Israel Is Prime Suspect In Bombing of Damascus Airport As It Wages War On Syria

Israel implied that it was responsible for the missile strikes at the Damascus airport in Syria that they claim was a depot for weapons imported from Iran by Hezbollah militants.  Hezbollah is allied with Assad’s forces and is fighting against ISIS. Earlier this week, Israeli forces bombed a military camp for pro-Syrian forces. There is no doubt that Israel is waging war against Syria. –GEG

Israeli strikes have hit an arms depot operated by the Lebanese Hezbollah group near Damascus airport, Syrian opposition sources told Al Jazeera. Witnesses said a total of five strikes occurred near the Damascus airport road, about 25km from the capital, early on Thursday. Syrian state TV quoted a military source saying rockets fired from Israeli territory targeted a military area in the southwestern part of the airport which caused explosions.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the Turkish city of Gaziantep near Syria’s border, said opposition activists posted pictures online showing a huge fire near the area.

“We do understand that the Israelis have been carrying out strikes in the past. The last one was in January targeting the Mezze military base.

“In 2015 they also launched attacks near the capital Damascus and in the Golan Heights, killing two prominent Hezbollah commanders, including Jihad Mughniya who is the son of the top military commander of Hezbollah Imad Mughniya who was also killed in Damascus in 2008,” Ahelbarra said.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz, speaking from the United States where he has been meeting US officials, told Israeli Army Radio: “I can confirm that the incident in Syria corresponds completely with Israel’s policy to act to prevent Iran’s smuggling of advanced weapons via Syria to Hezbollah … Naturally, I don’t want to elaborate on this.

“The prime minister has said that whenever we receive intelligence that indicated an intention to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah, we will act.” Katz added. An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment.

Reuters news agency, citing an intelligence source, said the depot that was targeted handles a significant amount of weapons that Tehran, a major regional ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, sends regularly by air. The source said the arms depot gets a major part of the weapons supplied to an array of Iranian backed armed groups, led by Hezbollah, which have thousands of fighters engaged in battle against Syrian rebels.

Rami Abdurrahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the blasts were heard across the capital, jolting residents awake. Activist-operated Diary of a Mortar, which reports from Damascus, said the explosions near the airport road were followed by flames rising above the area.

This is the second Israeli attack on Syria in the past week: on Sunday, Israeli forces bombed a camp for pro-government forces killed three fighters near the Golan Heights on Sunday according to AFP. Two fighters were also wounded in the attack on the Al-Fawwar camp near Quneitra in southwestern Syria, adding that it was unclear whether the damage was inflicted by an air strike or shelling.

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University of California Concealed $175 Million While Demanding More Funding, Audit Says

A recent audit revealed that the University of California concealed the existence of $175 million in funds while its leaders asked the state for additional funding. It was discovered that Janet Napolitano, former head of The Department of Homeland Security who now is in charge of the school system, overstated how much is needed to run the system.  Napolitano also paid school employees significantly more than state employees and interfered in the auditing process. –GEG

The University of California hid a stash of $175 million in secret funds while its leaders requested more money from the state, an audit released on Tuesday said.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the audit found that the secret fund ballooned due to UC Office of the President overestimating how much is needed to run the school system that includes 10 campuses in the state. Janet Napolitano, the former Department of Homeland Security chief, is in charge of the school system.

Napolitano denied the audit’s claim. She reportedly said the money was held for any unexpected expenses. Her office also denied the amount in the fund.

“The true amount is $38 million, which is roughly 10 percent of (the office’s) operating and administrative budget, a prudent and reasonable amount for unexpected expenses such as cybersecurity threat response and emerging issues like increased support for undocumented students and efforts to prevent sexual violence and sexual harassment,” her office said in a statement.

Elaine Howle, the state auditor who came up with the report, found that from 2012 to 2016 the office looked to raise more funding by inflating estimates. Howle also said that a top staff member in Napolitano’s office improperly screened confidential surveys that were sent to each campus. Howle said answers that were critical of Napolitano’s office were deleted or changed before being sent to auditors.

“I’ve never had a situation like that in my 17 years as state auditor,” Howle said. “My attorneys are looking at whether any improper government activities occurred.”

The UC Board of Regents is now hearing calls to overturn its decision to increase tuition this fall by 2.5 percent.

Howle said Napolitano also overcharged the system’s 10 campuses to fund its operations, paid its employees significantly more than state employees and interfered in the auditing process.

