russian collusion" when the "collusion" with MBS and Gulf Arabs has the kind of $$$$ attached to it that the Russians could never match.

Robert Mueller has been poking around there, too.

There are a lot of Israelis like the ones not on the "Left" that don't care for any "deal" with the Palestinians.

Right now, that "deal" is expected to emerge after the April 9th election in Israel.

Mobilizing against Iran with little military attacks inviting retaliation from the other side keeps up the patriotic emotions in Israel and beyond to those who support Israel.

But is it a distraction for selling out Israel and Jews who live in Judea and Samaria at the end of the day?

(REVISED, EXPANDED THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING)

VENEZUELA LATEST:  TRUMP SPEAKS TO GUAIDO, GOVERNMENT TRIES TO CONTAIN PROTEST

…..Large protests all across Venezuela today against Maduro.   The fight for freedom has begun!

President Donald J. Trump On Twitter Wednesday 1/30/2019

"We have had clandestine meetings with members of the armed forces and the security forces"

Interim President Of Venezuela Juan Guaido Writes In The "New York Times"

President Donald J. Trump upped the ante Wednesday personally speaking by phone with the Interim President of Venezuela, Juan Guaido.

Trump tweeted that in his conversation with Guaido he:

"reinforced strong United States support for Venezuela's fight to regain its democracy"

The UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt also spoke with Guaido Wednesday with the UK expected to urge the EU to join in with sanctions on key figures in the Maduro regime.

The US representative on Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, says it would be "foolish" for Maduro to take any action against Guaido.

Guaido wrote in the "New York Times" about clandestine meetings with Venezuela's military seeking support for democracy in the country and in opposition to Maduro.

As the opposition to Maduro took to the streets Wednesday there were large crowds in the opposition strongholds in eastern Caracas.

In the traditionally pro-Maduro parts of western Caracas where protests have been held recently, the national police and riot police of the National Guard concentrated their efforts and kept protesters from taking to the streets.

More protests are planned for Saturday.

Also there was a report that Venezuela's gold supply was loaded onto a large Russian aircraft which left the country within the last 24 hours.

That according to National Assembly member Jose Guerra who said that central bank officials told him 20 tons of gold was loaded onto the Russian plane before takeoff.

Link below...….

VENEZUELA NEWS AND VIEWS BLOG POST-MORAL BANKRUPTCY OF THE LEFT-DANIEL DUQUENAL


(UPDATED, EXPANDED EARLY THURSDAY)

THE BATTLE OF BREXIT:  EU REBUFFS THERESA MAY'S ATTEMPT TO RENEGOTIATE BREXIT

"......and what we've seen is an appreciation in Britain that unelected bureaucrats in Brussels have been talking down to and humiliating the Prime Minister of our nation and we don't like it...."

Nigel Farage Speaks In The European Parliament 1/30/2019-FULL SPEECH LINK

Nigel Farage sees the attitude of the EU and its stiff necked refusal to respond to Prime Minister Theresa May's efforts to amend the Brexit agreement as opening a door to a strong negative reaction in the UK which could propel a "No-Deal" Brexit across the finish line on the date of Brexit, March 29th.

She played to both sides of the debate in passing amendments in the House of Commons Tuesday and brought both sides together for the moment.

But what does she need to do after its all said and done in the weeks ahead?

Offering his opinion in the European Parliament Wednesday was United Kingdom Indpendence Party leader Gerard Batten, who said in part:

"If the British Parliament prevents Brexit happening then they would have put themselves in open rebellion against the British people.  This will have profound consequences for any belief left in democracy in the United Kingdom"

In a late development Batten has asked Her Majesty The Queen to "prorogue" Parliament until after the March 29th Brexit deadline so a withdrawal with "No Deal" can be accomplished.

Link below...…

GERARD BATTEN UKIP LEADER SPEECH EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 1/30/2019

(UPDATED EXPANDED EARLY THRUSDAY)

NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT WEDNESDAY 1/30/2019

(THIS IS AN ABBREVIATED POST DUE TO WORK AND PERSONAL COMMITTMENTS, EDITING, ADDITIONS UPDATES UNTIL 645 AM EASTERN US TIME POSSIBLE)

In Venezuela the opposition to Nicolas Maduro taking to the streets and in support of the Interim President Juan Guaido today (Wednesday).

Venezuela's Supreme Court, controlled by Maduro, has ruled that Mr. Guaido cannot leave the country and frozen his bank accounts.

Maduro told a Russian news agency he's willing to talk with the opposition but is not willing to agree to early presidential elections, but supports early elections for the opposition controlled National Assembly.

There were reports late Tuesday that four journalists were detained in Caracas near the Miraflores presidential palace, controlled by Maduro.

President Donald Trump tweeted this morning in part:

"Americans should not travel to Venezuela until further notice"

The Battle of Brexit and two amendments approved Tuesday in Parliament that appear to be the fruit of a closing of ranks in the British Conservative Party.

One amendment calls for a renegotiating of the "backstop" on the British-Irish border in Northern Ireland with the European Union.

The other speaks of avoiding the "No-Deal" Brexit on the March 29th date when the UK is set to leave the EU.

The two amendments seem to be pandering to both factions of the Conservative Party, the "backstop" amendment to "Leave" Tories and the avoiding "No Deal" amendment to "Remain" Tories, but neither has any certainty to them.

Mr. Brexit Nigel Farage told his listeners on the "Nigel Farage" show Tuesday evening that the Conservative Party is putting its interests ahead of:

"the interests of getting the right Brexit deal"

Farage suspects that the Conservative Party wants to find a way to drag out the process and delay any kind of Brexit deal until after a General Election in 2021.

The early reaction from the European Union is that there will be no renegotiation of the Brexit deal Prime Minister Theresa May originally agreed to.

Chief negotiator Michel Barnier said in part:

"we stand by the agreement we have negotiated with the UK"

There's a high level Russian delegation talking Syria and Iran on a visit to Israel this week.

The Russian Syrian representative and Deputy Foreign Minister held talks Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his residence in Jerusalem.

Russia has said that the dispute between Israel and Iran should not be fought out in Syria and said that there should be no further Israeli attacks on Syria.

After a Russian surveillance plane was shot down and its crew killed during an Israeli air attack last September, Russia sent a more advanced air defense system to Syria, the S-300.  The new system is expected to be operational by March.

The Russian representatives said they were committed to Israel's security during their visit.

Israeli politics and the new face in Israeli politics, retired Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, made his first speech in the campaign leading to the April 9th election.

Speaking at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds Tuesday night, Gantz said that Prime Minister Netanyahu's government is out of touch with the average person and the high cost of living.   Gantz spoke of the divides in Israel between Left and Right and religious and secular.   He also criticized the Netanyahu policy of sending cash to the Hamas terror group in Gaza mentioning the notion of "blackmail funds".

Netanyahu said that Gantz is a tool of the Left in Israeli politics in response to his speech.

Meanwhile in an interview with an Israeli radio station, one of the leaders of the "New Right" Party, Naftali Bennett says President Trump's "Deal of the Century" plan to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict turns 85 percent of Judea and Samaria ("The West Bank") into a Palestinian state.

The FBI says it cannot find a motive for the mass murder incident involving a sniper in Las Vegas in October 2017 who killed 58 people and committed suicide.

The FBI report on the matter says that gunman Stephen Paddock was driven by mental health and stress issues and that they could find no ideological or political beliefs tied to him.

The FBI has closed its investigation.

The "Code Pink" activists have a message for singer Mariah Carey.

Don't perform in Saudi Arabia.

Medea Benjamin of "Code Pink" asks if Carey wants to be associated with a regime that:

"cuts up the body of (a) journalist with a bone saw, beheads people for non-violent offenses, tortures women who want to free themselves from the oppressive male guardianship system, makes homosexuality punishable by death, and has created a humanitarian situation in Yemen so severe it has already taken the lives of around 85-thousand young Yemeni children?"

And Oregon ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond, pardoned by President Trump last summer, got some good news this week.

The now former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke decided before his departure at the beginning of the year to retroactively approve grazing permits for the Hammonds on federal government land in Harney County, Oregon meaning they will have use of more than 26,000 acres for cattle they own to graze until 2024.

The Hammonds forced return to federal prison to serve out mandatory terrorism sentences for lighting a backfire to protect their property from a brushfire triggered the Oregon Standoff protest led by Ammon Bundy three years ago this month.

The Oregon Standoff protest drew worldwide attention to the plight of the Hammonds.

And that's the way it really is Wednesday January 30th, 2019.

