Pashalis said:
Well I would say if the following articles are true, it doesn't paint the best picture of Trump.
U.S. Drone Strikes Have Gone Up 432% Since Trump Took Office
An article dated March 3rd - reports the first Drone Strike under Trump. So, how have drone strikes gone up 432 since Trump took office? Or 36 strikes in 45 days? Maybe, missile strikes by the Pentagon between Syria and Iraq?
First US Drone Strike in Trump Era Kills Two in Pakistan
https://sputniknews.com/world/201703031051217256-first-us-drone-two-dead/
Undeterred by the disastrous commando raid on Yemen in the first days of his Administration, where plenty of civilians were killed but the target got away, President Donald Trump has escalated US military involvement in the tragic Yemen conflict to an unprecedented level. In fact as Foreign Policy reports, the US President has bombed Yemen more in the past week than President Obama (no peacenik) has bombed in a year.
‘Bomb the Sh*t Out Of Them!’ – Trump Drones Yemen More in One Week Than Obama in a Year
http://www.globalresearch.ca/bomb-the-sht-out-of-them-trump-drones-yemen-more-in-one-week-than-obama-in-a-year/5579019
But although the US escalation in Yemen is sold back home as another aggressive front in the war against al-Qaeda, in fact US operations in Yemen are actually helping al-Qaeda as well as its chief sponsor, Saudi Arabia.
The problem is that because his advisors are increasingly drawn from the neocon camp, the advice he is given is filtered through the “noble lie” that the neocons view as the central tenet of their faith. Thus even though the main enemies of al-Qaeda in Yemen are the Houthis, because Trump has been sold the neocon lie that the Houthis are Iranian proxies Trump is droning Yemen back to the stone age to the advantage of al-Qaeda and Saudi Arabia, who are on the same side.
While it is arguable that the President has authority under the authorization for the use of military force against those attacked us on 9/11 to attack al-Qaeda in Yemen, very few would argue that such authorization extends to actually helping al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Meanwhile, US drone attacks are killing civilians in Yemen and contributing to the genocide of the Yemeni people whose only crime is to have rejected a president who ran unopposed — a US-backed “Arab Spring” candidate — and who immediately approved US drone strikes on his own country.
The Trump State Department is going all in. A sale of anti-Houthi weapons to Saudi Arabia that even the Obama administration rejected was hastily approved by the new Administration and soon will be deployed in Saudi Arabia’s war of aggression against its neighbor.
The Trump Administration is doubling down on all of President Obama’s mistakes. Siding with al-Qaeda in Yemen on the false notion that it is fighting a proxy war against Iran.
The neocons are running circles around the new US President. Deal-maker? On foreign affairs, he’s more like a vulnerable rube walking into a used car lot populated by shark car salesmen.
By the way, the Pentagon just finished investigating the Pentagon over the disastrous Yemen raid — where scores of civilians were gunned down by the US military in cold blood but they missed the claimed target. It may shock you, but the Pentagon found that the Pentagon had done nothing wrong. Investigation complete!
An intruder carrying a backpack breached the outer perimeter of the White House late Friday night and was arrested by the US Secret Service near the south entrance to the residence.
Intruder Arrested on White House Grounds After Jumping Fence
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703111051487775-white-house-intruder-arrested/
President Donald Trump was in the White House at the time, according to reports.
No hazardous materials were found in the backpack when the suspect was apprehended near midnight, and a search of the grounds revealed "nothing of concern to security operations," the Secret Service said.
"I am a friend of the President. I have an appointment," the suspect told the officer who approached him, CNN reported, citing the DC police service. When asked how he had gotten in, he said he'd jumped the fence.
Jonathan Tuan-Anh Tran earned the nickname of ‘White House intruder’ after attempting to illegally enter the White House by jumping a fence near the Treasury Building. Tran was then observed hiding behind a pillar and continued towards the South Portico entrance. When he discovered Secret Service was observing his every move, he foolishly sprinted for the South Lawn in the opposite direction of the White House. This recent news sparked media attention and engendered obvious questions regarding the nature of Tran’s intentions.
Deranged Intruder Attempts Unlawful White House Entry
http://investmentwatchblog.com/deranged-intruder-attempts-unlawful-white-house-entry/
Upon Tran’s arrest, mace, a U.S. passport, a laptop, a book written by President Trump, and a letter were found on his person. The letter was written for the President and consisted of Russian hacking assertions, information regarding phones and emails which were believed to be under surveillance, and claims that Tran was labeled as schizophrenic. The President commended the manner in which Secret Service handled the matter, classifying the intruder as a “very disturbed person.” Whether Tran was a fan of President Trump remains a mystery, but his actions were inexcusable and handled accordingly. It begs to question what thoughts were going through his head. Trans was surely aware of the undesirable consequences that would follow as a result of his actions. Was he really so stupid to believe that he could sneak his way into the White House, the most guarded building in America? Perhaps he did suffer from some mental illness. Nonetheless, the story serves as quite the conundrum.
