News of the Restless

Music for a Sunday: Think you walk between the raindrops?

Posted on October 28, 2018 by Sabina Becker

Well, count your days and open wide, and be prepared to reap the whirlwind:

BOHICA, you assholes.

Share this story:

Posted in Der Drumpf, Fascism WITH Swastikas, Fascism Without Swastikas, Music for a Sunday, The United States of Amnesia | Comments Off

Surprise, surprise. He’s a MAGAt.

Posted on October 26, 2018 by Sabina Becker

Does Donnie Drumpf’s stochastic terrorism encourage other “stable geniuses” out there to commit ACTUAL terrorism? Apparently, we have a concrete answer right now:

Yes, the prolific package bomber, who’s been sending homemade not-so-explosive devices through the mails to various liberal celebrities, Democratic politicians, mainstream media figures, and assorted boogymen (or just A boogyman, namely George Soros). And his own van tells the tale behind his choices of targets:

Subtle.

Of course, there were signs long before these bombs started showing up in the mail that this guy had it in for certain people. Like, for instance, this woman whom he harassed on Twitter:

Rochelle Ritchie, a Former Press Secretary for Congress spoke on Fox News on October 11 and was harassed by Sayoc online afterwards.

Under the Twitter handle @hardrock2016 he wrote: ‘So you like make threats. We Unconquered Seminole Tribe will answer your threats. We have nice silent Air boat ride for u here on our land Everglades Swamp. We will see you 4 sure. Hug your loved ones real close every time you leave home.’

Then he sent photos taken from her social media page and put it alongside horrific images of alligators eating humans.

She reported him to Twitter but they said he didn’t violate any rules or exhibit abusive behavior and did not penalize his account.

On Friday she reflagged the harassment to Twitter.

‘Hey @Twitter remember when I reported the guy who was making threats towards me after my appearance on @FoxNews and you guys sent back a bs response about how you didn’t find it that serious. Well guess what it’s the guy who has been sending #bombs to high profile politicians!!!!’ she tweeted on Friday.

She shared a screenshot of his threat and her e-mail from Twitter.

Here’s a photo of what he sent to her. Note the horrifying news headline in the lower left-hand quadrant of the graphic he tweeted:

(Also, note the claim to being a Seminole Indian — something which Sayoc, a Filipino, most definitely is NOT. Pretty sure the tribe could sue him for tarnishing their good name, as he used it repeatedly when heaping threats and abuse on others.)

Here’s another of his lovely messages:

I find it hard to believe that what he wrote to her was NOT a threat, but then again, I’m not one of the Twitterati, who apparently had tremendous difficulty with the idea of yoinking Alex Jones’s account because HE also made nasty use of their service, violating its TOS repeatedly. (Jack Dorsey himself intervened in that one, which makes me wonder what side of the political fence HE sits on.)

And if you’re wondering where that name he tweeted under came from, it was apparently the surname of another woman he heaped abuse upon, this time physically:

A woman named Viola Altieri filed a civil complaint against Sayoc for domestic violence in 1994. She later filed a request to dismiss the complaint.

Heavy notes that the woman who charged him with domestic violence was his own mother. Nice to know that he’s really livin’ those Repugnican family values and pissing all over her name!

It’s worth noting, as well, that this occurred long before Sayoc went full terrorist:

In 2002, he was charged with making a bomb threat in Dade County, Florida. He was sentenced to one year of probation. Prosecutors agreed to withhold adjudication of the felony charge, meaning it was dismissed after he completed the probation in 2003.

[…]

Sayoc was arrested on drug charges in 2004. He was accused of possession and sale of steroids, along with possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, tampering with evidence, filing fraudulent tax returns, criminal use of personal ID info and possession or unlawful issue of a driver’s license. He pleaded guilty that same year and was sentenced to 18 months of probation.

In 2013, Sayoc was charged with battery and third-degree grand theft, a felony. He pleaded guilty in 2014 and was sentenced to probation. In 2009, Sayoc was charged with operating without a valid license, not having insurance and not having a tag light and was fined after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charges. In 2014, Sayoc was arrested on a petit theft charge and violation of probation. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

So, he has a nicely variegated rap sheet, as long as his (undoubtedly steroid-enhanced) arm. What do you bet we won’t be hearing Donnie call for him to be lynched, though, as he did with the Central Park Five? What do you bet the right-wing crapagandarati will be spinning like mad to try to de-emphasize Little Cesar’s politics, which are uncomfortably close to their own?

