John Bolton Gearing Up the US for War with Iran

Via America’s Lawyer: Host of Watching the Hawks, Tyrel Ventura, joins Mike Papantonio to discuss the reasons behind national security adviser John Bolton’s statements about Iran, which has raised U.S. Iran tensions to a new high.

Farage Cannot Be Allowed to Dictate Britain’s Future. He Must Be Thwarted

THE GUARDIAN: The EU election results will send a vital message to MPs about Brexit

If you care about what the Brexiters are doing to our country, then vote on 23 May. All that matters is that on 24 May, Nigel Farage and his allies on the far right of the Conservative party cannot claim they speak for Britain.

Politics is not an exact science. After the vote, there will be a ledger. On one side will be hard or no-deal Brexit with Farage and the Tory fellow travellers. On the other will be those who want an end to Brexit and those who believe that, after this degree of mess and on a decision of this magnitude, the final say should be with the people.

The most important thing to remember is that with the knowledge of these election results parliament will take its decision. MPs will scrutinise the ledger as if their future depends on it.

So, the big message: vote. Because your vote will affect their vote. » | Tony Blair | Saturday, May 11, 2019

Louis Farrakhan Denies Antisemitism – Then Refers to 'Satanic Jews'

THE GUARDIAN: Nation of Islam leader speaks in Chicago after Facebook ban / Christian and Jewish leaders in city condemn invitation

In a speech denying allegations of antisemitism, misogyny and homophobia after Facebook banned him from the social media platform, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan referred to “Satanic Jews”.

During the speech on Thursday at a Catholic church on Chicago’s South Side, Farrakhan said people shouldn’t be angry if “I stand on God’s word”. He also said that he knows “the truth” and “separate[s] the good Jews from the Satanic Jews”. » | Associated Press in Chicago | Saturday, May 11, 2019

Poll Surge for Farage Sparks Panic among Tories and Labour

THE GUARDIAN: Support for the Conservatives at the European elections slumps to 11%, less than a third of what the Brexit party is polling

Senior Tory and Labour politicians have issued frantic calls to their voters to back them in next week’s European elections after a new poll showed support for Nigel Farage’s Brexit party had soared to a level higher than for the two main parties put together.

The Opinium survey for the Observer places the Brexit party on 34%, when people were asked how they intended to vote on 23 May, with Labour slipping to 21% and the Conservatives collapsing to just 11%. Ominously for Theresa May, support for the Tories at the European elections is now less than a third of that for Farage’s party, and below that for the Liberal Democrats, who are on 12%.

The poll suggests the Brexit party, launched only last month, is now on course for a thumping victory that Farage will, MPs fear, use to back his argument that the UK must leave the EU immediately without a deal. » | Toby Helm and Michael Savage | Saturday, May 11, 2019

Protesters March in Cardiff for Welsh Independence

THE GUARDIAN: Thousands march in Cardiff calling for Welsh independence » | Mattha Busby | Saturday, May 11, 2019

Can Europe Save the Iran Nuclear Deal? | Inside Story

Europe is scrambling to save the Iran nuclear deal from collapse. A year after the US withdrew from the 2015 agreement, Iran is threatening to produce more enriched uranium unless other parties to the deal protect its economy from US sanctions. Iran gave Europe, China and 60 days to comply.

EU leaders have rejected that ultimatum, but say they're committed to keeping the nuclear deal alive. Iran says the response isn't strong enough, and is accusing the Europeans of submitting to pressure from the United States. Can a way forward be found?

Presenter: Halla Mohiedeen | Guests: Nathalie Tocci - Director of the Italian Institute of International Affairs and a special adviser to EU foreign policy chief; Federica Mogherini. Mahdi Ghodsi - Economist at The Vienna Institute For International Economic Studies; François Nicoullaud - Former French Ambassador to Iran

Is Capital Punishment for Abortion & Miscarriage Coming to America?

Republicans are trying to criminalize abortion. Even planning to make abortion a capital offense, worthy of the death penalty. And with Donald Trump's Supreme Court there is no guarantee that these laws will be overturned. Will Republicans be able to get away with making women the property of the state?

Nancy Pelosi: We Now Face A Trump-Made 'Constitutional Crisis' | The Beat With Ari Melber | MSNBC

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Trump has created a “constitutional crisis” by trying to block congress from seeing the full Mueller report and warns she is ready to hold more Trump officials in contempt. Attorney General Bill Barr joked about his own contempt vote, for refusing to handover the full Mueller report to congress. Campaign Director of the Center for American Progress, Juanita Tolliver, tells Ari Melber “if this is a joke in his mind that says a lot about his character.”

US Conservative Pundit Ben Shapiro Ends Interview with BBC's Andrew Neil

US conservative pundit Ben Shapiro has said he was 'destroyed' by Andrew Neil in a feisty debate in which he accused the veteran broadcaster of being a 'lefty' before abruptly ending the interview on BBC's Politics Live. Neil, chairman of the group which owns rightwing magazine the Spectator, subjected Shapiro to a robust interrogation about his previous controversial remarks, and highlighted Shapiro's support for new hardline abortion laws in the state of Georgia.


THE GUARDIAN: Ben Shapiro apologises to Andrew Neil after being 'destroyed' in BBC interview » | Mattha Busby | Saturday, May 11, 2019

From Tehran: Are US & Iran Going to War

Professor Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran, who helped negotiate the Iran Nuclear Deal, joins Rick Sanchez to discuss Iran’s vow to restart their nuclear program in the face of US violations of the agreement and deepening economic pressure. He says that from the beginning, “the Iranians were the only ones committed to the agreement.” He ominously predicts that a US invasion of Iran would create worldwide economic calamity.

