Aaron Maté

@aaronjmate

Hillary Clinton declared Trump to be an “illegitimate” president based largely on the Russia scam that her campaign concocted. Sounds like denying a result to me.

Trump’s election denial resulted in a three-hour riot. Compare that to the multi-year results of Hillary’s scam: a president and his aides got investigated by the FBI for being Russian assets; campaign members got wiretapped and imprisoned (for unrelated charges); Democrats became obsessed with moronic “collusion” conspiracy theories; diplomacy with Russia got effectively criminalized and relations worsened as a result, fueling Trump killing the INF treaty and deepening the US commitment to a proxy war in Ukraine.

So yes, there is no equivalency between Trump’s election denial scam and Hillary’s election denial scam. One of them has put the whole world in danger.

[Image of Clinton with caption: "Hillary Clinton: Trump is an 'illegitimate president'"

@jimsciutto

A four-year-old false equivalency given that only one president has denied the results of an election and attempted to use the powers of the office, including but not limited to allegedly pressuring state election officials and creating false slates of electors, to overturn it. You may also note the pattern: any vote he’s lost he claims is rigged. For instance: the Iowa GOP primary and popular vote in 2016. Other elections are apparently fraud-free, including those of GOP congressman elected on the very same 2020 ballots under the same state election laws as those that supposedly were tampered with.

@aaronjmate

I would argue that Democrats framing Trump as a Russian agent — abetted by the FBI, CIA, and the entire US media — is arguably a much more impactful disinformation campaign 🤷🏻‍♂️

@jimsciutto

Trump’s attack on the election is arguably the most impactful disinformation operation in recent memory - driven solely by his refusal to accept his loss, he has undermined virtually an entire party’s confidence in the electoral system.

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1836843268052521171

Edit: format

Hard-hitting legal/political news from a man who knows and respects the Constitution and the importance of defending individual freedoms. Judge Andrew P. Napolitano.

A daily discussion of news from the perspective that government is the negation of liberty, and the individual is greater than the state. Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame Law School. He is the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in the history of the State of New Jersey. He sat on the bench from 1987 to 1995, when he presided over more than 150 jury trials and thousands of motions, sentencings, and hearings.

JudgeNap is nationally known for watching and reporting on the government as it takes liberty and property.

The Judge is the author of nine books on the U.S. Constitution, two of which have been New York Times Best Sellers. Learn more at JudgeNap.com

Rough Summary

1. Judge Andrew Napolitano discusses recent statements by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding a potential invasion of Lebanon.
2. He questions the genuineness of Netanyahu's threats, suggesting they may be driven more by political survival than strategic considerations.
3. Napolitano highlights the historical context of Israeli military actions coinciding with U.S. political events, speculating that Netanyahu might delay aggression until after U.S. elections.
4. The discussion touches on the balance of power, noting Israel's struggle to defeat Hezbollah without U.S. support due to Hezbollah's significant military capabilities.
5. He emphasizes that elements within the Israeli government recognize the risks of regional conflict but are influenced by a desire for dominance.
6. Reports of Iran supplying missiles to Russia are mentioned, with Napolitano suggesting these claims might be exaggerated to justify increased military support for Ukraine and Israel.
7. The conversation also critiques the Biden administration's response to the recent killing of an American citizen by the Israeli Defense Forces, noting a lack of outright condemnation.
8. Napolitano points out a pattern of Israel not being held accountable for similar incidents involving American citizens in the past.
9. The discussion shifts to Netanyahu facing increasing opposition due to his handling of the Gaza situation and the deaths of Israeli hostages.
10. Lastly, the speaker references comments by Victoria Nuland regarding U.S. blocking of a peace deal in Ukraine, arguing that this could have saved lives and ended the war.

@aaronjmate

Israeli media has confirmed that a widely circulated claim about a purported "witness" of Hamas sexual violence on Oct. 7th committing suicide was yet another hoax.

