Tag: Department Of Defense

US Ukraine Mineral Deal- Shades of Iraqi reconstruction scandal- US to provide security & the Trump admin connection to Iraq’s post-war reconstruction scandal

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

US Ukraine Mineral Deal- Shades of Iraqi reconstruction scandal- US to provide security

Elbridge Colby and Keith Kellogg both served in the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq in 2003 under Paul Bremer and are now part of the Trump administration. The CPA, which acted as the transitional government overseeing post-war reconstruction in Iraq, faced significant criticism for its mishandling of reconstruction funds. Over $8 billion allocated for Iraq’s rebuilding remains unaccounted for, including more than $1.6 billion in cash that was discovered in a basement in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, Chinese companies are actively engaged in constructing a wide range of infrastructure projects, including housing units, universities, commercial centers, schools, health facilities, and power stations. They have also played a key role in developing the Nasiriya airport.

Sources:

Read More »

NewsBreak Under the Microscope: Ownership, Al, and Data Privacy

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Wikipedia entry for NewsBreak is poorly written and lacks comprehensive information about the app. It claims that the Pentagon included NewsBreak on a list of companies allegedly working with the Chinese military—a claim IDG Capital, the company’s Chinese backer, refuted in a statement to Bloomberg. This assertion is based on a Reuters article.

The information provided below was collected by ChatGPT and summarized by Gemini AI. I chose not to use my preferred DeepSeek to avoid any potential accusations of bias.

Read More »

Trump Admin Is Misleading Public About Venezuelans at Guantánamo, Attorneys Say

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

After Kristi Noem, the newly confirmed secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), traveled to Guantánamo Bay earlier this week, she told CNN the Venezuelan migrants being transferred to the notorious U.S. naval base and military prison are “the worst of the worst that we’ve pulled off our streets.”

Immigration attorneys say the facts on the ground do not support Noem’s official narrative about what’s going on at Guantánamo Bay, where President Donald Trump has ordered the construction of a tent city in order to detain up to 30,000 migrants, regardless of the site’s capacity, including asylum seekers fleeing violence and poverty. For civil rights groups, the transfer is only the latest in a series of legally dubious efforts by the federal government to dodge constitutional requirements by incarcerating people at the notorious offshore facility.

Trump Admin Is Misleading Public About Venezuelans at Guantánamo, Attorneys Say

Nothing about the previous attempts by the US government to overthrow the Venezuelan government.

Truthout’s funding:

Support for Truthout comes from assorted left-leaning foundations and individual contributors. Major foundation donors include the Schumann Media Center, the Lannan Foundation, and the Cloud Mountain Foundation. Other donors include former militant extremist and academic William Ayers. Another donor is the Park Foundation, an environmentalist grantmaking group focused on opposing fracking, or drilling for natural gas. 

Previously:

Venezuelan president blames opponent for post-election violence + More

As predicted: violence by the far-right Venezuelan opposition breaks out across Caracas

How the U.S. Drove Venezuelans North

When they request asylum in the United States, migrants have to say something against their government. But everyone in the Venezuelan community knows that it’s a lie. Venezuelan comedians in Florida, like George Harris, joke about the Venezuelans lying to the migration people just in order to receive asylum.

Tag: 2024 Venezuelan Presidential election

María Corina Machado is the female Javier Milei (aka US Puppet)

Leopoldo López (Venezuela)

DOGE Sets Its Sights on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Due Dissidence

The Republican record on Social Security: Getting worse all the time

Related:

‘$2 Trillion By 2026!’ Elon Musk’s Ambitious Push To Reinvent Government Spending With Silicon Valley Powerhouses

Social Security at Risk? The Impact of Trump and Musk’s Reforms

Cutting Social Security Disability Benefits Can Backfire Horribly

FAIRNESS OF REAGAN’S CUTOFFS OF DISABILITY AID QUESTIONED

The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did

Elon Musk’s DOGE Allies Search Medicare Agency Payment Systems For Fraud

Pentagon Appointee Opposes ‘Belligerent Military Initiatives’ Aimed at China

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Pentagon official tasked with overseeing U.S. defense policy toward Southeast Asia recently advised against pursuing hawkish defense policies and a major trade war against China, a marked contrast with top Trump appointees.

John Andrew Byers, a longtime history professor who oversaw the Charles Koch philanthropic network’s grants promoting libertarian foreign policy stances at universities, was sworn in this week as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia — a role that immediately thrusts him to the center of America’s response to China’s ongoing military pressure campaign targeting the Philippines, with which Washington holds a mutual defense treaty.

Pentagon Appointee Opposes ‘Belligerent Military Initiatives’ Aimed at China

Related:

Lowy Institute: Trump’s grand bargain? The Philippines caught between US and China by Richard Heydarian

CGS non-resident fellow Andrew Byers co-authors article with The American Conservative

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia: Andrew Byers

2 new Chinese warplanes could mean the end of US air superiority

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

As if not enough is going on in the world, the Chinese military has flown two new stealthy jets. Some military observers consider them a tangible threat to the U.S. One is a bomber and one is a fighter. Lexington Institute military analyst Rebecca Grant joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss what it all means.

2 new Chinese warplanes could mean the end of US air superiority

Related:

Read More »

The false narrative that Trump has ended regime change ops, & the covert nature of the empire’s next actions

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
The terrorists that escorted John McCain to Syria were financed by Moti Kahana. Source.

The false narrative that Trump has ended regime change ops, & the covert nature of the empire’s next actions

Anyone who’s simply saying Donald Trump has dismantled USAID, without including the other parts of this story, is putting forth a narrative of false hope. The potential for ending U.S. imperialism’s global destabilization efforts cannot be found within any top-down policy change; it can only be found within the effort to overthrow our capitalist state. The Trump White House hasn’t been pressured into dismantling the regime change network, and if Trump were to do this, the imperialist deep state would assassinate him. The thing he’s actually done is transfer resources from the State Department and its non-governmental organizations, to the covert operations programs of the CIA. Which means the destabilization efforts are now going to be much better hidden, and those who oppose them will need to be more diligent in detecting and exposing them.

Read More »

As Elon Musk Begins Shutting Down Payments to Federal Contractors, a Strange Money Trail Emerges to His Operatives Inside the U.S. Treasury’s Payment System

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Elon Musk is the billionaire CEO of the publicly-traded EV company, Tesla. As such, under corporate law, he owes a Duty of Loyalty to Tesla. Notwithstanding this well-established law, Musk is engaged in an array of other corporate endeavors outside of Tesla, including being the CEO of SpaceX, a private rocket company.

Read More »

Trump 2.0: The further dumbing down of America officially begins

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Donald Trump School Choice Executive Order: Here’s Who’s Impacted

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order to expand school choice across the country. While this policy could allow more students access to alternatives outside of public schooling, critics warn it might divert essential funding from public schools and exacerbate educational inequalities.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which provides a comprehensive measure of students’ academic achievement across the country, overall student achievement has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The percentage of eighth-graders reading below NAEP Basic is the highest in the assessment’s history, and the percentage of fourth-graders scoring below NAEP Basic is the largest in 20 years.

…

Recent audits revealed that private school parents, and now voucher recipients, have used the funds for a slew of, at best, questionable expenses, including kayak lessons, horseback riding lessons, home gyms, televisions, and more. Earlier audits conducted prior to the most recent expansion revealed similarly questionable uses.”

Related:

Read More »