THE BATTLE OF BREXIT:  AMENDMENTS ON THE TABLE POINT TO GUTTING OF THE LEAVE VOTE IN 2016 REFERENDUM

As the votes on Brexit amedments loom, the anti-Brexit forces that dominate the House of Commons seem poised to hijack Brexit to destroy it and or delay it past the 'firm' March 29th date previously claimed by Prime Minister Theresa May.

The latest fear propaganda against the "No-Deal" Brexit, real Brexit as defined by "Mr. Brexit" Nigel Farage and United Kingdom Independence Party leader Gerard Batten, came from grocery-food retailers in the UK.

They claimed that "No-Deal" Brexit threatens food security and would lead to empty shelves.

McDonalds, Sainsbury's and Asda, Walmart's branch in the UK, among the retailers of food fearful of the "No-Deal" Brexit.

(COMMENT:  BIG BUSINESS PREFERS DOING BUSINESS WITHOUT REFERENCE TO NATIONAL BORDERS BECAUSE IT REDUCES COSTS AND MAKES IT EASIER TO DO BUSINESS, INCREASE PROFITS)

Speaking to a caller on the "Nigel Farage Show" Monday both Nigel Farage and the caller agreed that Prime Minister Theresa May's game throughout the whole Brexit process appears to be:

"Brexit In Name Only"

The Prime Minister wants her Conservative Party members to support an Irish backstop amendment Tuesday that is vague in its wording.    The Democratic Unionist Party is deeply distressed by the deal Mrs. May wants and oppose it because it ties the north of Ireland into the south too tightly.

The vague wording of the amendment suggests there is no firm plan to satisfy Unionist objections.

In the end Speaker John Bercow will make the call on which amendments will be voted on with votes set to begin at 7 pm London time, 2 pm in the Eastern US Tuesday.

Link below........

The Nigel Farage Show-Monday January 28, 2019-Farage Speaks To The Caller at 6:45 into the video

Additional link......BBC ROLLING BLOG BREXIT 1/29/2019

(UPDATED, EXPANDED LATE MONDAY, EARLY TUESDAY)

NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT SUNDAY 1/27/2019-MONDAY 1/28/2019

(A WORK IN PROGRESS UPDATES, EDITING, ADDITIONS ETC. UNTIL 8AM EASTERN US TIME)


The United States National Security Adviser John Bolton tweeting a warning to regime leader Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela about any actions against US diplomats or the country's interim President Juan Guaido.

Bolton saying that "intimidation" of either would be met with "a significant response"

Additional nations are recognizing Juan Guaido as the new President of Venezuela.  The latest nations to join the list Australia and Israel.

Guaido is offering amnesty to those supporting Maduro if they switch allegiance to him including the military.

The Venezuelan military attache in the United States, a colonel, has switched his allegiance to the interim president Juan Guaido.

A prominent Yellow Vests figure, Jerome Rodrigues, seriously injured in the eye by French police in Paris Saturday evening at the "Place of the Bastille".

Rodrigues was trying to keep the peace at the protest site as the police were forcing people out of the area.

His lawyer says a "flash ball" fired by police caused the injury.

Rodrigues calls the attack "deliberate" because of his prominence in the protests.


He told the media:

"I think they knew very well who they fired"

The attack was captured on video at the link...HERE          And here is a video link of Rodrigues being treated for his injury...HERE

Some anti-Yellow Vests protesters came out onto the streets of Paris wearing red scarves on Sunday.

A group of 10-thousand was reported in the media.

Official estimates say that 69-thousand Yellow Vests protested across France on Saturday.

Also the "Yellow Vests" concept of protest has spread to other countries including  Canada where a "Yellow Vests" protester was injured in an attack by an "Anti-Fascist" activist Saturday.     Police in Hamilton, Ontario arrested and later released the attacker on condition of their return to court for a hearing.

"Yellow Vests" protesting against mass immigration into Canada, the new carbon taxes being phased in and also for freedom of speech in the face of "hate crimes" laws.

20 killed and dozens injured when two bombs exploded at a cathedral Sunday on the southern Philippine island of Jolo.    Its a majority Muslim area where the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group is active.

Syrian air defenses active on Sunday shooting down three drones attacking a Russian air base in Latakia.    There have been drone attacks on the Russian base in the past and Russia has expressed suspicion that US satellite tracking assistance is being given to the jihadist groups believed to be launching the drones.

The attack occurred during Mass with one bomb going off and a second one delayed in its detonation until police arrived at the scene.

The British Health Minister in Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party government is threatening to ban social media companies on mental health grounds.

Matt Hancock says that material about self-harm needs to be removed from social media.

Emotions are raised over the 2017 suicide of a British teenager who had material about suicide on her Instagram account.   Her father blames Instagram for her death.

The "Daily Telegraph" in the UK is paying substantial damages to First Lady Melania Trump.

The newspaper, which editorializes for the Conservative Party government of Prime Minister Theresa May, apologized Saturday "unreservedly" for false statements published in a "Saturday Magazine" article about the First Lady.

In China a prominent human rights lawyer has been imprisoned for "state subversion"

Wang Quanzhang, who's defended political campaigners, people whose land has been seized by the state and members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, got four and half years in prison.

He was tried behind closed doors.   His wife was banned from the trial and confined to her home where she has shaved her head in protest.

Canada's ambassador to China, John McCollum, has resigned.   McCollum lost his job after making comments criticial of the US extradition request for Huawei telecom executive Meng Wanzhou.

Meng is in Canada right now free on bail while the extradition process moves forward.

Here in the United States, the director of a graduate program at Duke University removed from her position.

That's because she wrote an email about Chinese students speaking their language instead of English.

Critics pounced on Dr. Megan Neely for being "racist" and "insensitive".   Some of her students have praised her for her work in the program after Neely was removed.

With the family of  Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann and others involved in the incident in Washington DC more than a week ago covered by legal representation, some are changing their tune about him and the other students.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Covington, Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati, is reversing course with an apology to Sandmann and others students.

Student Nick Sandmann, who took the brunt of the negative media coverage and outrage, has the  services of Atlanta attorney Lin Wood.   Wood represented the late Richard Jewell, falsely accused in the bombing at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.   Wood won damages from the mainstream media for their coverage of Jewell.

Israeli politics and this week the new face for the April 9th election is coming out.

The newecomer who's emerged in polling as the main challenger to incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will break his silence.

Retired Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz has formed something called the "Israel Resilience Party".    It polls at around 13 percent of the popular vote making it the closet rival to Netanyahu's Likud with 25 percent of so popular support.

Gantz makes his first public speech tomorrow, Tuesday.

Politics here in the US with California Democrat Senator Kamala Harris officially announcing her candidacy for President Sunday in Oakland.    She's joining what looks like a very crowded field of newcomers and lesser known Democrat candidates who may end up splitting votes.

And all those split votes would help the "moderate" Joe Biden.   The former Vice-President could be assumed to be the "Establishment" candidate just like Jeb Bush was considered to be the insider candidate in a crowded Republican field in 2016.

Would an independent candidate have a shot at the White House in 2020?    Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says he's seriously considering an independent presidential candidacy.

President Trump issued a statement for Holocaust Remembrance Day Sunday.

In part it read:

"Any denial or indifference to the horror of this chapter in the history of humankind diminishes all men and women everywhere and invites repetition of this great evil...."

When considers the Nazi culture that led to the Holocaust I am always reminded of the journalist Howard K. Smith's observation ("Last Train From Berlin") that Germany had "no pornography"  but it had "art" which was the graphic detailed depiction of naked people.

Out of this culture came the mass murder of stark naked people that is synonymous with the Holocaust.

And that's the way it really is as we reach Monday morning January 28th, 2019.

NEXTRUSH UNPLUGGED:  THE DAY LAVOY FINICUM DIED

"Ryan Payne rolls down the window and he sticks both hands out the window and he yells back at the...I'm guessing whoever it was with the flashing lights and he yells back at them.  It hadn't been two seconds probably and his hands are out and the shot comes through and hits, misses him but I thought it but it hits the mirror....it was the first shot fired and he yanked back in really fast and he goes 'Wow! They're shootin at us'....."

"LaVoy was gonna go on and when I looked up and he has on the back of his head, he has a laser pointing on the top of his head...."

Shawna Cox describes the events from inside his truck that led to the gunning down of LaVoy Finicum on January 26, 2016  ("LaVoy Finicum-The First Shot" video)

It happened three years ago this evening.

Tonight we look back and remember the killing of LaVoy Finicum in an aggressive FBI led operation that didn't just kill LaVoy but also injured Ryan Bundy who still has shrapnel in his shoulder.

It all happened around 430 pm along US Route 395 in Harney County, Oregon.

A lot of detailed information about the operation was revealed at the trial of FBI agent Joseph Astarita but in recent days a video posted detailing how it all began with the initial stop of LaVoy's truck.

