Tag: Oversight

‘It’s a Coup’: Musk’s DOGE Granted Access to Treasury System That Pays Out Social Security

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Elon Musk and his team at the Department of Government Efficiency—or DOGE—have been granted access to a sensitive Treasury Department payment system that contains the personal information of every American who receives tax refunds, Medicare, Social Security, and other payments from the government.

‘It’s a Coup’: Musk’s DOGE Granted Access to Treasury System That Pays Out Social Security

DOGE’s Ties to the Military-Industrial Complex

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

DOGE’s Ties to the Military-Industrial Complex

Defense contractors: General Atomics, General Dynamics, Honeywell

n.b.: Phil Cox, was formerly with Americans For Prosperity and the Republican Governors Association. Both are affiliated with the Atlas Network through the Koch brothers.

Related:

Palantir and Anduril join forces with tech groups to bid for Pentagon contracts

Consortium likely to include Elon Musk’s SpaceX in move to grab a bigger slice of $850bn US defence budget

FMC to investigate Spain’s refusal to handle US freight

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

FMC to investigate Spain’s refusal to handle US freight

Outgoing Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel told Seatrade Maritime News that yesterday’s FMC meeting debate and vote ended in agreement that there should be an investigation into whether Spain’s reticence to handle US cargo involved violations of international agreements.

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Bentzel pointed out that these contracts can be for the carriage of all sorts of cargo, not just weapons, “including humanitarian aid, in support of the Gazan population.”

Previously:

Spain to Block Maersk Ships Bound to Israel After Pressure From Activists

(Primer) A Decade of EDCA: US military bases and its expanding war games in the Philippines

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

EDCA-Primer.pdfDownload

The outright re-establishment of US military bases in the country and its relentless and escalating war games on land, sea, and air are flagrant manifestations of US imperialist domination of the Philippines. This further tightens the grip of US imperialism on the Philippine neocolonial state, especially on the puppet Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

(Primer) A Decade of EDCA: US military bases and its expanding war games in the Philippines

Spain to Block Maersk Ships Bound to Israel After Pressure From Activists

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Spanish government has announced it will block two ships—Denver and Seletar—operated by shipping giant Maersk and carrying military cargo bound for Israel, from docking at the port of Algeciras. This decision comes just days after the Mask off Maersk campaign released a report exposing the company’s regular use of the Spanish port for transferring cargo that enables the ongoing genocide against Palestinians, despite Spain’s stated arms embargo.

Spain to Block Maersk Ships Bound to Israel After Pressure From Activists

A friendly fire death, a platoon’s 20 years of trauma

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Bryan O’Neal has spent two decades grinding his way up the U.S. Army ranks, from lowly private to command sergeant major — the highest rank for a non-commissioned officer. He could write a textbook on modern warfare history — and his own unique place in it — but much of what he’s seen and done could be hard for anyone to hear. Significant numbers of the men and women under his command weren’t even born until after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that inspired him to enlist.

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In the spring of 2004, perhaps the last thing President George W. Bush’s administration needed was another war-related PR problem. No one could find Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, which the administration had used to build a case for war. Less than a month before Tillman’s death, four contractors for the Blackwater private security firm in Iraq were ambushed and dragged through the streets, and their corpses were hung from a bridge. In April came shocking images of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison.

A friendly fire death, a platoon’s 20 years of trauma

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