By Janet Phelan

In the wake of allegations, subsequently disproven and retracted, by the Harris County Sheriff’s Department in Texas that a flyer created by a surveillance abuse advocacy group was laced with the opioid fentanyl, another group has scaled back its efforts to flyer at major baseball games in August.

The initial accusations from the HCSD that a flyer from the advocacy group, Targeted Justice, was laced with the opioid and caused a deputy who had touched the flyer to be hospitalized were withdrawn in a couple of days. According to the HCSD, initial field tests were run on the flyer handled by the deputy which tested positive for fentanyl. However, further tests on more flyers, which had been placed on cars in front of the Sheriff’s station, came back negative and tests on the hospitalized deputy also proved negative for the opioid.

Local media had already picked up the story and were reporting the initial field test as fact rather than allegation. The initial hysteria around the incident provoked at least one commentator to suggest that this was an act of terrorism. In a widely circulated video, a conservative commentator, John Cardillo, linked Targeted Justice to terrorism and proceeded to baldly contradict some of the core concerns of the group. According to Cardillo, the “Deep State,” which the flyer suggested had involved itself in tracking and electronic weapons attacks on civilians, is comprised of nothing more than a bunch of lazy bureaucrats who make you wait at a social security office.

The incident has also affected the efforts of another group concerned with electronic tracking and abuse. “Strike Out Targeting” is in the planning stages for a flyering event at baseball games across the US.

“Strike Out Targeting” is the brainchild of Brian Marks and Reginald Dawson. Marks, who formerly worked at investment banking firms in New York, heads up the news site and podcasts, The T.I. Chronicles and Sunday Night Activism, as well as Surveillance Abuse Survivors Network (SASN), which is scheduled to launch online on August 29. Dawson is a retired pharmacist.

Marks describes the baseball game flyering project thus

Strike Out Targeting is a program to raise awareness that the intelligence community has committed covert crimes against all Americans…..We believe that informing the public about these daily abuses will empower them to speak up against this….The more people understand how their civil liberties are violated on a daily basis, the more people will join us in exposing this UnAmerican program.

Baseball is still the number one American sport. Surveillance abuse and targeting are thoroughly UnAmerican.

Marks states that surveillance abuse takes many forms and now far exceeds concerns about wiretaps and facial recognition. Says Marks, “Many victims have had their lives destroyed by the abuse of law enforcement and the intelligence community using the technologies in a fashion that invades the privacy of individuals and their families and friends.

Often people are subjected to illegal tactics such as gaslighting, gangstalking, home invasions, street theater, directed energy attacks and food poisoning in an orchestrated manner. Rumors of individuals targeted affect the quality of the life of those who suffer under this surveillance abuse.

Marks states that, ”Our purpose in going to the ballparks is to bring to the forefront this issue in a peaceful, civil and legal fashion.”

However, the fallout surrounding the falsely reported fentanyl attack on the Harris County Deputy forced Marks and his group to reconsider the breadth of their plans for August 29. Initially, flyering at fourteen ball games across the US was planned. SASN is now considering reducing the number of games at which their group will be present.

Avoiding The Eye - Ships Free Today!

“The situation that happened in Texas,” says Marks, “based on the information that was reported, was completely fabricated from the very beginning and was an overall failed attempt to destroy the reputation of Targeted Justice. Even so, this was an attempt to alert the deep state into using law enforcement to stifle our efforts to reach the average American citizen, and there will be people in Texas who may not want to read a flyer because of this situation.”

Currently, Strike Out Targeting 2018 is still planning to attend the Atlanta ball game with flyers on August 29 and is in the process of reevaluating its presence at the other thirteen games.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Department was contacted with questions as to how fentanyl was detected in the first place. Obviously, law enforcement would have access to the opioid in their evidence room. At the time of going to press, the Department has not responded.

For more information on Strike Out Targeting you may contact the group through its website, Strike Out Targeting (http://strikeouttargeting.x10host.com/contact) or by e-mail [email protected]

Janet Phelan is an investigative journalist and author of the groundbreaking exposé, EXILE. Her articles previously appeared in such mainstream venues as the Los Angeles Times, Orange Coast Magazine, Long Beach Press Telegram, etc. In 2004, Janet “jumped ship” and now exclusively writes for independent media. She is also the author of two collections of poetry—The Hitler Poems and Held Captive. She resides abroad. You can follow her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012703457651

By Tony Cartalucci

Image: Trump isn’t going to “withdraw” from Syria when the special interests he represents still fully plan on waging war – proxy or otherwise – on Syria’s ally Iran. The recent appointment of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo to key positions within his administration signal expanded war, not withdrawal.