But it's worth stressing: even if these debunked Israeli propaganda claims about Oct. 7th were true, Israel still wouldn't have the right to fire a single bullet into Gaza.

https://youtu.be/wAC4UmCmbeM

Screenshot:

Direct video link: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1829176867183595520/pu/vid/avc1/1282x720/t9C1kUTY0FTomaQT.mp4

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1829177548808356108

@aaronjmate

Israel and their media/political allies claim there was mass rape by Hamas on Oct 7. But nearly one year later, they have yet to provide a single identified victim, dead or alive; a single shred of physical or forensic evidence; or a single piece of visual evidence.

All they’ve provided are claims from purported “witnesses” — mostly anonymous — who have all been shown to be liars.

Now comes a new step in the propaganda campaign: an anonymous “witness” whose claims cannot be scrutinized because, we’re told, they’ve just anonymously committed suicide.

Do you know who is not anonymous? The tens of thousands of Palestinians murdered by the Israeli purveyors of the Hamas rape hoax. And the many Palestinians who have suffered actual, documented sexual violence by the same Israeli forces.

@HenMazzig

TW: suicide & rape

Here is a suicide letter of a Nova survivor, published by his family.

After miraculously surviving the October 7 massacre, the young Israeli man decided to end his life after witnessing too many horrors, including the rape of a girl. The overwhelming weight of everything he saw, heard, and experienced, along with his inability to save the girl being assaulted nearby, made him feel incapable of continuing his life.

Here is the letter translated from Hebrew.

May he rest in peace 💔

“Hey you, please forgive me!

It all started on Thursday, we were dancing and having fun, and come Friday - so much fun all around, seeing friends we haven't seen in years - we all met to dance and celebrate life. Come Saturday morning, the sun begins to rise, it's so beautiful as it starts to shine all over everyone.

We're dancing and happy, hugging, and some of my friends start to leave. Suddenly, rockets start flying over us, I know this, this is my life -I'm from the South.

But then there are paragliders- I hope nothing happens to them... Then starts the gunfire - what is going on?

We see the truck coming, paratroopers dressed in foreign uniforms - they are killing everyone.

They just killed Shay, they killed Adi.. They're kidnapping that girl, who is sitting there hugging her murdered boyfriend. Suddenly you run to the bushes where I sit and hide, not uttering a sound from my lips.

You're in the bush next to me, so close, the cries gush out from within you. A terrorist is right above the bush I'm hiding in and I pray he won't see me, I pray so hard, something I haven't done my entire life... God can hear my prayer.

But you won't stop crying out loud because with every second, someone gets shot and murdered.

They saw you, they're dragging you out of the bushes. They're four and you're one.

You scream for help.

One of them punches you to silence you, and you try to fight them while looking towards my direction, for me to save you.

But if I step out, we will both get murdered. I want to live!

I sit there silently, they start undressing you!

I'm crying, I feel like I need to scream but a hand silences me!

Maybe it's the hand of God, or I don't know who...

They turn you on your stomach and they start raping you, one by one.

They turn you around again and they yell at you in English, they want you to see for yourself how they have defeated you. You try to crawl in my direction and I pray for something to happen, for someone to kill them so you can get out alive, but as you crawl towards me and they're on top of you - the shot comes.

They murdered you, but before they murdered your body they murdered your soul.

I sat there, in the bushes, for hours, I did not come out.

I saw a bottle of water next to you and I was so incredibly thirsty, but I couldn't bear the thought that I should have saved you, so how can I be so disrespectful and drink your water?

I have reached rock bottom, I can't live anymore. Your look follows me every single day - in the shower, in my sleep, in my room. I couldn't go back to work, I wasn't able to.

I've been to your house. I didn't tell your parents what you've been through, but they've been told that your body was abused, I was a witness.

I ask for your forgiveness.

I am coming to you, to the next great world, I promise to save you there and protect you. Please forgive me!

And don't worry, I left a note for my family telling them how much I love them, and thanking them for the life they gave me.

My sister is having a baby, I thought about sticking around to get to know my nephew, but I don't think he should know the uncle that couldn't save you.

It's okay, I'll watch him from above.”