Tran has been deemed a flight risk and will be kept in custody until Monday when he makes his next court appearance. If Tran is convicted, he will serve up to ten years in prison. While detained by Secret Service, he declared himself as a ‘friend’ of the President and stated that he had an appointment. Most friends do not attempt to sneak into each others homes. Either Tran truly does suffer from a severe mental impairment or he is merely a flagrant dolt who believed he would breaching Secret Service. Hopefully, Tran’s circumstances will serve as a warning to any person who considers the notion of unlawfully entering the White House.
The list of those asking US President Donald Trump to please present some evidence of the wiretapping he alleged his processor subjected him to is growing and now includes the US House Intelligence Committee.
US House Intelligence Committee Asks Trump for 'Wiretapping' Evidence
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201703121051508726-house-intel-asks-trump-evidence/
The committee has requested some evidence by Monday, a senior aide said March 11, AP reported. The request was made in a joint letter from Committee Chairman Representative Devin Nunes and the committee's ranking Democrat, Representative Adam Schiff.
Schiff said in an interview March 12 that he doesn't expect any proof to be produced.
"I don't expect we're going to see any evidence of this either," Schiff told ABC's This Week.
"There are one of two possibilities here. Either the president quite deliberately for some reason made up this charge or, perhaps more disturbing, the president really believes this," Schiff said.
US President Donald Trump has to provide evidence that his predecessor Barack Obama ordered to wiretap his phones, US Senator John McCain said Sunday.
McCain Demands Evidence of Trump's Wiretapping Allegedly Ordered by Obama
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703121051506285-mccain-trump-wiretapping/
On March 4, Trump took to Twitter to accuse Obama of having his Trump Tower headquarters' "wires tapped" prior to the 2016 presidential election, describing this as the former administration's "new low. The president went on to compare the alleged surveillance to McCarthyism and the Watergate scandal. The claims have been rejected by Obama's representative.
The following day, the White House said that Trump had asked the Congress to investigate this issue.
"President Trump has to provide the American people, not just the intelligence community, but the American people, with evidence that his predecessor, former president of the Unites States was guilty of breaking the law," McCain told CNN.
The senator stressed that Trump had to either retract or provide evidence, as such situation could undermine the US citizens' trust in the government.
FBI Director James Comey disputed Trump’s allegation and asked the Justice Department to publicly denounce the claim, since such wiretapping order is considered to be illegal without a court's approval.
Donald Trump made allegations last week of the Obama Administration spying on the Trump campaign in the heat of the presidential election last year continuing on through December. The mainstream media reacted with shock, claiming the allegations lacked evidence and substance, and counter-alleged that Trump’s assertions were merely “fake news.” Apparently the media magnates don’t read their own papers, for all they would need to do is read their own publications to validate the President’s claims.
Evidence of Obama administration wiretapping Trump compelling
http://idahostatejournal.com/opinion/columns/evidence-of-obama-administration-wiretapping-trump-compelling/article_efe77691-00df-5814-85d1-f3e43394bb34.html
On March 4, President Trump tweeted a series of messages. Although limited to 144 characters per tweet, his message was a shocking one. “Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!” he said initially. The first message was followed immediately with, “I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!”
His final tweet concluded the allegation, “How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” What followed was a flurry of predictable media reactions.
The New York Times front-page story was titled, “Trump, Offering No Evidence, Says Obama Tapped His Phones.” CNN’s news crawl proclaimed, “Trump’s baseless wiretap claim.” And the Washington Post, not to be outdone, exclaimed, “Trump, citing no evidence, accuses Obama of ‘Nixon/Watergate’ plot to wiretap Trump Tower.”
Interestingly, all of those publications have been printing stories over the past several months that provide the very evidence they said Trump was lacking.
Just over a month ago, on January 20th, the New York Times’ front-page story was titled, “Wiretapped Data Used In Inquiry of Trump Aides.” That story went on to reveal, “The FBI is leading the investigations, aided by the National Security Agency, the CIA and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Unit. The investigators have accelerated their efforts in recent weeks but have found no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing, the officials said. One official said intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped communications had been provided to the White House.”
In that one story, the NYT validates the following: that Trump aides were being wiretapped; data from the wiretaps were gathered; which government agencies (under the Obama Administration) were involved; that they’d accelerated their efforts (likely to forestall Trump’s inauguration); and that some of the data had been provided to the White House. And perhaps most significant, as far as Trump and his aides are concerned, they “found no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing.” (Article continues.)
