Some things never change.  In full alignment with President Obama, the ever faithful war monger Senator John McCain calls for a declaration of war against Russia.
…and if you disagree with him, well, you’re “a Hobbit“, or “a crazy“… or something. 

(Via Reuters) […]  Republican John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Friday that Russia must face a penalty for the cyber attacks and that is was possible to impose many sanctions.

“When you attack a country, it’s an act of war,” McCain said in an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel “1+1” while on a visit to Kiev.

“And so we have to make sure that there is a price to pay, so that we can perhaps persuade the Russians to stop these kind of attacks on our very fundamentals of democracy.” added McCain, who has scheduled a hearing for Thursday on foreign cyber threats.  (read more)

Seriously, and I am NOT KIDDING when I say this… (more…)

Russian President Vladimir Putin just crushed President Obama by refusing to play games with international diplomacy.  In addition, the Putin approach immediately negates the intention of the Obama effort to create crisis with Russia.  

Epic political chess move.   The only thing better than Putin’s strategic magnanimous response, is the tweet from Trump of his opinion toward Putin’s response. Together, Putin and Trump have made President Obama look petty and weak...

Here is the official statement from President Vladimir Putin:

We regard the recent unfriendly steps taken by the outgoing US administration as provocative and aimed at further weakening the Russia-US relationship. This runs contrary to the fundamental interests of both the Russian and American people. Considering the global security responsibilities of Russia and the United States, this is also damaging to international relations as a whole.

As it proceeds from international practice, Russia has reasons to respond in kind. Although we have the right to retaliate, we will not resort to irresponsible ‘kitchen’ diplomacy but will plan our further steps to restore Russian-US relations based on the policies of the Trump Administration.

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A well sourced comprehensive list of the Obama sanctions against Russia is available via Business Insider –SEE HERE– In response, Russian officials warned Thursday that there will be “countermeasures” to the sanctions.
Additionally, in an apparent retaliation effort against President Stompy Feet, Moscow has closed the International School where the kids of most western diplomats attended.
According to CNN – A U.S. official briefed on the matter told the network that Russian officials had issued an order closing the Anglo-American School of Moscow Thursday.
The K-12 school is chartered by the American, Canadian and British embassies in Moscow and has about 1,250 students from 60 countries, according to its website. Students are currently on winter break. (more…)

Kellyanne Conway appeared with Kate Boldan on CNN earlier today.  Obviously the Obama narrative creating ‘the vast Russian conspiracy’ is the primary topic.

There are many facets being discussed by various political tribes about President Obama pitching a ‘vast Russian election hacking conspiracy’ narrative.   However, though he absolutely never intended to do so, President Obama has just given us one of the best gifts, transparent propaganda.
By claiming to provide evidence of “Russian hacking”, that substantively contains zero evidence of Russian hacking, the outgoing President has placed himself in the position of proving -for us- something we are continually trying to prove about him.
Many are missing the reality of an entire generation of techno-skilled younger people who will hear and see this Presidential ‘hacking claim’ and immediately go check it out.
What they will discover, much faster than the generation above them, is how ridiculous the Obama claim factually is.  The result can be eye-opening when they try to reconcile the abject nonsense, and find themselves perhaps reminded of how their parent’s generation have been warning them of the Obama propaganda.
Years of eye-rolling can quickly turn into ‘eyes-wide-open‘ amid the face of brutal absurdity.   OMG – Soylent Green is, in reality, people.
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Against the backdrop of a sanctions announcement, President Obama’s administration has released a Joint Analysis Report claiming to outline the details of Russia’s involvement hacking into targeted political data base or computer systems during the election.
Except it doesn’t.
Not even a little.

The “Russian Malicious Cyber Activity – Joint Analysis Report” (full pdf below) is pure nonsense.  It outlines nothing more than vague and disingenuous typical hacking activity that is no more substantive than any other hacking report on any other foreign actor.
This might as well be a report blaming Nigerian fraud phone solicitors for targeting U.S. phone numbers.  DUH!  Just because your grandma didn’t actually win that Nigerian national lottery doesn’t mean the Nigerian Mafioso are targeting your employer to hold you accountable for her portion of the bill.
This FBI report is, well, quite simply, pure horse-pucky.
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NBC is reporting that President Obama intends to continue his efforts at creating as much international crisis as possible prior to walking away from office, and leaving President Trump to clean up the aftermath. 
After initiating the latest international crisis with Israel, the former winner of the Nobel Peace Prize now turns his antagonism efforts toward Russia….
(Via NBC) The White House is preparing to announce retaliatory measures against Russia for its role in directing cyber attacks in the United States, two senior officials confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday.
In October, the United States formally blamed Russia for political hacking attacks, saying they were intended to interfere with American elections. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax that the accusations are “nonsense.”
The new actions, which would be an update of a 2015 executive order, could be announced as early Thursday or Friday, the officials said. They would also likely include economic sanctions coordinated by the Treasury department. (more…)

“Whoa”, is the initial word which comes to mind seeing a Reuters article describing Christians in Aleppo celebrating peace and hope for the first time in five years in Syria.
I can genuinely say I never expected to see Reuters present a factually truthful article, which, at its very core and central reality, simultaneously shows how almost all Western media reporting was based on falsehoods, lies and political ideology.

The previously promoted narrative surrounding the “Syrian Rebels” is stunningly incompatible against the outlined reality.  The article doesn’t go as far as explaining that the “rebels” were the Islamic extremists; however, it is logically impossible for the content of the article to be accurate unless the reader accepts the now exiled radical citizenry were, and are, supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS) and other Sunni Muslim insurgent groups.
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A Russian Defense Ministry Tu-154 plane heading from Moscow to Syria crashed on Sunday morning near the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi. All 92 passengers are considered dead, including 64 members of the Red Army Choir.

(Via Daily Mail) The Tu-154 model plane, which belonged to the Russian defence ministry, crashed two minutes after leaving the southern city of Adler at 5.40am (2.40am GMT). There were no survivors. (more…)

This tweet from President-elect Donald Trump directly implies his willingness to lean into the problem:

And President-Elect Donald Trump is not alone carrying optimism: (more…)