The cast of Fox News’ “Outnumbered” on Friday worried that Americans would draw their own conclusions about what motivated mail bombing suspect Cesar Sayoc if they were able to make out the text of the bumper stickers that covered his van. The stickers promote a wide array of right wing conspiracy theories, and many include targets on prominent Democratic political figures

“The one thing they don’t want to have happen is people see those written things on the van and take pictures, and then you have the Internet problems,” said guest Steve Rogers, a former member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. “People will formulate motives in their own mind.”

Oops. Ha, ha. Too late!

We’re making up our own minds, all right. And with motives so plain to see, we’re not having any great difficulty at it. Unlike all the right-wing talking heads out there, who now have to face the fact that yet again, a terrorist boogyman has reared his ugly head…and done so in response to their precious Donnie, whom they’re having ever more trouble portraying as doing no wrong.

PS: Oh shit, here’s Donnie.

Yeah, that’s right. He’s doing nothing. And of course, Jeffy-poo Sessions isn’t going after the bomber as a terrorist, either.

Share this story:

Posted in Crapagandarati, Der Drumpf, Fascism Without Swastikas, Isn't That Illegal?, Isn't That Terrorism?, Teh Injunz, The "Well, DUH!" Files, The Hardcore Stupid, The United States of Amnesia | Comments Off

Just Alex Jones, losing his shit. Literally.

Posted on October 24, 2018 by Sabina Becker

Or rather, here’s Alex talking to himself on camera, a bit more explicitly than he usually does…

Yup, that’s his Super Male Vitality™ kicking in. Big-time. So bigly, in fact, that he’s losing his shit at a pile of it. And there’s no guarantee that that pile didn’t come from him, either.

I used to think our politics up here in the Great North were a shitshow, but just south of our borders, it’s actually literal.

Share this story:

Posted in Crapagandarati, Drrrrruuuugs, Freeze Peach!, Isn't It Ironic?, The Hardcore Stupid, The United States of Amnesia, The WTF? Files | Comments Off

The fake Khashoggi video

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Sabina Becker

Let’s just say that this is just more proof that the Saudi security apparatus surrounding crown prince Mohammed bin Salman planned and premeditated Khashoggi’s murder and dismemberment, and the subsequent cover-up (and all the lame excuses and despicable smears THAT spawned). And it was so stupidly ill-done that even they didn’t release this as “evidence” that Khashoggi left the Saudi consulate in Istanbul alive.

Also, fuck this guy:

“Sorry” (NOT sorry), Fucker Carlson, but we DO care about Jamal Khashoggi. And about the evils of the Saudi dictatorship. Maybe YOU don’t, but you’re not normal or even human. WE are. WE CARE.

Share this story:

Posted in Arabian Nights, Crapagandarati, Der Drumpf, Fascism Without Swastikas, Filthy Stinking Rich, Human Rights FAIL, Isn't It Ironic?, Isn't That Illegal?, Isn't That Terrorism?, Sick Frickin' Bastards, Spooks, The United States of Amnesia, Turkish Treats | Comments Off

Music for a Sunday: I don’t want to be brave

Posted on October 21, 2018 by Sabina Becker

I can’t vote in the US elections coming up…but a huge bulk of this blog’s readers can. So, take your pick, folks: Will it be “thoughts and prayers” (and huge gun-lobby bucks for bobbleheads), or will school kids like the Parkland students who made this Rube Goldberg machine finally get the responsible politicians that THEY need…but are still too young to vote for, even though no one is ever too young to die?

Share this story:

Posted in Guns, Guns, Guns, If You REALLY Care, Isn't That Terrorism?, Music for a Sunday, Not So Compassionate Conservatism, The United States of Amnesia | Comments Off

Saudi lies and other killing jokes

Posted on October 19, 2018 by Sabina Becker

Knowing what we already know about Jamal Khashoggi’s death, does anyone seriously believe this shit?

A statement from the Saudi public prosecutor said a fight broke out between Khashoggi and people who met him in the consulate and led to his death.

“The investigations are still underway and 18 Saudi nationals have been arrested,” the statement on state media said, adding that royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani and deputy intelligence chief Ahmed Asiri have been fired from their positions.