Video link below.....

"LAVOY FINICUM-THE FIRST SHOT" VIDEO

Two vehicles were traveling down the highway towards John Day in neighboring Grant County for a meeting where Sheriff Glenn Palmer was among those waiting.

They arrested people on "felony charges" that evening like Shawna Cox, Ammon and Ryan Bundy.    The jury found them not guilty at their trials failing to convict on any of the "felony charges".


The protest in Oregon about the Hammonds and their return to federal prison ordered back to serve out five year mandatory sentences as terrorists for lighting a backfire to protect their land.

Thank God this protest brought the attention of the world to the Hammonds and in the end they got a pardon last July from President Trump.

Sad, though, to realize that the Solicitor General at the US Justice Department has given the green light to go after the Bundy's and Ryan Payne trying to get those charges over the Bunkerville  Standoff reinstated.   That was announced this week and that's being appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the one and only.

Why do they go after the farmers and ranchers out West like the Hammonds restricting their use of the land in Oregon and the Bundy's shutting down their grazing rights in Nevada?

To protect the land, the endangered species whatever or just hold the land for big corporations to take over and exploit in the end?

"Do you want blood on your hands?" 

LaVoy said just minutes before his death to the Oregon State Police and FBI at the first stop along the highway.

Well, the OSP got it that night with a Lieutenant firing the fatal shot at the roadblock and getting promoted to Captain afterwards.

The OSP troopers, all of them, violated OSP policy by not wearing their body cams that evening.

YET THE PERP OF THE KILLING GETS PROMOTED.....

There is a civil lawsuit filed by the family of LaVoy Finicum in the federal court system in Oregon but it has been slowed down as the fight over funding a border barrier has been going on in Washington.

At the federal trial of FBI Agent W. Joseph Astarita last summer for lying about shots he fired just before LaVoy was killed, the jury was confused over both sides (the Oregon police and the FBI's conflicting statements) and acquitted him.

It all points to a very messed up operation.

The trooper who killed LaVoy serves in the armed forces as well.

His name revealed for some reason said to be a mistake at the trial, then posted online and a big brouhaha with the MSM not publishing the name.

I think of all the cops who shot civilians and got their names publicized to the hilt and I used his name during the Astarita trial, so I use it again.

Captain Casey Codding of the OSP is the killer of LaVoy Finicum.

Rage and anger isn't the answer to this matter.   I see no evil in mentioning the man's name.

The insane hatred among the federal authorities of the Bundy's by former Bureau of Land Management Lead Agent Dan Love who kept a "Kill Book" related to his activities laid out in the LarryWooten memo.

I detailed all this out last year in my "Killing LaVoy Finicum" post.....HERE

For the MSM side of the killing and more of the stuff from that FBI agent trial last summer you can read this from "OregonLive" and Maxine Bernstein's summation of what she witnessed from the trial testimony......OREGON LIVE MAXINE BERNSTEIN STORY

God Bless The Memory Of Robert "LaVoy" Finicum.

Good Night.

BREAKING NEWS:  POLICE ATTACK PARIS YELLOW VESTS, YELLOW VEST FIGURE ARRESTED IN BORDEAUX

"I call it state terrorism to prevent us from protesting, gassing, bludgeoning"

Yellow Vests Protester "Odlie" Age 66 speaks to the media in Paris 1/26/2019

It looks like police in France launched a crackdown on night time Yellow Vests protests in France tonight.

The protesters to the Bastille tonight in the hundreds with Yellow Vests milling about and talking but police had another idea.

The cops claimed there was a fear of violence so they moved in with water cannon, tear gas and fired the flash bang grenades.

Jerome Rodriguez, a media associate of Yellow Vests figure Eric Drouet, was injured in the eye by police and word was out late in the evening that he is losing his eye.

The police are saying it was not a flashball shot but a grenade that injured him.

Meanwhile in Bordeaux a Yellow Vests figure named Maxine Nicolle was arrested and detained until late this evening where hundreds had gathered for an evening protest.

(COMMENT)

It is truly ironic that the French government is warning the government in Venezuela not to harm protesting citizens this week.

The common tactic in Venezuela is for the regime thugs to attack when the crowds thin out or at the edges of the protest crowd.

Tonight the French police chose to attack as protests thinned out in the evening that began at 10 am in the morning.


Here is a video link on You Tube to the "Live Multiplex" video montage from 7 to 11 pm this evening in France where you can see things as they unfolded.

LIVE MULTIPLEX EVENING VIDEO 1900-2300 (7-11 pm)


The official government estimate of protesters earlier in the day  was 69-thousand nationwide on a mid-winter's day with wintry weather in parts of France and cold temperatures everywhere but the southern Mediterranean region.     That's down from last week's government estimate of 84-thousand Yellow Vests.

(MATERIAL ADDED SATURDAY EVENING, INFORMATION FROM BFM-TV VIA GOOGLE TRANSLATION USED FOR POST)

FRANCE BREAKING:  YELLOW VESTS PROTESTS CONTINUE THIS WEEKEND

(LATEST NEWS AT BOTTOM OF POST WITH UPDATES WHEN ABLE UNTIL 830 AM EASTERN US TIME)

Another weekend of Yellow Vests protests in France began last night in the northern port city of Dunkirk with 400 rallying during the evening hours.

Today in Paris four demonstrations have been declared beginning at 10 am and wrapping up tonight at 10 pm.

The Secretary of State for the Interior Ministry Laurent Nunez says police will focus on Paris with at least 7-thousand deployed.

He did not offer full details of police plans for the weekend.

More to come...…

(350 AM EASTERN US, 950 AM IN PARIS)

At his Friday afternoon news conference Nunez acknowledged that police will be experimenting with use of cameras on officers using the flash ball-flash bang guns.

Nunez expressing the hope that video obtained would help to justify police use of the flash balls and gather evidence against people protesting.

More to come.....

(4 AM EASTERN US, 10 AM IN PARIS)

Yellow Vests protesters are visible on the sidewalks of the Champs-Elysees in Paris as today's protests begin.

More to come......

(425 AM EASTERN US, 1025 AM IN PARIS)'

I now have a video link showing multiple videos from multiple locations in France live....

LIVE MULTIPLEX...YELLOW VESTS ACT XI-FRANCE

(530AM EASTERN US, 1130 AM IN PARIS)

Joan Baez playing in the background on the video link above as I click this out.

Mutltiple pictures visible on the video link from Metz in Eastern France, Toulon on the Mediterranean and Tarbes in the Pyrenees Mountains near the Spanish border.

Yellow Vests protesting in all those locations and in Paris as well.

Now seeing video from Rouen, France on the north coast, which has been a major site of Yellow Vests protests.

A persistent slogan in the crowds is translated:

"Macron Resign"

This is the RT video link from near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris....HERE

(725 AM IN EASTERN US, 125 PM IN PARIS)

Several processions of Yellow Vests now on the move through the streets of Paris with an ultimate goal for the processions the Place de la Bastille at 5pm for the evening protest rally.

(845 AM EASTERN US, 245 PM IN PARIS)

Protests across the country with video from Strasbourg and Rennes, Marseille as well to add to the other cities already mentioned.

One of the protests in Paris at the Ministry of Overseas Territories began at 1 pm and the cabinet minister Annick Girardin came out to speak with the Yellow Vests protesters.

A planned meeting between Yellow Vests and the Mayor of Toulouse was cancelled because the mayor did want the meeting to be live video streamed.

Hundreds of Yellow Vests meeting together this weekend at Sorcy-Saint-Martin, France near Commercy.   They represent 75 different groups from around France.    They will debate demands to the government, the continuation of the movement and whether to participate in Emmanuel Macron's "town hall" meetings currently underway across the country.

The protests continue into the evening but that is all for now for this post.   Use the links to see protest video.


Link below.....

BFM TV LIVE

NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT SATURDAY 1/26/2019 NEWSDUMP EDITION

(UPDATES, ADDITIONS, EDITING ETC. UNTIL 815 AM EASTERN US TIME)

President Trump came out Friday afternoon announcing a deal in relation to the dispute over border security funding.      The legislation was passed by Congress and signed by the President Friday evening.

The deal will fund five federal agencies through the middle of next month.   It would allow the President and the Democrats in Congress time to work to resolve differences.

He says he remains committed to getting the barrier up and could use emergency powers to do it if legislation doesn't come from Congress:

"I have a very powerful alternative but I didn't want to use it at this time"

A lot of federal employees will now be paid including FBI agents.

"At the crack of dawn 29 FBI agents arrived at my home with 17 vehicles with lights flashing.   They terrorized my wife and my dogs"

That's Roger Stone's public response to the pre-dawn raid on his home in Florida in connection with Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation.