“Taken as a whole, these problems indicate that significant change is necessary to strengthen the public’s trust in the University of California,” Howle wrote in the report.

The audit found that over the course of four years, the UC’s central bureaucracy amassed more than $175 million in reserve funds by spending significantly less than it budgeted for and asking for increases in future funding based on its previous years’ over-estimated budgets rather than its actual expenditures.

“In effect, the Office of the President received more funds than it needed each year, and it amassed millions of dollars in reserves that it spent with little or no oversight,” the report said.

Napolitano argues the amount accounts for 10 percent of the operating and administrative budget. She called it “a modest amount for an organization our size.”

The office argued it did not need to disclose its reserves because the regents had approved the spending in previous years’ budgets. Howle said the undisclosed funds included $32 million collected from campuses that could have been spent for other purposes.

University employees and lawmakers, who requested the audit, expressed outrage over the audit’s findings.

“Today we learned that after squandering millions of public dollars on bloated management and unaccountable ‘initiatives,’ (the Office of the President) has effectively been operating a slush fund that shields hundreds of millions of public dollars from public scrutiny,” Kathryn Lybarger, president of UC’s largest employee union, said in a statement.

She criticized the office’s “skyrocketing executive pay,” a reference to the audit’s finding that the 10 executives in the office were paid a total of $3.7 million in the 2014-15 fiscal year — over $700,000 more than the combined salaries of their highest paid state employee counterparts.

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French Mayor Found Guilty of a Thought Crime For Saying Schools With 91% Muslim Students Are a “Problem”

France: Robert Menard, Mayor of Beziers and an adviser to Marine Le Pen, was fined 2,000 euros for saying there were too many Muslim children in his city’s schools because they account for 91% of the student population.  The native French population is being replaced, but it is a thought crime to speak about it.  –GEG

The Independent:

A key adviser to Marine Le Pen has been found guilty of inciting hatred against Muslims.

Robert Menard, mayor of Beziers, was fined 2,000 euros for saying there were too many Muslim children in his city’s schools.

During an interview on TV, Menard said: “In one of the classrooms in my town centre, 91 per cent of children are Muslim. Obviously this is a problem”

He had also posted a tweet comparing a school picture from the 1970s to one taken recently which he said proved the conspiracy theory of a “great replacement,” which claims Muslim immigrants are replacing the traditional French population.


It’s a “conspiracy theory” to point out documented demographic changes.

As Menard said initially after being charged: “I just described the situation in my town. It is not a value judgement, it’s a fact. It’s what I can see.”

The prosecutor said Menard had reduced children “to their religion, regardless of whether they have French nationality or do not practice”.

Menard was convicted of an “incitement to hatred and discrimination”.

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Fox News, Last Bastion of Conservative Views on TV, Is Crumbling Under Attack From Political Left and Right

Fox News, the sole remaining ‘conservative’ channel on TV, is under attack, not only from the left but from the right as well. Roger Ailes, the founder and former CEO of Fox was ousted last year over claims of sexual harassment. Bill O’Reilly was ousted last week also over allegations of sexual harassment, Sean Hannity now is under attack on similar allegations, and now a class-action suit charging racial discrimination has been filed against Fox.  Researcher Ethan Ralph reports that this is because of ‘undue influence’ from the daughters-in-law of Rupert Murdoch (the owner of Fox) who embrace the ideology of collectivism and globalism. [We are compelled to add that Murdoch, himself, has a long affinity to these ideals, as evidenced by his membership in the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bilderberger group. To imply that he is ‘unduly’ influenced by the women in his life misses the point completely. It is more likely that they are influenced by him.] –GEG

As I mentioned yesterday, and as you have no doubt already heard (unless you’re living under a rock), longtime cable news kingpin Bill O’Reilly was unceremoniously dumped from his primetime perch at Fox News Channel (FNC). I will say this upfront: I don’t really like Fox News all that much, besides Tucker Carlson’s show. However, they are useful as a counterweight against the extremely “progressive” mainstream media news organizations that comprise pretty much all of the TV landscape besides Fox. But  they’ve sold plenty of bad goods over the years, like the Iraq War and various other Establishment GOP boondoggles. Let’s not let them off the hook for those disasters.