[Image from Oct 7th 2023 showing cars and people leaving party near Palestinian concentration camp]

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1828062397141025149

Journalist Aaron Mate praises TRT World’s documentary ‘Holy Redemption’ for exposing the true nature of Israeli extremist settlers who claim a divine right to steal Palestinian land.

@aaronjmate

Arsonist heads to pyromaniac to try to clinch an extinguishment. 🤞🏻

[Image of The New York Times, Headline: Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Israel today to try to clinch a cease-fire deal.]

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1825137996435165357

@aaronjmate

Like sending poison gas to Nazi Germany. Both used to murder defenseless people trapped in a concentration camp.

@Antiwarcom

US To Release $3.5 Billion in Military Assistance for Israel by Kyle Anzalone

@KyleAnzalone_ #Israel #Gaza #Palestinians #militaryindustrialcomplex

[https://news.antiwar.com/2024/08/09/us-to-release-3-5-billion-in-military-assistance-for-israel/]

[Image shows the White House funneling money to Israel so as to continue their genocide of the Palestinian people.]

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1822115774464405733

Edit: added screenshot

@aaronjmate

I have a hard time believing that Russia has set on fire the nuclear plant that it’s occupying, and that Ukraine has been trying to recapture for over two years.

@KyivPost

‼️Russians set a fire on the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, — Zelensky

"Radiation levels are currently normal, but the situation cannot be normal while Russian terrorists control the station. We await the world's and the IAEA's reaction."

[Video, link below]

Screenshot:

Direct video link: https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1822711611364093952/vid/avc1/640x364/aT1zG0nmsNrSbQRG.mp4

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1822713759925715366

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18469633

Independent news and investigative journalism on politics and empire.

Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate discuss the latest stage of the Kamala coup, including her brutal hippy punching of anti-genocide protesters, and cover the new wave of pro-rape protests in Israel, as well as the latest from Gaza and the looming retaliation by Iran and Hezbollah.

@aaronjmate

Biden guaranteed this Israeli escalation with his unconditional backing of its mass murder campaign in Gaza. Hezbollah’s goal all along has been a ceasefire.

@QudsNen

Breaking | Casualties have been reported due to Israeli occupation aircraft bombarding the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

[Video, link below]

Direct video link: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1818329114400452619/pu/vid/avc1/480x848/OJaYC4ywGCPK_FzK.mp4

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1818332056759246966

@aaronjmate

Some questions for US leaders and pundits who support regime change in Venezuela:

1. How can you call Maduro "autocratic" when you've been trying to overthrow Venezuela's government for more than two decades? Did any Venezuelans vote for you to change their government? Deciding for a foreign population who should rule them and how they should govern sounds autocratic to me.

2. How can you rail against Venezuelan "socialism" when your government is massively intervening in Venezuela's economy -- with the aim of destroying it? You claim to worship the free market yet employ Treasury Dept. bureaucrats to design sanctions that cut off Venezuela from global markets and even seize its assets. By your definition of it, that sounds pretty "socialist."

3. How can Trump and others demonize undocumented immigrants when they knowingly create millions of them by destroying Venezuela's economy and forcing them to flee?

@SystemUpdate_

"Who elected Donald Trump or Joe Biden or Mike Pompeo or Fred Fleitz to make a decision on behalf of the Venezuelan people, in this case, who should rule their government and specifically trying to change their government by destroying their economy? I can't think of anything more autocratic."

@aaronjmate and @mtracey on U.S. meddling in Venezuela and abroad:

Direct video link: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1818292710505078784/pu/vid/avc1/1280x720/jtrq03Gv_6mK67tX.mp4

Source: https://x.com/SystemUpdate_/status/1818294195431346551

@aaronjmate

Ahead of Venezuela's election, John Bolton admitted to the Washington Post that he knew that the Trump admin's crippling sanctions and coup attempt against Venezuela would destroy its economy and force millions to flee:

“There was no doubt the sanctions, along with the general economic deterioration before we imposed them, was driving a lot of people out of the country,” Bolton said. “ … That, to me, was a way to put pressure on the country.”

Did any Venezuelans vote for John Bolton, Donald Trump, or Joe Biden (who initially continued the Trump policy) to destroy their economy? Does Trump, who constantly rails against undocumented immigrants, ever take responsibility for knowingly creating millions of them?