Stone faces arraignment Tuesday in federal court in Washington DC on seven charges.   Stone has repeatedly said he will never testify against President Trump under pressure from Mueller.

Legal scholar Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz says the "obvious purpose" of the charges against  Roger Stone is to get him to testify against President Trump.

On Twitter Friday President Trump:

"Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country"

Today is the third anniversary of a deadly FBI led arrest operation that killed Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum, spokesman for the Oregon Standoff protest.

A civil lawsuit by Finicum's family is pending against the federal state and local governments and law enforcement in the operation.

The Oregon State Police trooper who fired the fatal shot was promoted from Lieutenant to Captiain after the operation.     It was revealed last summer at the trial of an FBI agent accused of lying about shots he fired during the operation that the Captain and other OSP troopers involved did not wear their body cameras in accordance with OSP policy.

Also injured by a flash bang round in the operation was Ryan Bundy.

And the flash bangs may fired again with injurious results by police today in France as the next round of Yellow Vests protests gets underway.

In Paris four separate demonstrations scheduled from 10 am until 10 pm local time.

Updates on our Breaking post for today's Yellow Vests....BREAKING YELLOW VESTS ACT XI

The UN Security Council meeting on Venezuela is set to get underway at 9 am New York time this morning.

The United States has appointed Elliot Abrams as its special representative for Venezuela, his mission to restore democracy.  Abrams is despised by left-wing activists for his role in activities against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the 1980's and in other Central American countries.

Inside the country, the Maduro forces trying to de-legitimize the new interim President recognized by the US and more than a dozen other nations.      They claim to have a recording of a meeting with National Assembly President Juan Guaido.

The Maduro Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez appeared on state television Friday night analyzing the movements of Juan Guaido's eyebrows to show when he is lying.

The Maduro side says it wants to talk to Guaido but Guaido says this is not the time to talk.

A least nine dead in Brazil and some 300 missing after a dam collapsed at an iron-ore mine releasing a muddy torrent of waste.

There is said to be little chance of finding the missing alive.    The cause of the dam collapse is not clear yet.

Early this morning rescue workers in Spain found the body of a two year boy who disappeared into a narrow well more than 300 deep during a family outing 13 days ago.

In Gaza the Gulf Arab nation of Qatar plans to spend 20 million dollars on development projects after the Hamas organization that runs the territory refused a new Israeli stipulation that no money go to terrorists.

Israel put no such condition on two previous 15 million dollar payments to Hamas.

The money being sent in to attempt to pacify violence coming from Gaza.

Police in Canada have arrested a youth in Kingston, Ontario.    He is accused of facilitating terrorist activity and of counselling a person to plant an explosive with an intent to cause death or injury.

An adult male detained and released without being charged in the case is described as 20-year old from a Syrian family.  

And a winner of three Oscars and five Grammys, French composer Michel Legrand, is dead at the age of 86.

"Windmills of Your Mind" one of his famous compositions from the 1968 film "The Thomas Crown Affair".     He won his first Oscar for it.

And that's the way it really is,  Saturday morning January 26th, 2019.

NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT FRIDAY 1/25/2019

(EDITING, ADDITIONS, UPDATES ETC. POSSIBLE UNTIL 8 AM EASTERN US)

The United States is calling for a UN Security Council meeting on Venezuela for Saturday.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton says the US wants to channel money from the Nicolas Maduro regime to the new president recognized by the United States and more than a dozen other nations, National Assembly leader Juan Guaido.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a meeting of the Organization of American States that Maduro's government is "morally bankrupt" and "undemocratic to the core"

Russia still recognizes Maduro and says that the US policy in Venezuela is a pathway to bloodshed.

Standing with the Trump Administration on Venezuela is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.   Her Twitter post:

"America stands by the people of   #Venezuela as they rise up against authoritarian rule and demand respect for human rights and democracy"

At least 26 have been killed in street protests in Venezuela this week with people taking to the streets Thursday night across the country to protest against Nicolas Maduro.

Meanwhile, the new interim President of Venezuela says he's reaching out and would consider amnesty for Maduro if he gives up power in the country.

BREAKING NEWS:   The arrest this morning of Roger Stone, a longtime Republican political operative who's worked with numerous political candidates from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan to Bob Dole and Arlen Specter, among many others.

His arrest in Florida comes from Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation of Stone, who did work early on advising the campaign of Donald Trump.

There's a seven count indictment against Stone.   One count of witness tampering, one of obstruction and five of making false statements.    The false statements charges include statements Stone made to the House Intelligence Committee regarding his interactions related to the Wikileaks release of hacked emails from Democrat operative John Podesta.

Stone has said for months that he was expecting to be indicted.

The Senate failed to get the 60 votes needed under current rules and pass legislation to fund a barrier on the nation's southern border Thursday.

The Republican controlled Senate acting to break the deadlock over funding which has caused a "shutdown" in five federaln government departments.

Democrats controlling the House still refuse to approve the funding for the barrier.

CNN has reported that it has seen a draft document for the President to declare a national emergency and use executive authority to spend money on a border barrier.

The Battle of Brexit or perhaps more appropriately the Sellout of Brexit.   It appears what many might call the maneuvering to thwart the will of the people in the 2016 referendum when a majority voted to Leave the EU is moving forward.

The latest moves in Parliament include withdrawal of an amendment calling for a second referendum, a referendum that the Leave side would likely win again.

"Mr. Brexit" Nigel Farage said on his radio show Thursday that he expects the "No-Deal" withdrawal from the European Union currently in the law to be taken out of it by amendment this coming Tuesday.

This would set up a scenario where the British people would be told to accept Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan considered a "fake" that keeps the UK in the EU of there will be no Brexit at all.

The media is seizing on comments from Her Majesty the Queen about the need to find "common ground" and to "respect" differing points of view as being a commentary on the Brexit situation.

And that brings us to a story from Her Majesty's realm about a lack of respect for a differing point of view, so to speak.

A former British police officer liked a poem online about transgenderism and his like was not treated with "respect", it was designated as a "hate incident" by Her Majesty's police.

More on that story here.....LINK

President Emmanuel Macron continued his "town hall" style meetings in France Thursday meeting with local elected officials from the southern part of the country.

Macron said he was proud of his banking background noting it was good for him to have had a career before he got into politics.

Macron also hit hard at the notion of referendum's something the Yellow Vests protesters are pushing for.

He used the Brexit vote as an example saying it has torn the UK apart and that Brexit "can't be delivered".

Meanwhile a former President of France, Francois Hollande, was asked if Macron is a president of the rich.    He said:

"No"

but adding that Macron is a:

"president of the very rich"

In the European Parliament elections this May a Yellow Vests list of candidates will be on the ballot in France.

Ten candidates were put forward as the first names on that list.

Ingrid Levavasseur, 31, leads the list.       She says the government of Emmanuel Macron is arrogant and out of touch with the people of France.

Yellow Vests protests in Paris tomorrow with a daytime protest at 1 pm and an evening protest set for later in the day.

From Davos, Switzerland and the "World Economic Forum", the annual gathering of global elites from government, banking, business etc., the comments of one George Soros.

Soros, a big donor to Democrats in the US, was critical of President Trump for:

"waging a trade war with practically the whole world"

But Soros did call for a focus on China noting that it was the strongest authoritarian regime in the world, that could end up using artificial intelligence technology and machine learning to cement control over its own people.

Soros said that China's President Xi Jinping was:

"the most dangerous opponent of open societies"

The Hamas terror group in Gaza has already been given 30 million dollars of Qatari cash without condition by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a means to keep the territory pacified but it has been a very controversial policy with conservative Israelis.

But now during the Israeli election campaign, the third infusion of 15 million dollars came with a string attached.   Hamas was told the money could not go to terrorists.   So Hamas refused the latest payment.

"We know our son's innocent.  The ordinary man-on-the-street understands our son's innocent"

Those words coming from the father of a 16 year-old Israeli arrested for the stoning death of Aisha al-Rabi, a Palestinian woman.

Israeli authorities reportedly have DNA evidence recovered from a stone.

More on the story here.....LINK

The former First Minister of Scotland and former Scottish National Party leader, Alex Salmond, is accused of attempted rape and sexual assault.    Salmond was arrested and released on bail Thursday.   He faces 14 charges in all that also include indecent assault and breach of peace.

Salmond says he is innocent and will defend himself 'to the utmost'.

Before police got involved Salmond was investigated on sexual harassment in an internal investigation that the government says was flawed.


Back here in the USA the Solicitor General at the US Justice Department has approved the appeal by Nevada federal prosecutors of the dismissal of the criminal charges against Cliven Bundy, Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy and Ryan Payne in connection with April 2014 Bunkerville Standoff in Nevada.