Still, reports in the wake of O’Reilly’s ouster are pretty worrying if you value the balance FNC helps provide. Apparently, the wives of the ascendant sons of Rupert Murdoch, James and Lachlan, have been making moves behind the scenes. First, they succeeded in their efforts to get the guy who helmed Fox News since its inception, Roger Ailes, shitcanned last summer. Now, they’ve gotten an arguably even bigger scalp

Two powerful women quietly helped behind the scenes to bring Bill O’Reilly down.

Sarah and Kathryn Murdoch — the wives of the ousted talk show host’s young bosses — are at least partially responsible for his humiliating exit from Fox News Wednesday…

Behind the scenes, Sarah and James Murdoch’s wife, Kathryn, also pushed to sever the network’s ties to the prickly host, several sources said.

While Fox News politically leans to the right, the wives of its top executives lean to the left.

Kathryn and James Murdoch are the co-founders of the charity Quadrivium, which funds progressive causes like environmental protection, science, childhood health and equal opportunity in the workplace — issues not exactly aligned with many of Fox News’ biggest contributors.

Someone linked me to the Twitter account of Kathryn Murdoch earlier this morning, and at first, I thought this had to be a fake. How does it only have 227 followers, I asked myself. Then I went and looked at who those followers were. Two people who have written extensively about the Murdoch clan follow the account, as do bigwigs from the New York Post (a Murdoch property) and the Wall Street Journal (another Murdoch property).

 I think it’s very safe to say this is her real account.

The most troublesome thing I see here is the globalist worldview that is represented in tweet after tweet. Such as her antipathy for so-called “fake news.” She means sites like mine, ones that deviate from the elitist narrative that is preferred by the jet-setting rich who have no real home country. They consider themselves citizens of the world.

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Portland Cancels Avenue of Roses Parade Over Antifa Threat To Attack Republicans Who Planned to Participate

Portland cancelled the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade and Carnival after Antifa, a Communist group, threatened to physically attack the Multnomah County Republicans who were planning to march in the parade. Antifa said they would assemble 200 followers to carry out the threat. Instead of defending citizens’ right to hold a peaceful parade, the city council and mayor canceled the event. This sent a message to Antifa that it is OK to threaten violence if the threat comes from the left. [We can only wonder what the politicians would have done if the threats had come from the Republicans.] –GEG




Israeli Threat-Hoaxer Planted Drugs On A US State Senator And Threatened To Murder The Children Of A Pentagon Employee

su_note note_color=”#efe1a7″ text_color=”#00000″ radius=”5”]Israel: Last month the FBI discovered that hundreds of death threats against Jewish facilities in the US were perpetrated by Michael Kaydar, a 19-year old Jewish man who claims to have a brain tumor and to be autistic.  Actually, he is high-functioning entrepreneur who ran a cyber-terror supermarket on the dark web, offering services such as threatening phone calls to private homes for $40 and threatening school massacres for $80.  Kaydar threatened a former Pentagon official that he would kidnap and murder his children.  He tried to blackmail a Delaware state senator and, when the Senator refused to pay in Bitcoin, Kadar shipped drugs to him and called the police so the drugs could be discovered. Israel’s refusal to extradite Kaydar to the US (he is a dual citizen of Israel and the US) has raised suspicion that he could be involved with the Israeli Mossad. –GEG [/su_note]

Yesterday, Ynet reported on the massive business enterprise Michael Kaydar created, selling his services to buyers around the world who sought out cyber-terror attacks.  They ranged from phoning bomb threats against Delta airlines to threats to explode the heads of children at a Jewish day school.  Once he claimed there was a suicide bomber in the air.  Another time that he was an ISIS fighter with a bomb on a plane.  He threatened a plane carrying the Boston Celtics.  A threat against an El Al flight traveling from Los Angeles to Ben Gurion caused French and Swiss air force planes to scramble and intercept the Israeli passenger jet.  He personally threatened a former Pentagon official that he would kidnap and murder his children.  He attempted to extort a Delaware state senator who had disparaged his terror campaign, demanding bitcoin payment.  When none was forthcoming, he sent drugs to the man’s home and threatened to call the police to inform them that the senator was a drug-dealer.  There were 162 threats to bomb airplanes and 2,000 bomb threats overall.  In addition, he sent another 31 mail threats.

george little & michael kaydar

Former Pentagon official, George Little, whose children were threatened by Kaydar

He didn’t do this out of personal animus or mental infirmity (though his family claims otherwise).  He did it out of a good, old-fashioned motive: greed. Kaydar operated a cyber terror supermarket.  He plied his wares on dark web sites like Alpha Bay, advertising them akin to the restaurant or hair salon which lists its services and their prices for client to choose.

