The report comes at a time when the US army and its proxy militias are accused of illegally occupying vast regions of Syria and Yemen, looting oil from the war-torn countries, just over a year after their brutal occupation of Afghanistan ended. Moreover, a former US official on Tuesday revealed that anti-Iran militias are being armed in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR), where both the CIA and the Mossad are known to operate.

State Dept. gives law enforcement, intelligence agencies unrestricted access to Americans’ personal data

November 7, 2022November 7, 2022 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The State Department is giving law enforcement and intelligence agencies unrestricted access to the personal data of more than 145 million Americans, through information from passport applications that is shared without legal process or any apparent oversight, according to a letter sent from Sen. Ron Wyden to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and obtained by Yahoo News.
State Dept. gives law enforcement, intelligence agencies unrestricted access to Americans’ personal data

TRUTH COPS: Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plans to Police Disinformation

November 1, 2022November 1, 2022 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous, an investigation by The Intercept has found. Years of internal DHS memos, emails, and documents — obtained via leaks, Freedom of Information Act requests, and an ongoing lawsuit, as well as public reports — illustrate an expansive effort by the agency to influence tech platforms.
TRUTH COPS: Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plans to Police Disinformation

Related:

Disrupt The Cognitive Infrastructure

H/T: Unorthodox Truth

Peter Thiel’s midterm bet: the billionaire seeking to disrupt America’s democracy

October 17, 2022October 18, 2022 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Re-energized this election cycle, the tech entrepreneur joins other mega-donors apparently out to undercut the political system
Peter Thiel’s midterm bet: the billionaire seeking to disrupt America’s democracy

Related:

The Right’s Would-Be Kingmaker (archived, as it’s behind a paywall)

Anti-Globalist?! He invests in businesses, worldwide!? I doubt that it would be possible without globalization! 🤷🏼‍♀️

The Supreme Court Might Be on the Brink of Making Corruption Easier—Again

October 5, 2022October 5, 2022 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Percoco v. United States would seem to be a pretty clear-cut case of political bribery. That the justices are even willing to hear it is a bad sign.
The Supreme Court Might Be on the Brink of Making Corruption Easier—Again

For some in St. Petersburg’s Black communities, Uhuru raid ‘doesn’t smell good’

August 6, 2022August 6, 2022 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

For some in St. Petersburg’s Black communities, Uhuru raid ‘doesn’t smell good’

Some tactics at play in the Uhuru ordeal are indeed “straight out of COINTELPRO,” or more formally, the Counterintelligence Program, said Michael German, a former FBI agent who is now a fellow at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.

The attention-grabbing raids, a meeting with select Black leaders before the indictment announcement, the implied involvement of the Uhurus despite the lack of arrests — all echo the FBI’s old playbook.

The aim then was to discourage Black groups from activity protected by the First Amendment, German said. Some of those tactics have re-emerged as “disruption strategies” since 9/11.

“It creates actual harm, because there’s no (legal) forum for these individuals to defend themselves against particular charges,” German said.

Four voters with disabilities have filed a federal lawsuit to ensure they can vote following Supreme Court ruling + More

July 26, 2022July 27, 2022 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Four voters with disabilities have filed a federal lawsuit to ensure they can vote following Supreme Court ruling

Before the ballot box, Americans with disabilities have problems getting voting information

How The Pentagon Uses A Secretive Program To Wage Proxy Wars

July 2, 2022July 2, 2022 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Nick Turse, Alice Speri, The Intercept, Jul 1 2022
Small teams of US SOF are involved in a low-profile proxy war program on a far greater scale than previously known, according to exclusive documents and interviews with more than a dozen current and former government officials. While The Intercept and other outlets have previously reported on the Pentagon’s use of the secretive 127e authority in multiple African countries, a new document obtained through the FoIA offers the first official confirmation that at least 14 127e programs were also active in the greater Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region as recently as 2020. In total, between 2017 and 2020, US commandos conducted at least 23 separate 127e programs across the world. Separately, Joseph Votel, a retired four-star Army general who headed both SOCOM & CENTCOM, which oversees US military efforts in the Middle East, confirmed the existence of previously unrevealed 127e “counter-terrorism” efforts in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.
How The Pentagon Uses A Secretive Program To Wage Proxy Wars

America, Meet Your New Dictator-in-Chief: The President’s Secret, Unchecked Powers

June 8, 2022June 8, 2022 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead | June 01, 2022
America, meet your new dictator-in-chief.
As the New York Times reports, “Newly disclosed documents have shed a crack of light on secret executive branch plans for apocalyptic scenarios—like the aftermath of a nuclear attack—when the president may activate wartime powers for national security emergencies.”< The problem, of course, is that we have become a nation in a permanent state of emergency. Power-hungry and lawless, the government has weaponized one national crisis after another in order to expand its powers and justify all manner of government tyranny in the so-called name of national security. The seeds of this present madness were sown almost two decades ago when George W. Bush stealthily issued two presidential directives that granted the president the power to unilaterally declare a national emergency, which is loosely defined as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.”
America, Meet Your New Dictator-in-Chief: The President’s Secret, Unchecked Powers

Missing Links/Links Behind Paywalls:

Secret Emergency Orders May Include Focus on Internet, New Files Show

Report: Military may have to quell domestic violence from economic collapse

Known Unknowns: Unconventional “Strategic Shocks” in Defense Strategy Development (PDF)

End the Imperial Presidency Before It’s Too Late

Too Much Presidential Power — We’ve Got to Address the ‘Unitary Executive’ Question