US District Judge Gloria Navarro threw out criminal charges last January saying that federal prosecutors in the case had engaged in "gross misconduct" by withholding evidence proving the defendants innocence.

That evidence included the activities of federal snipers around the Bundy Ranch in early April 2014 that caused Cliven Bundy to appeal for help which came from hundreds who exercised their First and Second Amendment rights in and around the ranch.

So a federal case started by the Obama Administration Justice Department is allowed to continue by the Trump Administration Justice Department.

Do we really need to end the shutdown for this department and resume funding?

And that's the way it really is, Friday morning January 25th, 2019.

VENEZUELA LATEST:  A NEW PRESIDENT WITHOUT THE GUNS TO BACK HIM UP

"The citizens of  Veneuzuela have suffered for too long at the hands of the illegitimate Maduro regime.    Today, I have officially recognized the President of the Venezuelan Natiomal Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the Interim President of Venezuela"

Donald J. Trump On Twitter 1/23/2019-LINK

Crowds took to Venezuela's streets en masse today and in Caracas before hundreds of thousands a ceremony to swear in Juan Guaido, President of the National Assembly, as the country's interim president pending new elections.

Guaido is committed to holding new elections in the country and told the crowd protests would continue in the country:

"until Venezuela is liberated"

But around the crowds riot police firing tear gas to suppress the crowds and President Nicolas Maduro trying to show his legitimacy even as most Latin American countries, the United States, Canada and the European Union no longer recognize Maduro as president.

 US President Donald J. Trump began a cascade of announcements today formalizing recognition of Guaido as the legitimate President of Venezuela.   Annoucements recognizing Guido came from Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador as well as from Canada.

Maduro moved to break off diplomatic relations with the US later in the day.  He gave the US diplomats 72 hours to get out.

But the new President Juan Guaido has asked all embassies to remain in the country saying that none of them need to obey Maduro's order to leave.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned about any harm coming to Americans in Venezuela and the possibility of US oil sanctions on Venezuela is being reported in the media as well.

Pompeo urged the military and police in Venezuela to protect all citizens in the country and foreign diplomats but they still appear loyal to the Maduro regime.

Mexico, Bolivia and Cuba still recognizing Maduro was Venezuela's president.

(COMMENT AND ANALYSIS)

The Globalists, the Corporatists, the "Russia Haters", call them what you will are tying regime change in Venezuela but when I remember what the Russian writer, the prophet Alexander Solzehnitsyn offered to us I am reminded of the evil that is Communism, the evil of the system in Venezuela.

This "regime change" will not drive refugees or migrants into other countries by the millions like the Syrian intervention did, but on the contrary it will get the millions that already fled to other countries back home to Venezuela.

So onward we go to hopefully a positive end but an end that will likely not be without pain or suffering in the interim.

Maduro can ratchet things up but he's sure to get some sort of response with the tightening of economic sanctions and perhaps even some military intervention in the border regions by Colombia and Brazil to establish "safe zones" or "humanitarian corridors".


(LATE ADDITION;  REPORTS FROM VENEZUELA SAY 14 HAVE BEEN SHOT DEAD BY THE SECURITY FORCES IN THE LAST 48 HOURS)


Link below.....


TVVENEZUELATWITTERLINK

(EDITED AND EXPANDED LATE WEDNESDAY, EARLY THURSDAY)

NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT WEDNESDAY 1/23/2019

(UPDATES, EDITING, ADDITIONS ETC. ETC. UNTIL 8 AM EASTERN)

The opposition takes to the streets of Venezuela today, the anniversary of the overthrow of a dictator in 1958, with the backing of the United States as expressed by Vice-President Mike Pence who said yesterday via Twitter:

"@POTUS & the US stand w/ the Venezuelan people as they seek to regain their liberty from dictator Nicolas Maduro...."

"As the good people of Venezuela make your voices heard tomorrow, on behalf of the American people, we say: estamos con ustedes.  We are with you, and we will stay with you until Democracy is restored and you reclaim your birthright of Libertad."

Most Latin American countries, the US, Canada and the European Union no longer recognize Nicolas Maduro as the country's president following his January 10th inauguration to a second term.

The opposition is rallying around the new president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido.

How the Maduro regime will react to the protest is not known yet but blogger Daniel Duquenal who's planning to be on the streets of Caracas in the coming hours expects tear gas for sure.

The protest in the capital city is set to leave from nine different points to reach the John Paul II Square in the Chacao district of Caracas.

A video was  HERE  posted on social media Tuesday evening showing the torching of a statue of the former President who created the left-wing system in the country, Hugo Chavez.


You can follow the latest information from Venezuela and its coming in right now at this Twitter link:

TVVenezuelaNoticias

"The resistance will not allow our people's blood to be used as fuel in the election campaign in Israel, and it has the tools to defend the people"

That is the message from the Hamas terror organization that runs the Gaza Strip following Israeli military strikes on the territory Tuesday night.

Hamas has attacked Israel overtly with missiles and through protest demonstrations on the border fence.

In conjunction with the military strikes Israel announced a suspension of the third cash influx of 15 million dollars from Qatar into Gaza.   The money designed to pacify the territory and its use is a very controversial matter in Israel.

The father of Israeli Lieutenant Hadar Goldin killed by Hamas, Simcha Goldin told Galei Zahal (Israel Army Radio) this morning:

"It is clear that the Qatari money will enter, obviously Netanyahu has suspended it but it is clear that he will allow it to go to Hamas-that's what happens when we give in to terror"

The story here....LINK

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that 21 died in the Israeli  attacks early Monday morning in southern Syria.    15 of the dead were foreign nationals including 12 Iranians.   Syria says four members of its military died.

The Israeli air strikes targeted Iranian interests in Syria as well as Syria air defenses employed against its attack.

The new Russian S-300 air defense system is not  yet operational in Syria, that's expected to happen in March, but the Russians say the Syrians were able to destroy over 30 of the Israeli cruise missiles and guided bombs.

The S-300 was delivered to Syria after a deadly shoot down of a Russian intelligence plane during an Israeli air strike in northern Syria last September.

In northern Syria an attack by the jihadists of HTS, formerly Al Qaeda, on Syrian army units.   Russian military observers say the attack was repulsed.

Today in Moscow the future of Syria being discussed by Russia's President Vladimir Putin holding a summit meeting with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In Washington, the Republicans in the Senate moving forward with legislation in line with President Trump's compromise offer for ending the impasse over funding for a barrier on the nation's southern border.

The Democrats in the House pushing their plan that temporarily ends the partial federal government shutdown until February 8th.

Part of the partial shutdown will be a furlough for workers who distribute food stamp benefits next month.

In anticipation of that, food stamps have been distributed for both this month and next month to those receiving them.

The Battle Of Brexit.

As it stands now the law states the UK must leave the European Union with or without a deal on March 29th.

Remain forces in Parliament are working on amendments to scuttle no-deal Brexit and or create a second Brexit referendum as means to delay Brexit and perhaps scuttle it in the end.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is maintaining her position, claiming that her proposal is real Brexit and saying she wants to modify it to mollify those who see it as a sellout of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.

The key votes are set for next Tuesday January 29th.

A call for a general strike in France on February 5th by the CGT union and Yellow Vests figure Eric Drouet, among others.

There's been an agreement signed between French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for closer cooperation between the two European Union nations

French National Assembly member Thierry Mariani of the National Rally party says there is a "lack of transparency" in the agreement.

Chancellor Merkel says the agreement will strengthen ties between France and Germany and facilitate the development of a "European Army".

"I don't take lessons on humanity and generosity from Macron"

 is the sharp retort from Italy's  Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of the League party as he responded to France calling in Italy's ambassador over comments by his fellow Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio of the Five Star Movement that pointed the finger at France for impoverishing Africa through the printing of money.

Di Maio said French African policy is driving migrants to their deaths at sea and towards the shores of Italy.

Salvini agreed that France is a nation that takes wealth away from Africa and that the French have:

"no interest in stabilizing the situation"   

in Libya which causes migrants to make the dangerous crossing in the direction of Italy.  He spoke in a television interview Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's Human Rights Commission says soldiers in that country used "systematic torture" in their deadly crackdown on protests last week over dramatic price rises for food, fuel and bus rides.

They say at least eight deaths were caused by the use of live ammunition on protesters.

The country's army and police are both blamed for the brutality that included entering houses at night to haul people out, then making them lie on the ground so they could be beaten.

Even on Tuesday of this week in the country's capital city of Harare incidents involving soldiers rounding up groups of people and beating them were reported.

Zimbabwe's president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, calling on all sides to work together and begin a national dialogue to put the country's economy first.

He said any misconduct by security forces was "unacceptable".