The US media is now priming the global public for US intervention in Syria following alleged “chemical attacks” carried out in the remaining pocket of US-backed militants in Douma, just northeast of Damascus.

This follows comments made by US President Donald Trump just 3 days ago in which he claimed he had instructed the US military to prepare for a withdrawal from Syria.

US forces had illegally invaded and have since occupied Syrian territory for years, with The Washington Post in its April 4, 2018 article titled, “Trump instructs military to begin planning for withdrawal from Syria,” placing the current number of US troops at approximately 2,000.

The Washington Post also claimed that:

President Trump has instructed military leaders to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria as soon as possible and told them he wants Arab allies to take over and pay for stabilizing and reconstructing areas liberated from the Islamic State, according to senior U.S. officials.

However, just days after President Trump expressed a supposed desire to leave Syria, allegations of Syrian government chemical attacks on Douma have provided not only the prefect pretext to delay any withdrawal, but to in fact justify a US-led military intervention directly against the Syrian government.

While some have attempted to portray this as “Trump vs. the Deep State,” it is in fact a textbook example of US deception described in US policy papers – a deception President Trump played a central role in creating.

Feigning Withdrawal Before Greater Conflict is Documented US Policy 

In the 2009 Brookings Institution policy paper titled, “Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy Toward Iran” (PDF), everything from supporting terrorists in a proxy war to staged provocations and full-scale war were planned in excruciating detail.

Included among the US policy think-tank’s schemes was the description of a deception similar to the one now playing out in Syria.

The paper would state (emphasis added):

…any military operation against Iran will likely be very unpopular around the world and require the proper international context—both to ensure the logistical support the operation would require and to minimize the blowback from it. The best way to minimize international opprobrium and maximize support (however, grudging or covert) is to strike only when there is a widespread conviction that the Iranians were given but then rejected a superb offer—one so good that only a regime determined to acquire nuclear weapons and acquire them for the wrong reasons would turn it down. Under those circumstances, the United States (or Israel) could portray its operations as taken in sorrow, not anger, and at least some in the international community would conclude that the Iranians “brought it on themselves” by refusing a very good deal.

For Syria, the “offer” was a US withdrawal and Damascus and its neighbors “given” the responsibility to humanely end the conflict and stabilize the region. The “rejection” inviting the US to intervene is the staged chemical attacks in Douma the US is now citing.

Regarding staged provocations, the Brookings paper mentions them as well, claiming (emphasis added):

...it would be far more preferable if the United States could cite an Iranian provocation as justification for the airstrikes before launching them. Clearly, the more outrageous, the more deadly, and the more unprovoked the Iranian action, the better off the United States would be. Of course, it would be very difficult for the United States to goad Iran into such a provocation without the rest of the world recognizing this game, which would then undermine it. (One method that would have some possibility of success would be to ratchet up covert regime change efforts in the hope that Tehran would retaliate overtly, or even semi-overtly, which could then be portrayed as an unprovoked act of Iranian aggression.)

Nothing could be more “outrageous” or “deadly” than using chemical weapons on civilians.

That such allegations of a chemical attack already served as a successful pretext for US military aggression in the form of cruise missile strikes across Syria under President Trump before, is precisely why the Syrian government wouldn’t have carried out such chemical attacks then, and most certainly would not carry them out now – especially if the US was allegedly seeking to exit Syrian territory.

Chemical Weapons Good For Only One Thing: A Pretext for US Aggression 

The Syrian military with the support of Russia and Iran, have soundly defeated US-backed militants across Syria with conventional weapons. The only significant territory Syria has yet to retake is that being occupied by the US and NATO-member Turkey.

As it has been mentioned before, the extensive use of chemical weapons during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War – by the US military’s own assessment – proved such weapons to be highly ineffective and inferior to conventional weapons.

Added to the fact that the US has sought to use the deployment of chemical weapons as a pretext for direct military intervention in Syria toward long-sought after regime change in Damascus makes the likelihood that Damascus is using chemical weapons all the more impossible.

There is also the fact that Syria has already turned its chemical weapon stockpiles over under a Russian-brokered deal which was overseen by the United Nations itself.