That’s a really cute statement you made there, Mr. Saudi Public Prosecutor. Would be a shame if something were to happen to it…like, oh, say, THE DEATH OF ONE OF THE ASSASSINS IN A RATHER CONVENIENT “ACCIDENT”:

A Turkish newspaper reported on Oct. 18 that one of the suspects involved in the disappearance of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi died in a “suspicious car accident” in Riyadh.

Mashal Saad al-Bostani, a 31-year-old lieutenant of the Saudi Royal Air Forces, was among the 15 suspects who arrived and left Turkey on Oct. 2 after going to Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate when Khashoggi visited there, according to daily Yeni Şafak.

[…]

Daily Hürriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi claimed on Oct. 18 that Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consul Mohammad al-Otaibi could be “the next execution” as Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman “would do anything to get rid of evidence.”

Turkish daily Yeni Şafak reported Oct. 17 that Al-Otaibi’s voice could be heard in one of the recordings, which Turkish authorities are believed to have, of Khashoggi’s “interrogation” at the consulate.

According to the report, after Al-Otaibi told the interrogators to “do it somewhere else outside or I will be in trouble,” he was told to “shut up if you want to live when you are back in Saudi Arabia.”

Yeah, Mr. Al-Otaibi, watch your mouth. You could end up like Mashal Saad al-Bostani, and meet with an “accident”. Just like Jamal Khashoggi indubitably did when he ran into that buzzing bone saw there in your nice, clean consulate in Istanbul, during that nasty-wasty altercation (which he, no doubt, started, if all the right-wing smearmongering and rumormongering are to be believed). An altercation with (checks notes) 15 Saudis who just happened to arrive on the same day, and right before, Mr. Khashoggi came to pick up a document certifying his divorce from his previous wife, which he needed to produce in order to remarry in Turkey. And who left just two hours after they came. (We’ll just ignore the part where it was recorded that they needed just seven minutes to kill him. After all, it was an “altercation” and an “accident”!)

I suppose it was all just an accident, too, that the Turkish authorities found a suspicious van in the consular garage, and have had to search the residence of the consul as well:

A Mercedes Sprinter with the license plate number 34 CC 2342 could be seen in the the last footage showing Khashoggi entering the consulate. Turkish police focused on another consular vehicle, a Mercedes Vito with the license plate of 34 CC 1865, because it was seen in other footage while going back and forth between the consulate and the consul’s residence after the journalist’s disappearance. “34” corresponds to the code for Istanbul and “CC” means that it is a vehicle used by a consulate.

According to a report published by daily Yeni Şafak on Oct. 19, the suspected black van was found by the Turkish police in the closed garage of the consulate during the search. Turkish officials suspect that the Saudi “hit squad” used it to carry the body of the journalist from the consulate to the consul’s residence.

The vehicle had left the consulate and arrived at about 200 meters away at the consul’s residence at 3:09pm, about two hours after Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate.

Seems like an awful length to go to just to clean up after a fight. Just sayin’.

But the biggest joke of all is what Donnie Drumpf is promising: a “very severe” response. Like what, I wonder? Is he gonna refund their millions and kick them out of the 45th floor of his shitty tower? Or is he just not gonna visit their king anymore and lay hands on that creepy glowing orb of his?

One thing is definitely off the table, and that’s war. Even when 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9-11 proved to be Saudis, the kingdom of Saud was still untouchable. After all, there’s too much money to be made in the US of Amnesia selling them the same weaponry they’re now using against Yemen. Even when Richard Branson himself is willing to forego a literal king’s ransom in business.

Sad.

Share this story:

Posted in Arabian Nights, Crapagandarati, Der Drumpf, Filthy Stinking Rich, Human Rights FAIL, Isn't That Illegal?, Isn't That Terrorism?, Not So Compassionate Conservatism, Sick Frickin' Bastards, Spooks, The United States of Amnesia, Turkish Treats | Comments Off

Peebee Gavin McInnes admits to being a violent, good-for-nothing thug

Posted on October 18, 2018 by Sabina Becker

And yes, that IS neo-Nazi Dickie Spencer there in the background, looking very unstylish, as usual…

Video by Vic Berger, who does yeoman’s work editing fascists down to their essence, so the rest of us don’t have to sit through hours of their duplicitous drivel.