And that's the way it really is, Wednesday morning January 23rd, 2019.

FRANCE LATEST:  MACRON'S GOVERNMENT ANGERED BY ITALIAN LEADER'S CRITICISM

"France is one of those countries that by printing money for 14 African states prevents their economic development and contributes to the fact that refugees leave and then die in the sea or arrive on our coasts"

Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio of the Five Star Movement  1/21/2019

The right side of Italy's new outsider government through Deputy Prime Minister-Interior Minister Matteo Salvini of the League has been outspoken about stopping migrants reaching Italian shores and France shirking its responsibility to take migrants but now the "Left Hook" has been applied to the French government and its policies.

Luigi Di Maio, Deputy Prime Minister and Labor and Economy Minister, leads the more left-leaning outsider party in Italy, the Five Star Movement.

And over the weekend he hit hard at French policies in Africa that he says perpetuate colonialism and drive migrants into the ocean with many of them dying and or arriving in droves on Italian shores.

"The EU should sanction France and all countries like France that impoverish Africa and make these people leave, because Africans should be in Africa, not at the bottom of the Mediterranean"

The French government called the Italian ambassador to France to the foreign ministry on Monday.

A French diplomatic source called the statement:

"hostile and without cause"

Mr. Di Maio has also been outspoken in his support of the Yellow Vests movement in France, even more so than Mr. Salvini, who has given his nods of support.

Di Maio went so far as to invite Yellow Vests figure Eric Drouet to meet with him.


UPDATED:  745 AM EASTERN TUESDAY 1/22/2019-TODAY DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER-INTERIOR MINISTER MATTEO SALVINI OF THE LEAGUE AGREED WITH MR. DI MAIO IN A TELEVISION INTERVIEW SAYING:

"In Africa some take away wealth from the people and the continent and France is among them"

SALVINI SAW NO REASON FOR FRANCE TO BE UPSET ABOUT DI MAIO'S COMMENTS.

HE ALSO SAID:

"I don't take lessons on humanity and generosity from Macron"

Links below......


ANSA ITALIAN NEWS AGENCY


BBC NEWS STORY

NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT SUNDAY NIGHT-MONDAY MORNING 1/20/2019-1/21/2019

(THIS IS PUBLISHED AT 3AM MONDAY EASTERN US TIME 1/21/2019)

Good Morning.....

Israel on the attack in Syria, first a mid-day strike on a southeastern Damascus airport which Syria rebuffed with its air defense missiles.  That strike coincided with the arrival of an Iranian airliner.

Syrian missiles were fired at Israel's Golan Heights during Sunday afternoon in retaliation.

Then overnight a two wave Israeli attack on Syrian air defenses and what Israel says are Iranian targets in the country.  

The Israel Defense Forces say around 10 targets were hit.

The Russian RIA News Agency says four Syrian soldiers were killed.   The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting 11 dead.

More at this Breaking News link.....HERE

The next installment of Qatari Arab cash is on its way to Gaza.   Israel is allowing the cash flow into Gaza hoping to quell Palestinian riots at the border and attacks on Israeli territory.

Qatari envoy Mohammed Al-Amadi told Reuters that the third installment will arrive in the next few days.

Its 15 million dollars, just like the first two shipments were.

The money shipments have caused criticism from conservative political parties in Israel not part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party.

Israeli politics and a Likud Party member Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely challenging one of the leaders of the "New Right" Party Education Minister Naftali Bennett.

The issue is an appearance at a Jerusalem junior high school by "Breaking The Silence", a group critical of what it sees as excesses by Israel's military in dealing with Palestinians.

Hotovely said groups besmirching Israel's military are not permitted in educational institutions by law.

But the group will not speak to students.  They will speak to a parents meeting Sunday January 27th at 8pm.

The "New Right" party leaders Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked have been critical of the Likud Party Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Gaza policy which includes allowing the Qatari money to be shipped into the territory to pacify violence instead of using military means.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting Monday with Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko at his residence in Jerusalem.

The womens marches of Yellow Vests in France Sunday.   Marches held in Paris, Toulouse and Bordeaux.

Some of the vests read "Angry Moms".   Others were wearing the caps of the female symbol of the French Revolution Marianne.

One protester in Bordeaux said:

"The government wants to make us look like thugs, but today we are mothers, grandmothers, we are the daughters, the sisters of all citizens......our anger is legitimate"

Another protester said:

"I find that women are particularly affected in France by unemployment, low wages.   I call on my parents to get clothes for my children"

One of the many tipping points for protest in France was the high price of gasoline because of climate change taxes.

In the African nation of Zimbabwe last week widespread street demonstrations against the high price of fuel said to be the highest in all of Africa led to a government crackdown using live ammunition with at least 12 killed, many others injured.

Arrests totaling in the hundreds were reported.

The internet was shut down in the country as well for lengthy periods with permanent blockages of social media sites.

The government promising an even tougher crackdown this week.

Meanwhile two key African leaders are endorsing the shady presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya are congratulating Felix Tshisekedi as the winter of the presidential election.

The Constitutional Court in the Congo ruled in the middle of the night early Sunday that a challenge by another candidate who apparently won the election based on the reports of some 40-thousand election observers organized by the Roman Catholic Church was not credible.

Martin Fayulu, the opposition candidate declared the loser, is urging his supporters to take to the streets in non-violent protests.

In northern Syria over the weekend Russian air attacks on jihadist targets in Idlib.  The early Sunday morning attacks were pre-emptive in nature designed to prevent the HTS forces, formerly Al-Qaeda in Syria, from launching rockets at the city of Aleppo.

Syrian military units have beefed up their presence in the area in recent weeks prompting speculation about possible ground attacks against the jihadists.

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaking with US President Donald Trump Sunday saying Turkey is ready to take over security in the city of Manbij in Syria following the suicide bomb attack that killed four Americans last week.

Erdogan saying the attack was an attempt to undermine Trump's plan to pull US forces out of Syria.

The death toll continues to rise from Friday's gasoline pipeline explosion in Mexico with 85 now reported dead.

The disaster in a town 75 miles north of Mexico City occurred after thieves broke into the pipeline and a crowd of hundreds showed up to transfer the gasoline into portable containers.   Suddenly there was an explosion and fireball.

58 are reported hospitalized with three children being treated at a burn unit in Texas.

"In the context of everything that was going on (which the media hasn't shown) the parents and mentors of these boys should be proud, not ashamed of their kids' behavior.   It is my honor to represent them."

That's part of a statement from Congressman Tom Massie of Kentucky defending the Covington Catholic High School students who were depicted as racists in viral videos circulated online Saturday.

The students, some of whom were wearing "Make America Great Again" hats, were getting ready to leave the March for Life protest at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC Friday when they were engulfed in a sea of counter protesters seeking to disrupt the event.

One of the students, Nick Sandmann, has released a lengthy statement to counter the "outright lies" circulating about him.

China's economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter ending in December with GDP up at a rate of 6.4 percent, down from 6.5 percent.

The world's second largest economy is growing at its slowest rate in the last decade.

And that's the way it really is on this early morning, Monday January 21st, 2019.

ARUTZ SHEVA STORY WITH ATTACK VIDEO FROM ISRAEL EMBEDDED

BREAKING NEWS:  ISRAEL LAUNCHES TWO WAVES OF ATTACKS ON SYRIA, SAYS IRANIAN TARGETS HIT

(ADDITIONAL INFO ADDED EARLY MONDAY)

There were expectations of a stronger Israeli response following the air attack on a Damascus airport mid-day Sunday and the missile launches at the Golan Heights in retaliation.

And it came just after 1 am local time early Monday with a series of air attacks on targets in Syria that Israel says are Iranian with Israel acknowledging it also hit Syrian air defenses.

Syrian air defenses went into action.

The Israel Defense Forces said:

"We have started striking Iranian Quds targets in Syrian territory.  We warn the Syrian Armed Forces against attempting to harm Israeli forces or territory"

The Syrians say they shot down several enemy targets.

Loud explosions were heard over Damascus.

Al-Masdar News in Lebanon reported that a Syrian radar station at Al-Sweida was hit.

The Syrians acknowledged that they were unable to stop all the missiles fired at targets in the Damascus area community of Al-Kisweh.

The IDF says around 10 targets were hit including ones at the Damascus International Airport.

Visiting the African nation of Chad Sunday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said:

"We have a set policy, to target the Iranian entrenchment in Syria"

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were fatalities as a result of the Israeli air attacks, but had no further details.

One Twitter posting indicated that two Syrian soldiers had been killed.

But a later report from the RIA Russian news agency said four Syrian soldiers died in the attacks.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports 11 dead, including two Syrians.