Reading through the 2009 Brookings document, the US has gone through all possible options prepared for Iran – but against Syria – several times over, but to no avail. Even the prospect of Balkanizing Syria appears tenuous. An attempt to revisit accusations of “WMDs” yet again, signals desperation across Western policy circles.

Secret $1.8 Million Cryptocurrency Script

For those who have invested hope into President Trump – his role in a documented scheme to deceive the global public and make US military aggression appear as a last resort after apparently withdrawing from confrontation – is sufficient evidence that it is not “Trump vs. the Deep State,” but that “Trump is the Deep State.”

It should be remembered that recent appointments to President Trump’s administration included prominent pro-war advocates including John Bolton and Mike Pompeo – both eager for a US-led military intervention in Iran which makes President Trump’s recent calls for a withdrawal from Syria all the more questionable.

Terrorists are Gassing People to Advance Washington’s Agenda 

It is also worth noting that US-backed militants in Douma are essentially gassing people to advance the West’s political agenda. This comes as the UK’s case against Russia regarding the alleged assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal and his daughter unravels.

Considering Washington and London’s history regarding false accusations surrounding chemical weapons – as well as policy papers plotting to stage provocations, the US and UK emerge as the prime suspects in serial crimes against humanity involving so-called “weapons of mass destruction.”

It is becoming abundantly clear that in addition to the West fueling the very terrorism it claims to be fighting globally, it is also the West that poses the primary threat to the globe regarding the use of chemical weapons.

Tony Cartalucci’s articles have appeared on many alternative media websites, including his own at Land Destroyer Report, Alternative Thai News Network and LocalOrg.

By Derrick Broze

With conflicting reports coming from all angles is there any way to make sense of what is taking place in Syria?

The American public (and the world at large) is swimming in a sea of misinformation, disinformation, conjecture, assumptions, and outright lies. This is not only an accurate description of the situation in regards to the conflict in Syria, but also essentially describes the daily reality of living in a world full of corporate shill media, lying politicians, and a distracted and/or propagandized public. This essay is an attempt to cut through the partisan voices, the emotion on all sides of the discussion, and the deceptive corporate broadcasts in hopes of finding some sliver of truth. I advise all readers to follow every link and read all source material.

A brief recap: The so-called Syrian Civil War has been raging since the 2011 “Arab Spring,” when various groups began revolting against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The conflict is wide-ranging and includes several different factions vying for power or independence. From the Rojava revolution to the Islamic State, aka ISIS, the conflict has been full of resistance, chaos, and confusion. Generally, there are “rebels” fighting under several different names. The United States government has opted to fund these rebels, some of whom have been proven to be ISIS and al-Nusra front. The U.S. and these groups are supported by Israel, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the Russian and Iranian governments have backed Syrian President Assad. The U.S. and Russia have used these groups to wage an indirect conflict, or proxy war, against each other. In the last six years Assad has been accused of using chemical weapons against his own people more than a handful of times. These alleged attacks include Aleppo in March 2013, Ghouta in 2013, Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017, Douma in April 2018, and several other alleged attacks.

This essay is not going to explore the full history of the conflicts in Syria preceding the Arab Spring. Rather, we will be examining the conflict with a focus on this alleged use of chemical weapons in 2013, 2017, and 2018.

Conflicting Evidence

In February 2018, the Associated Press reported that Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis stated there was “no evidence” that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons in the 2017 incident in Khan Sheikhoun. “We have other reports from the battlefield from people who claim it’s been used,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon. “We do not have evidence of it.” This means, nearly a year after the U.S. launched several dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base which they claimed was the source of the alleged chemical weapons, there is still no evidence linking Assad to the weapons. Ian Wilkie, a veteran and former intelligence contractor, noticed the admission by Mattis and described the situation in an article for Newsweek:

This assertion flies in the face of the White House (NSC) Memorandum which was rapidly produced and declassified to justify an American Tomahawk missile strike against the Shayrat airbase in Syria.

Mattis offered no temporal qualifications, which means that both the 2017 event in Khan Sheikhoun and the 2013 tragedy in Ghouta are unsolved cases in the eyes of the Defense Department and Defense Intelligence Agency.

Wilkie goes on to note that, “Serious, experienced chemical weapons experts and investigators such as Hans Blix, Scott Ritter, Gareth Porter and Theodore Postol have all cast doubt on ‘official’ American narratives regarding President Assad employing Sarin.”