"Even some Democrats on the [Senate] Intelligence Committee now quietly admit," a Thursday BuzzFeed column reads, "they don’t expect to find active, informed collusion between the Trump campaign and known Russian intelligence operatives."
BuzzFeed Confesses: Democrats Failed to Find Any Russia-Trump Link
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201703101051466811-buzzfeed-confesses-democrats-failed-link/
Since Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost to President Donald Trump, Democrats have grasped for answers to their stunning defeat. Excuses have included third-party candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson swiping away at Clinton’s vote tallies, FBI Director James Comey’s comments about a potential link between Clinton’s email servers and illicit-sexting aficionado Anthony Weiner, and perhaps most notably, allegations of ‘Russian hacking’ of the US election.
The FBI was rebuked by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) when the agency requested access to DNC servers, despite the FBI’s repeated attempts to stress the importance of receiving direct access to DNC servers and data, Sputnik reported in January.
Democrats attempts to worsen Moscow-Washington relations have not gone unnoticed by party veterans. In his final days as the number one Democrat in the Senate, former Minority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, stated in a candid interview, “one of the failures of the Democratic Party has been the Democratic National Committee.” Sputnik reported in January.
Democrats attempts to worsen Moscow-Washington relations have not gone unnoticed by party veterans. In his final days as the number one Democrat in the Senate, former Minority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, stated in a candid interview, “one of the failures of the Democratic Party has been the Democratic National Committee.”
Sputnik reported in January.
Democrats attempts to worsen Moscow-Washington relations have not gone unnoticed by party veterans. In his final days as the number one Democrat in the Senate, former Minority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, stated in a candid interview, “one of the failures of the Democratic Party has been the Democratic National Committee.” The DNC, Reid remarked, “has been worthless.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s ongoing investigation into links between the Kremlin and Trump’s campaign has produced “tangible frustration” among committee members, according to BuzzFeed. Particularly, an official close to the committee told BuzzFeed that media attention surrounding ties between Trump and Russia has produced “wildly inflated” expectations that committee findings may not be able to satisfy.
A third unidentified source disagreed, arguing that there is “room to find something significant.” But evidence is lacking, and a slew of former US intelligence operatives have been skeptical that evidence linking Trump with suspicious Russian actors exists. Previous intelligence assessments have provided “unsubstantiated” judgements to refute a Russian link, according to more than 20 intelligence, military and diplomatic veterans.
Bill Binney, a longtime NSA veteran, said that, as technical director at the NSA, he designed data collection systems that could pin down, for example, electronic information transfers between Russia and WikiLeaks.
Binney, along with over 20 colleagues, “strongly” suggested that the Obama administration provide more than just circumstantial evidence to warrant their claims, if it exists.
BuzzFeed finally admits that, since North Carolina Republican Senator Richard Burr announced a formal investigation into relations between the Kremlin and Trump, "the investigation has become the catch-all” for political fodder. The “investigation,” which should strictly follow the evidence, has become a scenario in which the committee feels it must find a “silver bullet” tying Trump to Moscow, a bullet Senate aides observe may not exist.
US investigators looking for those responsible for the recent WikiLeaks release of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) secret files are suspecting a small number of CIA contractors to be behind the leak, local media said.
FBI Closes in on Several CIA Contractors in Wikileaks Disclosure Investigation
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703121051493675-fbi-cia-wikileaks-nvestigation/
On Tuesday, WikiLeaks published over 8,700 classified files from what it called an unprecedentedly large archive of leaked information related to the CIA. This amount is less than 1 percent of the total volume of the leak, according to the website. The first part of the release shed light on hacking techniques developed and employed by the agency, including programs targeting all major computer operating systems.
The investigators have narrowed their search down to a team of software developer contractors in Virginia, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a source familiar with the investigation.
The contractors worked on developing tools used by the CIA to hack phones, computers and televisions connected to the internet. Several of the CIA Engineering Development Group contractors have already been questioned by no one has been detained so far, according to the source, who added that the investigation was unfolding rapidly.
Anger over job cuts among the employees of the dozen or so companies working on CIA hacking projects may have been the driving force behind the leak, another source stated.
In interpreting the leaked documents, WikiLeaks said that the CIA used the US consulate in Frankfurt as a covert base for its hackers covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The hackers operating out of the consulate were receiving diplomatic passports and cover from the US State Department, according to the leaked documents.
Preet Bharara said that he was fired after refusing an order to submit the resignation.
US Federal Attorney Says Fired After Refusing to Submit Resignation
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703121051490400-usa-federal-attorney-fired/
US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said that he was fired after refusing an order to submit the resignation.
“I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired,” Bharara posted on his Twitter account on Saturday.