The Russian news agency TASS reports Syrian air defenses took out more than 30 cruise missiles and guided bombs fired by the Israelis.  Late story here....TASS ON SYRIAN DEFENSES

Links below.....



AL MASDAR NEWS LINK WITH TWO EMBEDDED VIDEOS OF MISSILES IN AIR OVER DAMASCUS 

RUSSIAN TASS NEWS REPORT


HAARETZ NEWS STORY (VIDEO EMBEDDED)


BBC STORY

SYRIA BREAKING:  ISRAELI ATTACK ON AIRPORT IN DAMASCUS REBUFFED BY SYRIAN AIR DEFENSE, MISSILES FIRED AT GOLAN FROM SYRIA

The Israeli Air Force launched a strike from over the Mediterranean Sea aimed at the Duwali International Airport in southeast Damascus today.

The strike coincided with the arrival of an Iranian airliner which turned around instead of landing.

Seven missiles were reported downed by the Syrian air defenses with missiles seen in the skies over the Golan Heights

Russia's National Defense Management Center says seven Israeli missiles were successfully intercepted by Syrian air defenses and there was no damage at the airport targeted.

The attack occurred at 532am Eastern Time US this morning, 1232 pm Damascus time.

The Israel Defense Forces would not confirm the air attack on Damascus, but did say that the Iron Dome air defense system was activated and shot down a rocket heading for Israeli territory.

Amos Harel, defense reporter for "Haaretz" in Israel, writes that the missile firing at Israeli territory involving multiple projectiles could lead to an Israeli response.



Links below...…


RUSSIAN NEWS AGENCY TASS STORY 1/20/2019


ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS STORY 1/20/2019


(HAARETZ STORY 1/20/2019 (FULL STORY BLOCKED BY PAYWALL)

FRANCE POLITICS:  MARINE LE PEN SPEAKS OF  'AREAS WHERE YOU FEEL FOREIGN IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY'

The Yellow Vests protests weren't the only thing happening in France on Saturday.   There were the meetings of President Emmanuel Macron's "debate", events that appeared to be sparsely attended.

But there was a political campaign speech in the south of France.

The leader of the political party that leads the polls in France right now, Marine Le Pen of the National Rally, made a campaign speech to women in Thors, France.

Speaking ahead of the European Parliament elections in May, Le Pen addressed the immigration issue head on:

"Globalization, with the opening of irrational borders, has delivered our streets, our neighborhoods, our cities, our villages, to a delusional immigration which transforms some places in non-France zone"

Joining her at the rally in a gym were other leading National Rally candidates in the upcoming elections Thierry Mariani, a former cabinet minister in a "Conservative" government in France, and Jordan Bardella, the 23 year old newcomer, bringing fresh blood into the rebranded National Rally, formerly the National Front.

Bardella said this:

"The 480,000 illegal immigrants present on our soil should not live in expectation or their regularization, but rather in the expectation of their expulsion"

He noted that immigration costs France in terms of government spending, security and culture.

FRANCE LATEST:  ACT 10 OF THE YELLOW VESTS DRAWS LARGE CROWDS TO PARIS, OTHER LOCATIONS, MORE TOMORROW

A record crowd of 10-thousand protesters in Toulouse, France today as the Yellow Vests protests continued.  Protesters focusing on violence against them committed by police with their tear gas and flash ball rounds causing well over one thousand injuries in the last two months or so of protest.

"Castaner the butcher, mutilated France" 

was the shout from the crowd in Toulouse calling out the name of Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

In Bourg-en-Bresse, France the police officers carrying weapons firing flashballs were equipped with cameras.

The official national estimate from the government is 84-thousand, which is exactly the number it reported last week.   The Yellow Vests are setting up their own system of accounting crowds.

Predominately peaceful demonstrations across the county with only 42 arrests in Paris.

Police resorting to attacking the protesters at the Invalides in Paris late in the day  with water cannon and tear gas.   The Invalides, site of Napoleon's tomb, is where the protest march started and ended in Paris.

The Associated Press reported demonstrators throwing projectiles at the end of today's Paris protest and knocking down a traffic light.

Seven thousand protesters claimed in Paris by the authorities, with four thousand reported in Bordeaux.

Other cities cited as protest locations include:

Toulon
Nancy
Rennes
Montpellier
Angers
Nantes
Dijon
Tours

Protesters at Dijon went to the prison to demand release of other protesters arrested in previous protests..

For French President Emmanuel Macron hopes that his "debate" meetings would draw crowds this weekend away from street protests appear to have come up short.

More protests including women's Yellow Vest protests set for tomorrow.


(GOOGLE TRANSLATION INFORMATION FROM BFM-TV USED FOR POST)

(EDITED AND SLIGHTLY ALTERED SATURDAY PM)

NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT SATURDAY 1/19/2019 NEWSDUMP EDITION

(LIMITED SUMMARY DUE TO YELLOW VESTS COVERAGE, WORK AND PERSONAL COMMITMENTS,   UPDATES, EDITING ETC. POSSIBLE TILL 815AM)

President Trump says there will be a major announcement at 3pm Eastern time in the US regarding the situation on the nation's southern border and partial government shutdown.

Lack of agreement between Democrats and the President on funding a barrier on the southern border has led to the partial shutdown.

Media reports from One America News Network on the conservative side and CNN on the not so conservative side point to the President making concessions to entice Democrats to reach agreement with him.

Also, the "New York Times" reports that the Democrats have added one billion dollars in 'border-related' spending to their budget plan.

"Not Accurate"

is what Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller is saying about a Buzzfeed report that said President Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen was told by Mr. Trump to lie to Congress about business dealings in Russia.

President Trump sent out a series of tweets Friday night about the matter as well.

The President welcomed the right hand man of North Korea's ruler Kim Jong-un at the White House Friday and it was announced that there will be a second summit meeting between Kim and President Trump in weeks.

Speculation is that Vietnam will be site of their meeting next month.   The United States maintaining sanctions on North Korea and insisting on denuclearization before they will be lifted.

Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke received an 81 month sentence Friday after his second degree murder conviction for the 2014 shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald.

The family of McDonald said the sentence was too light.

Van Dyke said that he will have to live with his actions for the rest of his life.

In France Act 10 of the Yellow Vests protests underway.   More here at the Breaking News post link......ACT 10 YELLOW VESTS

French President Emmanuel Macron's former bodyguard, Alexandre Benalla, charged Friday with illegal use of diplomatic passports.

Benalla was using the diplomatic passports after he lost his job with Macron last year.   The former bodyguard was caught on video dressed as an ordinary police officer attacking protesters during a May Day demonstration, causing an uproar.

It was reported last month that Benalla continued to communicate with Macron after he lost his job using encrypted messages.

21 dead and 71 injured in Mexico when a fuel pipeline exploded Friday.   It is believed gasoline thieves had broken into the pipeline before the explosion.  Stealing gasoline from pipelines is a serious problem in Mexico.

From the Battle of Brexit.

Nigel Farage "Mr. Brexit" is currently a member of the European Parliament and he expects that the Establishment intends to keep the UK in the EU meaning he will have to run for re-election in the elections for that parliament in May.

Farage used to be of the leader of UKIP, the United Kingdom Independence Party, but now he says he's looking for a new political arrangement for that election.

Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to tell Parliament in London Monday what her next move on Brexit will be.

And that's the way it really is this Saturday morning January 19th, 2019.

BREAKING NEWS:  ACT 10 OF THE YELLOW VESTS PROTESTS IN FRANCE

(LATEST NEWS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)

(215AM EASTERN US, 815AM IN PARIS)

Another day and perhaps another weekend of protest in Paris as Act 10 of the Yellow Vests gets underway.

Social media has spoken of the notion of protests both days this weekend but a major theme is "Back to Paris" and that's one of numerous places in France where protests are expected today.   Places for protest to name a few Marseille, Bordeaux, Dijon, Clermont-Ferrand and the list goes on.

There have been 17-hundred protesters injured since the protests began in November and some have been killed when struck by vehicles during highway protests.

Police tear gas grenades and flash bang rounds are a major cause of  the numerous injuries and responding to that is the Interior Minister Christophe Castaner saying this week that the casualties would be higher if the police didn't use the weapons that they use on the protesters and in some cases journalists.

Eric Drouet, one of the figures in the Yellow Vests protest movement, urging people to bring a candle or a flower to remember those killed or injured for a protest mid-day at the Place des Invalides in Paris.

(235 AM EASTERN, 835 AM IN PARIS)

Much coverage in the media this morning of yesterday's "debate" event with President Emmanuel Macron trying to regain the initiative and take the ball away from the Yellow Vests protests. 

His speaking has less chance of changing the atmosphere in France than other measures would.