Kaydar had a laundry list of “services” which he offered and the prices for each type of exploit.  A threatening call to a private home would set a buyer back $40.  A call threatening a massacre at a school cost $80.  A letter threat against a school called for a discount and cost only $30.  A call to threaten to bomb an airliner cost $500.  He informed potential clients that they could devise their own threats and he would execute them for a special price.  If one of his threats didn’t lead to the evacuation of the targeted institution and summoning of police, he would return the fee to the client, considering it a failed operation.  Buyers paid in bitcoin because it was untraceable.  By the time of his arrest, he’d amassed a hefty fortune of $500,000.

Hand it to Kaydar, he mass-produced cyber-mayhem.  And all by himself.  Quite the entrepreneurial spirit of the Israeli Start-Up Nation!

Israeli media have been prohibited from naming the 18 year-old Kaydar or featuring his picture because he began his spree when he was a minor.  In fact, he likely will be tried in a juvenile court for at least some of his alleged crimes.  This could drastically reduce the amount of jail time he might expect if he’s convicted.

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Republicans Fail To Repeal Obamacare And Pass The Buck To The States

su_note note_color=”#efe1a7″ text_color=”#00000″ radius=”5”]The ‘Freedom Caucus’ that stopped Trumpcare from passing has endorsed a new plan that fails to repeal Obamacare.  It would allow the states to opt out of the federal requirement to cover pre-existing conditions and mandated services. This may look like a step forward, but the entire structure and its megalithic bureaucracy remain in place, and this opt-out feature easily can be restored in the future when public interest becomes diverted to other issues. –GEG [/su_note]

On Wednesday, the House Freedom Caucus endorsed a new version of Obamacare quasi-repeal in the House that would give states the freedom to opt out of federal insurance regulations forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions and mandated services. The states must pledge that the changes will either reduce prices or increase coverage.

“While the revised version still does not fully repeal Obamacare,” the House Freedom Caucus said in a press release, “we are prepared to support it to keep our promise to the American people to lower healthcare costs. We look forward to working with our Senate colleagues to improve the bill.”

That seems to be the consensus: conservatives are willing to hold their noses and back this version of Trumpcare. Club for Growth President David McIntire said, “While we’re still short of full repeal, this latest agreement would give states the chance to opt out of some of Obamacare’s costliest regulations, opening the way to greater choice and lower insurance premiums.”

In other words, this may be the best conservatives can get.

If so, it’s not very much.

There is a basic problem with this version of Obamacare repeal: it doesn’t repeal Obamacare. It leaves regulations in place on the federal level with regard to insurance companies; the state opt-out merely puts the ball in the court of the states to opt out of Obamacare. But this reverses the federalism polarity: normally, the federal government does not get to participate in a cramdown of federal policy, giving states the option of cancelling it. Instead, the federal government does not get to occupy an area, and states have the obligation to fill it if they so choose.

Here’s why this matters: it’s actually just Congress kicking the can down the road. Now Congress doesn’t have to take the blame for killing the pre-existing conditions and mandated services provisions of Obamacare – they can blame states for doing so. They get to join with Obama in saying they cared about such issues, but those cruel state Republicans wouldn’t get on board. That’s why Congressional moderates could vote for the proposal. But how many governors are actually going to take responsibility for killing the most popular provisions of Obamacare, even if it lowers cost – particularly while the rest of the Obamacare repeal cuts the amount of Medicaid to the states, turning it into a block grant program rather than a need-based program?

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Ann Coulter Cancels Berkeley Speech, Blames ‘Young America’s Foundation’ and Republican Leaders For Dropping Support

US: Ann Coulter was sponsored by two student groups, YAF (Young America’s Foundation) and the Berkeley College Republicans to deliver a speech at UC Berkeley opposing illegal immigration. She agreed to all demands by the school and publicly challenged Berkeley police to not stand down in the event of violence. YAF pulled its support and prevented the Berkeley College Republicans from taking legal action to require the college to provide a room for the speech. Coulter lashes out against Republican leaders for failing to stand up for what they say they believe and, instead, are always saying: “We’ll take a stand NEXT time.” –GEG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1dQNx1PxSQ