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Latest Updates on Protests in France, Belgium and the Netherlands (Bloomberg)
France’s ‘Yellow Vests’ Clash with Police in Paris (Reuters)
The Wooing of Jared Kushner: How the Saudis Got a Friend in the White House (Kushner’s close relationship to MBS is very troubling, The New York Times)
Canada Arrests Huawei CFO At U.S. Request (Zerohedge)
An Israeli Tech Firm Is Selling Spy Software to Dictators (The Washington Post)
Senators Working to Slip Israel Anti-Boycott Law Through in Lame Duck (The Intercept)
These Americans Fled the Country to Escape Their Giant Student Debt (We do not live in a functioning society, CNBC)
Trust Is Failing on Both Sides of the Pond (Strategic Culture Foundation)
MSM Is Getting Weirder, More Frantic, And More Desperate By The Day (Caitlin Johnstone, Medium)
U.S. News/Politics
Amazon Is an Infrastructure Company. The HQ2 Bids Were Reconnaissance. (Important read, New York Magazine)
Rising Opposition Has Amazon Shopping for Help (Crain’s New York)
Harvard’s Bipartisan Congressional Orientation Under Fire For Being Too Corporate (HuffPost)
Lawmakers Demand Investigation Of Labor Secretary Alex Acosta For Sex Abuser Plea Deal (HuffPost)
Forget Weed. Some Oregonians Want to Legalize Psychedelic Mushrooms (CNN)
International News/WW3
Saudi Crown Prince ‘Ordered, Monitored’ Killing of Khashoggi, Corker Says (CNN)
Mattis and Lawmakers Press Trump for Higher Defense Spending (Can’t it make this up, Bloomberg)
Reuters Creates Fakenews About Iran – Intentionally Conflates Two Different Missiles – Misquotes Official (Moon of Alabama)
Nikki Haley To Be Replaced By Blonde Version Of Nikki Haley (Caitlin Johnstone, Medium)
Economy/Finance/Crypto
Toll Brothers Orders Slump for First Time in More Than Four Years (Reuters)
Reddit Cofounder Alexis Ohanian Issued an Ominous Warning for Facebook: ‘We’ve Hit Peak Social’ (Business Insider)
Occupy Jamie Dimon: Activists Are Chasing the Billionaire Across the U.S. (Bloomberg)
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Read Luongo’s “Trust” article yesterday, thought his analysis of Trump was probably correct. The neocon takeover of his admin seems complete.
As for the Saudis, I think a lot of Trump supporters have totally misplaced faith in MBS. The media aren’t after him because he’s a good guy, they’re going after him because he’s a crazed loose cannon, the sort of ruler who will kidnap his own billionaires, hang them upside down, and beat them for money. The Khashoggi uproar is their first chance to take the fight back to him. They can’t criticize the ongoing atrocities in Yemen because they signed off on those from day one, so Khashoggi is the next best thing.
Any bets on US military action in Iran? Guys like Tillerson and Kelly could help block it, but a Bolton-Pompeo led Trump admin might be crazy enough to do it, especially if it distracts from an overdue market downturn.
Here are the claims of yellow vests:
1. We want direct democracy at all levels. We want a government of national unity with a regency of exception to prevent political parties, which are disqualified, from instrumentalizing our distress and anger.
2. We want a 20% cut in all taxes and burdens for the middle class, the working poor and entrepreneurs. To lower these taxes is to raise our wages. We want immediate action to tax what is worth taxing: GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple) and financial transactions.
3. We want France to stop living beyond its means and stop accepting the misery of the world because it is already in misery with its millions of people living below the poverty line. We want a chosen immigration that does not destroy us culturally. We are calling for a withdrawal from the UN immigration pact.
4. We want a relocation of all decisions in regions, cities and municipalities. The state and its officials in Paris are not qualified to decide the future of our communes.
5. We want an exit from the “Common Agricultural Policy” that corrupts our farmers by allocating its aid only to productivists and poisoners spreading cancer in France. Our taxes should in no way be used to fund Bayer-Monsanto.
6. We want the creation of trade barriers to prevent Germany from selling us products made in Romania under the “Deutsche Qualität” label and thus destroying our jobs.
7. We want the withdrawal of all aid to the press for a real separation of media and political powers.
8. We want immediate action to stop integration in Europe because it is built only on the ruin of ordinary people.