Posted on Categories News & Comment

PBC News & Comment: Trump Brands US as Rogue Nation

Trump makes good on threat to scuttle Iran nuclear agreement, making US an unreliable rogue nation; risk of war increases substantially….–more details surface on secret efforts by Israel’s Black Cube to undermine Obama officials who weren’t directly involved in negotiations with Iran

Bloomberg News exposes the role of Palantir—collaboration of CIA’s InQTel and Peter Thiel—in Big Data op that’s been monitoring Iranian compliance

–emboldened by Trump’s promotion of Israeli policies, cabinet minister threatens Syria and Assad

–big gains for Hezbollah in Lebanese elections

–corporate media stoke support for CIA nominee Gina Haspel, touting her experience and downplaying her role in torture and rendition

–VIPS issued two memos today, one supporting Iran agreement, the other opposing confirmation of “Bloody Gina”

–at Buzzfeed, Jason Leopold uncovers CIA documents about rendition and torture, with admissions that torture doesn’t produce useful intel

–Greenwald predicts Dems will use “villain rotation” to help confirm Haspel while posing as Resistance

–Super-ish Tuesday as 4 Midwest states hold primaries

–Pelosi urges conserva-Dems to run against her, “Just win, baby”

–in Omaha House primary, Dem leaders back former Republican and ignore pro-choice woman

WhoWhatWhy asks if GOP voter suppression is a bigger problem than Russian meddling

–within hours of damning New Yorker expose, NY state AG Eric Schneiderman resigns

–executives of giant drug distribution companies are sorry about the opioid crisis, but it’s not their fault, they claim

–Iran Contra schemer and Fox News idiot Ollie North named NRA president

–Melanie Trump spoke stiffly to Teleprompter as she launched a PR campaign exploiting our children as TrumpCo lowered the boom on American and immigrant kids

–Scott Pruitt’s EPA “security concerns” related to “friendly” and “unfriendly” crowds

–EPA was apparently unable to block release of study that shows Roundup is more dangerous than its active ingredient, glyphosate

–Kim Jong-un flew to Chinese coastal city for meeting with Xi Jinping