How the POW/MIA flag took over America: Have You Forgotten Him?

THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION PROMISED a return to normalcy, but one of its most telling acts of restoration passed with barely any comment. Early last year, the administration hoisted the POW/MIA flag above the White House, where it had flown for decades until Donald Trump abruptly relocated it to the South Lawn in 2020. In an era when even the most minor symbolic sparks can ignite endless outrage, few Americans noticed Biden’s gesture—and why should they? Reverence for the POW/MIA flag is a truly bipartisan position. Left, right, and center united when Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tom Cotton, and Maggie Hassan penned a letter asking Biden to “restore the flag to its place of honor” just days after his inauguration.

Have You Forgotten Him?

Biden Can Still Counter the Bogus Right-Wing Student Loan Lawsuits

Maybe you are one of the 26 million people who have applied to have their student debt reduced or eliminated entirely. You probably breathed a sigh of relief when you hit “Submit,” knowing that, in the new year, you’ll have an easier time paying rent, buying food, or maybe saving to buy a home or for retirement.

Biden Can Still Counter the Bogus Right-Wing Student Loan Lawsuits

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

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

She’s a Doctor. He Was a Limo Driver. They Pitched a $30 Million Arms Deal.

She’s a Doctor. He Was a Limo Driver. They Pitched a $30 Million Arms Deal.

The Biden administration encourages private sector deals for several reasons. It saves the Pentagon from further depleting its own armory after months of sending arms to Ukraine. And private sellers can provide weapons that the government cannot — like the Soviet-style weapons* already used by Ukrainian soldiers.

Whether the deal goes forward or not, the BMI documents show that the Ukraine war presents an opportunity to charge big prices. The bullets that Mr. Zlatev planned to sell were 50 percent more expensive than those publicly listed by other vendors. His grenade launchers were selling for more than twice what is listed on a price list for United Nations peacekeeping forces. Experts say these increases typically help pay the middlemen — at the expense of a nation in the middle of a war.

*Wonder if they’ll buy these?! 😉

Biden administration scales back student debt relief for millions amid legal concerns

Biden administration scales back student debt relief for millions amid legal concerns

But there are significant business interests that depend on the federally guaranteed loan program — a wide range of private lenders, banks, guaranty agencies, loan servicers and investors. That industry is widely seen, both inside and outside the administration, as presenting the greatest legal risk to the debt relief program.

Many of those companies face economic losses when they lose borrowers who convert their federally guaranteed loans into new loans that are made directly by the Education Department through a process known as consolidation.

Can’t afford to lose those campaign donations!

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

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.

FBI Attack on the Uhuru Movement is a Warning

FBI Attack on the Uhuru Movement is a Warning

Congressional Black Caucus member Gregory Meeks can be thanked for continuing the notion that Black people should not be trusted to think for themselves. H.R. 7311, Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act, is not just directed at nations on the African continent. Should it be signed into law by the president it requires reporting on, “…African governments and their policies, as well as the public opinions and voting preferences of African populations and diaspora groups, including those in the United States…” CBC treachery is yet another factor which makes this era of state persecution even more perilous.

One need not be familiar with every aspect of the APSP program in order to defend them at this juncture. They are the first but they will not be the last. Every individual or organization which has publicly condemned U.S. policy, visited a nation which the U.S. doesn’t like, or communicated with individuals or groups in those places, is at risk of being awakened by flash bang grenades and having electronic devices confiscated like APSP members last week. The word solidarity must now take on a very serious meaning.

The connection seems to be Alexander Ionov,Yevgeny Prigozhin, Africa, and the Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act, which in part targets Prigozhin. See my link, below, for more.

*In progress: Alexander Ionov case – Russiagate 2

FBI Raids Homes, Offices Of Activists In Black Uhuru Movement

FBI Raids Homes, Offices Of Activists In Black Uhuru Movement

One of the other “unindicted co-conspirators” in the indictment is Louis J. Marinelli, who was the founder of CalExit, a right-wing campaign in the style of Brexit that called for California to secede from the United States.

Marinelli, who is white, was previously linked to the Russian government in US news media reports, but the FBI did not raid Marinelli’s home or the homes of any individuals linked to the secession campaign.

Related:

YouTube: Omali Yeshitela & Gerald Horne discuss the FBI Raids of the Uhuru Movement’s offices and homes

YouTube: Gerald Horne on the FBI Raids of the Uhuru Movement’s offices and homes and the broader implications (short clip, of Dr. Gerald Horne, from above interview)

[2010] FBI Launching Mass Raids of Antiwar Activists’ Homes

*In progress: Alexander Ionov case – Russiagate 2?

‘Tools of Russia’: FBI Raid on Black Political Party Seen As Part of ‘Black Scare/Red Scare’ in United States

‘Tools of Russia’: FBI Raid on Black Political Party Seen As Part of ‘Black Scare/Red Scare’ in United States

Related:

*In progress: Alexander Ionov case – Russiagate 2?

FBI Raids St. Louis Black Liberation Group Alleging Russian Ties

Russian operative used U.S. activist groups to spread propaganda, feds say (Previously)

Yes California statement on Russian funding accusations (AGAIN) (US Political Group 3?) – Marcus Ruiz Evans* says that they were already cleared and that the FBI is only focusing on Louis J Marinellmore links in the video description.

Louis’ Response: No, Alexander Ionov never funded or “exercised direction or control” over me or the California independence campaign (archived)