Those are pertinent questions as we address the sincerity and credibility of bipartisan US establishment figures who will now question Venezuela's election and denounce Maduro as "autocratic."

To me, there's nothing more autocratic than trying to impoverish a foreign country and install a new government there.

[Image, description below]

The Washington Post | Democracy Dies in Darkness

The disputes went all the way to Trump's Cabinet. In January or February 2019, then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed concern to Bolton over potential collateral damage from tighter sanctions, Bolton recalled in an interview.

[Highlighted paragraph] "There was no doubt the sanctions, along with the general economic deterioration before we imposed them, was driving a lot of people out of the country," Bolton said. " ... That, to me, was a way to put pressure on the country."

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1817787723467387117

@aaronjmate

Israelis have been caught lying so many times about Oct. 7 “Hamas sexual violence” and other fabrications that, nine months later, every new claim should be reflexively treated as a lie:

@zei_squirrel

finally the first Israeli who claims they are a "survivor of October 7 rape" has appeared. Who is it? An anonymous guy who made up a deranged incoherent story with zero corroborating evidence who sued the Israeli state for half a billion shekels (over 137 million dollars). A genocide-grifter

[Image, description below]

THE JERUSALEM POST

[Headline:] Survivor shares testimony of rape during Hamas' 'Nova' party massacre - report

This is the first time a survivor of the massacre has openly discussed his sexual assault by terrorists.

BY JERUSALEM POST STAFF

JULY 23, 2024 22:42

[Highlighted Paragraph] On the morning of October 7, D escaped alone from the terrorists until he was caught. "These were Nukhba terrorists, really pinning you to the floor," he recalled. "You try to resist, and they take off your clothes, laugh at you, humiliate you, spit on you, touch your body parts, and rape you."

D continued to describe the difficult moments: "There's a circle, they're laughing, and you don't know what to do at that moment, whether to resist or let it pass, how to deal with the situation. [Highlighted after] It was a very brutal rape. At some point, more people arrived and called them, so they had to stop."[Highlighted before]

This is the first time a survivor of the massacre has openly discussed his sexual assault by terrorists.

[Highlighted Paragraph] At the beginning of the year, D filed a massive lawsuit against the state for half a billion shekels along with dozens of other survivors. In the lawsuit, they claim they still feel abandoned today. "A large part of them can't return to work, to life," said lawyers Gilad and Anat Ginzburg, who represent the "Nova" survivors.

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1815846978250760321

Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to.

If it's Monday Morning, it's #mondaymourning

Edit: forgot to put direct video link

@aaronjmate

Just one day of Joe Biden being off the ticket has given Republicans the opportunity to display that they do indeed lean heavily on bigotry. (She was speaking to a group of disability advocates, including blind people).

@RNCResearch

"I am Kamala Harris, my pronouns are she and her, and I am a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit."

Readers added context

This is a recording of a meeting with disability advocates, which included blind and low-vision members. The meeting and recording were intended to be accessible to those with sight and hearing impairments.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/07/11/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-in-roundtable-discussion-on-the-americans-with-disabilities-act/

https://www.ameridisability.com/the-one-main-freedom-vice-president-kamala-harris-addressed-with-disability-advocates/

Direct video link: https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1551983965665378304/vid/1280x720/jsh4bdvDNQus1Fex.mp4

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1815763485290078338

@aaronjmate

Maddow: "The Biden economy is literally the envy of the world."

Yes, who wouldn't envy an economy where someone can make $30 million+ a year to work one night a week telling TV audiences that their economy is literally the envy of the world?

@MSNBC

Rachel Maddow reacts to President Biden withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race.

"What a man. What a patriot. What an act of selfless devotion to your country."

Direct video link: https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1815099332191834113/vid/avc1/1920x1080/EY1XuEEUtzWvqZBc.mp4

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1815519050904342858

@aaronjmate

NYT admits that Mueller found “no evidence” of Trump-Russia collusion. That’s because it was as big of a scam as “Russian interference.” But it will take decades, if not centuries, before the NYT ever admits that one.