Share this story:

Posted in Crapagandarati, Der Drumpf, Fascism WITH Swastikas, Fascism Without Swastikas, Fine Young Cannibals, Isn't It Ironic?, Isn't That Illegal?, Isn't That Racist?, Isn't That Terrorism?, Not So Compassionate Conservatism, Sick Frickin' Bastards, The Hardcore Stupid, The United States of Amnesia | Comments Off

The terrible death of Jamal Khashoggi, and what it all means

Posted on October 18, 2018 by Sabina Becker

David Pakman and his producer discuss the murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

It was a hinky story from the beginning, when the 59-year-old journalist walked in through the consulate’s doors on October 2 without walking back out again. He had simply come to pick up a document certifying that he was indeed divorced from his previous wife, and thus free to marry his Turkish fiancée.

Bad enough that he vanished seemingly without a trace, but then the news broke that on the same day that he disappeared, two small private jets landed at Atatürk Airport, bearing 15 mysterious Saudi men. They came to the consulate shortly before Khashoggi arrived, and left the country a couple of hours later. It is unlikely that they came merely to sightsee in beautiful, historic Istanbul. What were they there for?

Well, now we are beginning to learn what their real purpose in Istanbul was, and it grows more horrifying with every news report that comes out.

Apparently, Jamal Khashoggi was wearing an Apple watch at the time. Before he went into the consulate, he allegedly set it to record. His fiancée, who had accompanied him to the consulate, stayed behind, allegedly receiving transmission from the watch via his iPhone (Apple Insider disputes this, mainly on technical grounds).

A seven-minute audio recording allegedly leaked out, possibly as a result of this (but more likely as a result of a bug placed by Turkish intelligence), detailing how Khashoggi was tortured and killed. As luck would have it, seven minutes is apparently the time it took the 15-man Saudi assassination squad to kill him. It is also the amount of time, as it happens, that one member of the assassin team takes to conduct mobile autopsies (his forensic medical specialty):

Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy, who has been identified as the head of forensic evidence in the Saudi general security department, was one of the 15-member squad who arrived in Ankara earlier that day on a private jet.

Tubaigy began to cut Khashoggi’s body up on a table in the study while he was still alive, the Turkish source said.

The killing took seven minutes, the source said.

[…]

A Turkish source told the New York Times that Tubaigy was equipped with a bone saw. He is listed as the president of the Saudi Fellowship of Forensic Pathology and a member of the Saudi Association for Forensic Pathology.

In 2014, London-based Saudi newspaper Asharaq al-Awsat interviewed Tubaigy about a mobile clinic that allows coroners to perform autopsies in seven minutes to determine the cause of death of Hajj pilgrims.

The newspaper reported that the mobile clinic was partly designed by Tubaigy and could be used in “security cases that requires pathologist intervention to perform an autopsy or examine a body at the place of a crime”.

(Linkage as in original.)

In this case, the estimable Dr. Tubaigy apparently didn’t just perform an autopsy at the scene of a crime; he performed a crime, period. And get a load of how he took his mind off what he was doing, too:

As he started to dismember the body, Tubaigy put on earphones and listened to music. He advised other members of the squad to do the same.

“When I do this job, I listen to music. You should do [that] too,” Tubaigy was recorded as saying, the source told MEE [Middle East Monitor].

Charming.

And even more charming: The Saudi consulate received a suspiciously large shipment of cleaning supplies and janitors shortly thereafter — right before a scheduled inspection by Turkish authorities. They didn’t even bother to hide the fact that they needed them.

Of course, that all just underscores how terrible the crime was, and how callous its perpetrators must be. And also how hard karma is gonna bite them in the ass when the full horror of what they’ve done just won’t let them go. Because if you have to put on headphones to drown out the sounds of bone saws and the victim’s screams, you’re going to have a much harder time trying to forget what you’ve seen.

Most of all, though, it demonstrates just what lengths the man Jamal Khashoggi criticized most — Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman — was willing to go to in order to silence his critics…and send a message to the more timid ones by showing them what would happen to the bold.

Khashoggi’s family and friends must all be in terrible shock, particularly his fiancée. Meanwhile, Saudi social activists of all kinds are watching their backs. Some have gone underground, or even fled the country, for fear that they will be “disappeared” next. At least one of them is currently facing a possible death sentence.

But the one good thing in all this is that no one believes the official excuses. Whether it’s “rogue killers” or an “interrogation gone wrong”, or whatever bullshit they’re going to cook up next, the writing is on the wall for the crown prince: People may fear him, but true popularity and respect he does not command. This latest, most naked show of force is only going to worsen his already bad image. For the time being, he’s on top. But his egomaniacal, deceitful insecurity is plain for all the world to see…and the head that wears the crown could not lie more uneasily.