‘Call Me’ Maybe – Trump Asks Iran to Chat

US National Security Advisor John Bolton visited the CIA last week along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss Iran, as tensions mount between the US and the oil-rich country. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump says he wants Iran to call him. RT’s Dan Cohen sits down with RT America’s Manila Chan to unpack the surge in tensions.

Europe Must Never Repeat Brexit, Says Guy Verhofstadt

THE GUARDIAN: EU parliament representative says process has done ‘far more damage than ever predicted’

The European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, has warned that the UK’s decision to leave the EU has already done “far more damage than has ever been predicted”.

Appearing alongside the Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, at a European election campaign event in Camden, north London, on Friday morning, the leader of the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe said he wanted to send a message to people on the continent to “never repeat Brexit again”. » | Frances Perraudin | Friday, May 10, 2019

Queen's Meeting with King of Bahrain Prompts Protests

THE GUARDIAN: Campaigners say British monarch should not host king who has led crackdown on political opponents

Campaigners have condemned Buckingham Palace’s invitation to the king of Bahrain to attend the Windsor horse show this weekend, arguing that the UK should not provide a public relations opportunity to what they say is an increasingly repressive regime.

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa met the Queen at the event on Friday, demonstrating a warmth of official ties despite the Middle Eastern’s state’s outlawing of political opposition and repression of its Shia majority since a failed 2011 revolt.

Ali Mushaima, the son of a jailed opposition leader, said he would demonstrate outside the event to draw attention to the detention of his father and other politicians jailed during the crackdown, which has lasted most of the decade. » | Dan Sabbagh | Friday, May 10, 2019

THE GUARDIAN: I’m fasting in protest outside Royal Windsor Horse Show to save my father in Bahrain » | Ali Mushaima | Friday, May 10, 2019

Donald Tusk: Chance of Brexit Being Cancelled Could Be 30%

THE GUARDIAN: EU chief says good reason to believe leave vote could be reversed in second referendum

The chances of the UK staying in the EU are as high as 30% as the country would be likely to reject Brexit in a second referendum, the president of the European council, Donald Tusk, has said.

The bloc’s most senior official claimed the British public had only truly debated Brexit after the 2016 referendum and there was significant reason to believe the leave vote could be reversed.

Describing the decision by the former British prime minister, David Cameron, to call the vote as a political miscalculation, Tusk said he would expect a different result in a vote today given what had been learned about the consequences of leaving.

“The referendum was at the worst possible moment, it is the result of a wrong political calculation,” Tusk said in an interview with the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza (GW) that was shared with the Guardian as part of the Europa collaboration of six European newspapers.

“A real debate about the consequences of Brexit wasn’t had during the referendum campaign, but only after the vote. Today the result would probably look different. Paradoxically, Brexit awoke in Great Britain a pro-European movement.” » | Daniel Boffey in Brussels | Friday, May 10, 2019

Col. Wilkerson: US Would Face a Unified Venezuelan Military in an Armed Intervention

Col. Larry Wilkerson describes the limits of a 'gringo invasion' and warns of repeating the failures of Vietnam and Iraq

Trump Admits He's a Fraud

Trump’s Foolish Iran Policy Only Makes War More Likely

THE GUARDIAN: Iran’s rulers face impossible choices as a result of unrelenting US hostility, which has one aim – regime change

It is unclear what, if anything, Iran can do to induce the United States and its regional allies to halt their escalating war of attrition before it provokes all-out conflict. When Donald Trump reneged on the UN-ratified nuclear agreement with Tehran last year, he said he wanted a better deal. Iran must change its behaviour, he said, and act like a “normal country”.

This was always disingenuous. Iran’s authoritarian and abusive rulers certainly need to mend their ways. But what Trump and his imperious advisers really meant was that they must do what America says, in conformity with American interests. What they want is an end to 40 years of post-revolution defiance. What they want is regime change in Iran. » | Simon Tisdall | Thursday, May 9, 2019

THE GUARDIAN: Trump’s antics over Iran have endangered us all. The stakes are now lethally high » | Jonathan Friedland | Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Donald Trump Tells Iran ‘Call Me’ over Lifting Sanctions

THE GUARDIAN: President suggests US could help revive Iran’s economy in return for no-nuclear weapons pledge

Donald Trump has offered Iran direct talks, saying its leaders should “call me” and suggested the US would help revive the country’s economy as long as Iran did not acquire nuclear weapons.

The impromptu offer by the US president, if serious, represents a dramatic lowering of the bar set by his administration for lifting extensive sanctions, including an oil embargo. Iran is already party to a 2015 agreement that strictly limits its nuclear programme and places it under close scrutiny. Trump withdrew the US from that Obama-era treaty a year ago.

“What I’d like to see with Iran, I’d like to see them call me,” Trump said. He pointed out the Iranian economy was in shambles as a result of the US pressure campaign.

“What they should be doing is calling me up, sitting down and we can make a deal, a fair deal,” Trump said. “We just don’t want them to have nuclear weapons. It’s not too much to ask. And we would help put them back into great shape.” » | Julian Borger in Washington and Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor | Thursday, May 9, 2019

Is this, perhaps, a ruse? – Mark

Die Schwulenheiler | Panorama - die Reporter | NDR (2015)

Christian Deker, schwul und Panorama Reporter, besuchte Ärzte, die offenbar seine sexuelle Orientierung ändern wollen. Eine Reise in die homophoben Winkel der Republik.

Bob Woodward: I Think We Have a Governing Crisis

Journalist Bob Woodward offers his thoughts on the current state of the Trump presidency to CNN's Anderson Cooper after President Donald Trump invoked executive privilege over special counsel Robert Mueller's report and the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt.