United States

Submitted by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Mainstream media, led by the Washington Post, put on a blistering attack blaming Russia for Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump.

Like lemmings over a cliff, the New York Times, CNN, and Newsweek all joined in on the rush to judgment accusing Russia of aiding Trump.

The final coup de grâce came when the politically-motivated Obama administration had the National Intelligence Agency issue its scam report “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections”.

Global stocks were fractionally lower in early European trading, closed Asia mixed, while S&P futures were unchanged, as the dollar fell for a second day on concerns ahead of Trump's press conference on Wednesday. Oil rebounded after its Monday plunge, while commodity metals like iron ore rose limit up in Chinese trading. Top overnight stories include Valeant announcing the sale of $2.1 billion in assets to pay down debt; VW managers warned to stay in Germany as U.S. charges near; Yahoo! plans to shrink board, get rid of Marissa Meyer and change its name after Verizon deal.

One recurring lament throughout the theatrically dramatic campaign involving reports and emotional appeals by US intelligence agencies such as the CIA (whose primary function is the creation of disinformation) to ordinary Americans, that Russia had "hacked the US presidential election" is that for all the bluster and "conviction", there has been zero evidence.

Just days after we reported that the US had begun deploying some 2,800 tanks, trucks and other military equipment to Germany, from where they would be transported by rail and road to Eastern Europe as part of a buildup of NATO reinforcements against "Russian expansion", the next US deployment has made its way to Europe over the weekend, when some 4,000 US troops arrived in the German port of Bremerheven, on their way to Wroclaw, Poland under a planned NATO operation to "reassure the alliance’s Eastern European allies" in the face of what NATO has dubbed mounting Russian aggression.

Having already broken the records on commutations, AFP reports that President Obama is fielding pressure from all sides to grant unlikely pardons of sentences to people whose supporters say have been unjustly sentenced or sought out by the justice system, before he leaves office in two weeks.  Among them is Bowe Bergdahl, Leonard Peltier, and Edward Snowden.

The US Constitution allows a president to pardon "offenses against the United States" and commute -- either shorten or end -- federal sentences.