@ggreenwald

A senior state court judge refused to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump against the Pulitzer Board.

The Board gave Pulitzers to NYT and WPost for their repeated echoing of the Russiagate fraud.

[Image, description below]

The ruling on Saturday by Robert Pegg, a senior judge on a circuit court in Florida, means that Mr. Trump's case will proceed, opening the door to a discovery phase that may allow Mr. Trump's lawyers to question Pulitzer officials, who issue the most prestigious prizes in journalism.

The case hinges on a statement made in 2022 by the panel reaffirming its decision to award the national reporting prize in 2018 to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Russian ties to the Trump campaign.

After the prize was awarded, a special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, investigating the Russian interference allegations, said he could find no evidence that Mr. Trump or his aides had coordinated with the interference effort.

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1815427176453263520

@aaronjmate

Bernie praises the “honor and dignity” of the chief sponsor of Israel’s Gaza mass murder campaign.

His stated reason? Biden did a one-day campaign photo op on a picket line.

@BernieSanders

Joe Biden has served our country with honor and dignity.

As the first president to ever walk on a picket line with striking workers, he has been the most pro-working class president in modern American history.

Thank you, Mr. President, for all you’ve done.

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1815221100625768676

@aaronjmate

“Congressional Progressives: Your one-stop shop for ceding everything to power without a demand”

@PramilaJayapal

Vice President @KamalaHarris just called me and I told her I am 1000% in for her to be our President! She has the smarts, the experience, the accomplishments and the agenda to lead us to victory in November. Let’s go!

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1815164344386089291

@aaronjmate

If we valued human life, he would have been forced out for enabling Israel’s mass murder and starvation campaign in Gaza. Not to mention provoking and prolonging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine that’s cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

But we only value money. And his monied faction decided that he was no longer a reliable investment.

@JoeBiden

[Image to text]

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR.

July 21, 2024

My Fellow Americans,

Over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a Nation.

Today, America has the strongest economy in the world. We've made historic investments in rebuilding our Nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans. We've provided critically needed care to a million veterans exposed to toxic substances. Passed the first gun safety law in 30 years. Appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court. And passed the most significant climate legislation in the history of the world. America has never been better positioned to lead than we are today.

I know none of this could have been done without you, the American people. Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We've protected and preserved our Democracy. And we've revitalized and strengthened our alliances around the world.

It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.

I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.

For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me reelected. I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me.

I believe today what I always have: that there is nothing America can't do - when we do it together. We just have to remember we are the United States of America.

Joe Biden [Signature]

Source: https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1815100755952681012

Independent news and investigative journalism on politics and empire.

Pushback with Aaron Maté is an independent media show hosted by Aaron Maté and presented by The Grayzone.

Pushback with Aaron Maté

The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal discusses his reporting trip to Damascus in the aftermath of Syria's proxy war. He interviewed residents who were caught between Western and Gulf-backed extremist insurgents and the Syrian government’s war to retake territory, and who now struggle to recover under a US-led economic blockade.

"They want to attack and intimidate people from the West who want to have cultural and personal contact with Syrians in the area where most Syrians live," Blumenthal says. "I went there and I took that opportunity to have contact with them because I’ll take any reasonable opportunity to break the media blockade in countries targeted with regime change, and to show my fellow citizens what’s on the other side of the corporate media and the US national security state’s information war."

Guest: Max Blumenthal, Editor of The Grayzone and author of "The Management of Savagery."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17602387

Useful Idiots | No Monday Mourning this week, but stay tuned for a veeeery exciting interview on Friday. Guess who in the comments

Useful Idiots | 1 day ago

No Monday Mourning this week, but stay tuned for a veeeery exciting interview on Friday.

Guess who in the comments

Source: https://youtube.com/@usefulidiots/community

@aaronjmate

One thing to watch for: how will Democrats find a way to blame Russia? #BlueAnon

@seungminkim

The @AP photo from Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania — from @evanvucci https://apnews.com/article/trump-

Useful Idiots is an informative and irreverent politics podcast with journalists @aaronjmate and @kthalps