Its a financial issue, a day to day, week to week, month to month matter for many average people in France to find the money to make ends meet in the midst of higher taxes on gasoline, less subsidy from the government and so on.

The government in France has given up operation of toll roads to private companies and the tolls the private companies impose on motorists have caused great outrage with toll booths taken over by Yellow Vests and motorists allowed to pass without paying toll.

This week to mollify the anger announcements that frequent users of many toll roads will get a 30 percent break on tolls.

(410 AM EASTERN, 1010 AM IN PARIS)

The government is staging "debate" meetings across France today with one meeting I saw video from containing a small group of people, but there are Yellow Vests on the streets right now with momentum building towards protests at mid-day in Paris.

In Marseille protesters again gathering in the Old Port, a frequent site of protest in that city.

More to come.....

(535 AM EASTERN, 1135 AM IN PARIS)

The Yellow Vests are making their presence known at the Invalides in Paris which was designated as a protest site today.

"Radio Sputnik" has a live video link up on You Tube.....HERE

(545 AM EASTERN, 1145 AM IN PARIS)

In Rouen, France a crowd of several thousand Yellow Vests on the streets.   Rouen has been a consistent site of Yellow Vests protests including the blockade of an oil refinery there.

The protesters at the Invalides in Paris will begin to march through the streets in a few minutes at 12 Noon.

There was a rally of journalists at 11am at Place de la Republique calling for the "freedom to inform" with reports of violence against reporters at protests including the photographer hit by a police flash bang round last Saturday at La Rochelle.

(555 AM EASTERN, 1155 AM IN PARIS)

Yellow Vests wearing white armbands will help to marshal the protest procession through Paris today.  There are reportedly 90 in number, many of them former soldiers.

An opinion poll done for the LCI news channel in France by Opinion Way says that some 70 percent do not believe that President Macron's "debate" meetings will address their concerns.

The government says 80-thousand police are mobilized nationwide today......

More later likely after 7am Eastern US time.......

(730 AM EASTERN, 130 PM IN PARIS)

As the procession left the Invalides earlier today in Paris protesters holding black coffin shaped signs were visible.    

The signs remember those who have died during the Yellow Vests protests with "RIP" on them, crosses and the names of those who died and the dates of their deaths.

In Caen today hundreds of protesters are reported by the media marching on the city theatre.

The police mobile units searching protesters in Paris arrested 12 of them today before they could reach protest sites.

More to come...…

(845 AM EASTERN, 245 PM IN PARIS)

A nine mile long procession moving through the streets of Paris today from the Invalides to the 13th Arrondissement (District) and eventually returning back to where it started.

Banners have appeared at the protest reading "Liberty, Equality, Flashball" in reference to police violence against protests a take off on the original French slogan "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity".

That is all for now.

Link below......


BFM TV FRANCE LIVE VIDEO

FRANCE LATEST: ACT 10 OF YELLOW VESTS PROTESTS SET FOR TOMORROW

The police are getting ready in Paris for a new round of Yellow Vests protests tomorrow.

5,000 are said to be mobilized in the city with armored vehicles, mobile units searching and or detaining people and exclusion zones on part of the Champs Elysees and at other key points in the city.

Protests expected in cities and towns across the country from Marseille to Nancy and numerous other locations.

President Emmanuel Macron met with hundreds of mayors Friday as he tries to build up his "debate" agenda to counter the Yellow Vests.

Three Yellow Vests walking from Arles, some 500 miles south of Paris, are calling for the citizens initiative referendum (RIC) to force referendums on new laws.    Many protest signs at Yellow Vests marches-processions mention the RIC.

They say Macron's "debate" will not change anything.

More on the Yellow Vests early tomorrow morning.

NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT FRIDAY 1/18/2019

(WORK IN PROGRESS UNTIL 8AM EASTERN TIME FRIDAY)


When you have a President of the United States who has a close friend named Vince McMahon, you can expect a good fight show.

Earlier this week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged against President Trump making his State of the Union speech due to the partial federal government shutdown.

On Thursday President Trump cancelled use of  a military aircraft by Pelosi and other Democrats for an overseas junket this weekend, citing the shutdown.

The Democrats were headed to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan.

The President wants Congress to approve funding for a barrier on the nation's southern border but the Democrats do not support it and the impasse continues which has caused a partial government shutdown.

There's a big buzz in the media about President Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen this morning with the report that Cohen told the Special Prosecutor Robert Muller that Mr. Trump told him to lie to Congress about Trump business dealings in Russia.

Responding  to it, Rudy Giuliani, one of the president's lawyers saying that Cohen has a:

"great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge"

A top North Korean official carrying a note from that country's ruler Kim Jong-un has arrived in Washington for a Friday meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

General Kim Yong-chol is considered the right hand man of Kim Jong-un and he was in Washington last year to deliver a note that led to the first summit meeting between President Trump and the North Korean leader.

There is speculation about a possible Trump-Kim summit sometime next month in Vietnam.

Twenty were killed and dozens more injured in a car bomb attack in Colombia's capital Bogota Thursday.

The 57 year old man who was the driver of the car also killed.   No group has claimed responsibility
for the attack at the entrance to a police academy where a promotion ceremony for cadets was being held.

Colombia's President Ivan Duque is calling it a:

"crazy terrorist act"

Act 50 of the European Union treaty invoked for Brexit explicitly states that if there is no deal to withdrawal a member nation can leave without one.

Opposition politicians and others are calling on Prime Minister Theresa May to develop a new approach to Brexit that rules out a no deal exit from the EU after her plan was rejected in Parliament earlier this week.

But last night in London "Mr. Brexit" Nigel Farage and others of the "Leave Means Leave" group held a rally in London calling for a no-deal exit from the EU based on World Trade Organization rules.

"Back to Paris" is the message on Facebook in France as Yellow Vests plan to return to the capital Saturday for Act 10 of the protest.   At least 18-thousand reported interested.  Protests are expected in other cities and towns across France on both Saturday and Sunday based on social media posts.

President Emmanuel Macron meeting with another group of hundreds of mayor's today Friday as part of his "great debate" campaign in response to the Yellow Vests protest.

Controversial Macron like policies could be on the way in Sweden soon as a new government has been formed today Friday.    Pro-business anti-labor parties are influencing the new four party arrangement designed to exclude the anti-mass immigration Sweden Democrats from power.

While Social Democrat Stefan Lofven will be Prime Minister, the Center and Liberal parties with their "crony capitalist" policies are involved.   The fourth party, the Greens, will be able to say that possible policies like new taxes on less wealthy Swedes are "Green" policies that help the Earth.

The fifth party involved, the former Communists of the Left party, were the last party to stand in the way of forming the government.

In the end the Left chose not to join the government but they also refused to vote it out today creating a minority government that for now will keep the Sweden Democrats out of power.

Israel's Channel 13 reporting on details of President Trump's "Deal of the Century" plan for a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians this week.

The media report says some major Jewish settlement blocs like Ariel will remain in Judaea and Samaria, commonly called the "West Bank", but that 90 percent of the territories including other settlements will be given back.

A US representative in Israel for the plan called the report "inaccurate" but Education Minister Naftali Bennett  and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of "The New Right" party in Israel are concerned about the plan and don't think its a good idea.

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called elections for April 9th the US decided to delay public release of the plan.

A "sex for judgeship" scandal in Israel with the Chairman of the Israel Bar Association arrested this week by police, then released to house arrest.   Effi Nave is alleged to advanced the career of a woman appointed to a judgeship in exchange for sexual favors.   Plus he's suspected of accepting sexual favors from the wife of a male judge in exchange for advancement to a higher court.

In Chicago today the sentencing of Jason Van Dyke, the police officer who shot black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014.   Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times with the shooting captured on police dashcam video.

Yesterday a judge acquitted three others accused of covering up the shooting.

The African Union has called on the Democratic Republic of Congo to postpone today's final proclamation of presidential election results.

Opposition candidate Martin Fayulu says he is the winner and Roman Catholic Church, which had 40-thousand election observers monitoring the vote, says that the candidate official results show the winner Felix Tshisekedi did not win the election.

Late word is that the government will go ahead and officialy announce a winner in the questionable election today Friday.

In the UK, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, involved in a traffic accident Thursday afternoon.    The Land Rover being driven by the 97 year-old husband of Her Majesty The Queen collided with another vehicle as it emerged onto a highway from the Sandringham estate.

Witnesses who helped those involved in the accident said Prince Philip was "very shocked and very shaken" as he was taken from his vehicle, which overturned.    He was later seen by a doctor.

Two people in the other vehicle taken to hospital with minor injuries and released.

Police will be conducting an investigation into the accident.  They say both drivers tested negative when given breath tests.

And that's the way it really is Friday morning January 18th, 2019.