Share this story:

Posted in Arabian Nights, Bullies, Der Drumpf, Filthy Stinking Rich, Human Rights FAIL, Isn't That Illegal?, Spooks, The United States of Amnesia, Turkish Treats, Uppity Wimmin | Comments Off

Right-wing thugs run amuck, NYPD looks the other way

Posted on October 16, 2018 by Sabina Becker

…and of course, FUX Snooze — which never met a fascist it couldn’t hug — deliberately misreports it all:

Sam Seder provides some helpful context and backgrounder to last weekend’s peebee swarm-attack on random people in New York. And makes the helpful point that FUX knows who Gavin McInnes is, because he’s a failed “personality” (and still frequent guest) from the same network. And in fact, in the clip the MR plays back for us here, they even mention his name as he’s shown getting out of a car, brandishing his widdle fake samurai sword, and then being gently love-patted back in by an NYPD cop. (THEY know who he is, too.)

The most shameful part, though, is that the cops initially only arrested three people who were actually VICTIMS of the peebee attack. They neglected the real attackers, so the only remedy is the usual rough justice that antifascist activists can mete out: namely, a nice, friendly dox-dump. Karma, do your work!

Oh, and if you think this was an isolated incident, in response to anti-fascist aggression (yeah, riiiiiight), know that this was in fact a co-ordinated fascist offensive, with police complicity out the wazoo. Peebees and their neo-Nazi allies have been rioting from coast to coast over the weekend. Oh, and when it comes to covering for their fashtrash buddies, the Portland police are just as bad as the NYPD, if not worse. I mean, what would YOU call it when they bust a bunch of right-wing rooftop sniper wannabes…and let them off with a warning simply because their guns were legally owned?

Other random questions: Why the hell is Juicebro Cernovich mass-deleting tweets? Could he have played a role in this? Is he trying to eliminate evidence as the NYPD finally wakes up and decides it has to do something, even if only to save its own notably racist ass? We know he’s a shitty lawyer at best, but he’s a great weasel, as his lengthy record of evasive shittiness attests. Is he, in fact, a fascist himself, but too chicken to say so?

Well, as the peebees themselves like to say, “Fuck around and find out.” They fucked around; they’re about to find out what it’s like to have a not-so-glorious spotlight — a searchlight, rather — turned on them. And I predict that they’ll be anything BUT proud of the outcome, especially when the mainstream press gets wind of their silly sexual proclivities and their cereal-punchup rituals. Or the inconvenient fact that they get beaten up much more than they succeed at beating up others. They wanted to be machos; instead, they’re on the verge of being made into laughingstocks.

Sucks to be YOU, boys.

Share this story:

Posted in Cops Behaving Badly, Crapagandarati, Der Drumpf, Fascism WITH Swastikas, Fascism Without Swastikas, Fine Young Cannibals, Guns, Guns, Guns, Isn't It Ironic?, Isn't That Illegal?, Isn't That Racist?, Isn't That Terrorism?, Karma 1, Dogma 0, Men Who Just Don't Get It, Schadenfreude, Sick Frickin' Bastards, The Hardcore Stupid, The United States of Amnesia, The WTF? Files, Turning Japanese | Comments Off

Fuck off, Melania.

Posted on October 14, 2018 by Sabina Becker

I mean, what else is there to say to her little pity party here except that, and WOMP, WOMP?

Yeah, I’m sure she really IS the most bullied person in the world. Kids in Yemen are starving while the US’s lovely Saudi “allies” are bombing the shit out of them. Kids in Gaza are starving while the US’s lovely Israeli “allies” are bombing the shit out of them. Kids from Central America are being locked in cages while separated from their parents, who have all been tarred as criminals for daring to come in without puppy papers from countries that the US and its drug wars have turned into shitholes with no viable economies. And don’t forget all the refugees from the US who’ve been pouring across the border into my home and native land, because they know they’re not going to get anything resembling refuge in Gringolandia as long as Cheetolini is in charge. But noooooo, they all don’t count. Only Melania counts. Melania, who thought it fitting to model a Nazi villain’s costume from Raiders of the Lost Ark on her latest trip to Deepest Darkest Africa.

Oh, and that $40 rag of a graffiti raincoat she wore? Yeah, that was no accident, either. She did it just to be a straight-up bitch to the mainstream media because they’re not sucking her toes, or some such.

But yeah, she’s totally the most bullied person ON the world.