US to cut military presence in Niger + Pentagon lied to Congress

The Pentagon reportedly plans to pull out some of its troops from the African country

The US has begun “repositioning” the troops it has in Niger and plans to cut their number “nearly in half” over the next several weeks, Politico reported on Friday citing two Defense Department officials.

US to cut military presence in Niger

Related:

Pentagon Misled Congress About U.S. Bases in Africa

Rand Paul: Why do we still have troops in Niger?

Is China really buying up U.S. farmland? Here’s what we found

Is China really buying up U.S. farmland? Here’s what we found

A review by NBC News of thousands of documents filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, however, shows very few purchases by Chinese buyers in the past year and a half — fewer than 1,400 acres in a country with 1.3 billion acres of agricultural land. In fact, the total amount of U.S. agricultural land owned by Chinese interests is less than three-hundredths of 1%.

DOJ eyeing Americans ‘like ATMs,’ spending over $6 billion to aid civil asset forfeitures, watchdog says

The Department of Justice is shelling out more than $6 billion to private companies to manage its asset forfeiture investigations, raising alarm from one nonprofit law firm that accuses police of “treating ordinary Americans like ATMs” and seizing their cash.

DOJ eyeing Americans ‘like ATMs,’ spending over $6 billion to aid civil asset forfeitures, watchdog says

H/T: Steve Lehto

Ukraine’s baby factories rake in record profits amid chaos of war

While average Ukrainians suffer amid NATO’s proxy war against Russia, business is booming for the surrogate baby industry, which requires a steady supply of healthy and financially desperate women willing to lease their wombs to affluent foreigners.

Ukraine’s baby factories rake in record profits amid chaos of war

Related:

Archived: How Ukraine’s Surrogate Mothers Have Survived the War

Archived: In War, Who Is a Surrogate Responsible to First?

The Scandal-Plagued Company behind Stranded Surrogacy Babies is Also Promoting a Controversial IVF Technique

Human trafficking and forgery of documents: the police accused the largest surrogate motherhood clinic in Ukraine

Wisconsin Senator Baldwin is No Friend of LGBT or Free Speech!

Wrote to Tammy Baldwin about how Republicans want to censor LGBT content with the KOSA bill that she is sponsoring! I included the following Techdirt article in my email! Not one word, about it, in her reply to me (which is just a form letter)! In fact, I didn’t bring up anything that she mentioned! As she is a LGBT person, I thought that she’d be concerned but I guess not?!

Related (previously blogged about):

Heritage Foundation Says That Of Course GOP Will Use KOSA To Censor LGBTQ Content

Meanwhile, Republicans are now freely admitting that they’re going to use KOSA to force websites to censor LGBTQ content. They’re literally proud of it. The Heritage Foundation, which at least used to have some principled stances before being taken over by culture warriors without any principles, is bragging about how it will use KOSA in this manner:

‘Why are we tempting nuclear annihilation?’ — Transcript of Max Blumenthal’s address UN Security Council

The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal addressed the UN Security Council on the role of US military aid to Ukraine in escalating the conflict with Russia and the real motives behind Washington’s support for Kiev’s proxy war.

‘Why are we tempting nuclear annihilation?’ Watch Max Blumenthal address UN Security Council

Previously:

All aboard the gravy train: an independent audit of US funding for Ukraine

All aboard the gravy train: an independent audit of US funding for Ukraine

In the absence of official scrutiny of Washington’s spending spree on Ukraine, The Grayzone conducted an independent audit of US funding for the country. We discovered a series of wasteful, highly unusual expenditures the Biden administration has yet to explain.

All aboard the gravy train: an independent audit of US funding for Ukraine

Video via Jason Hunt (Threats to international peace and security – Security Council, 9364th meeting)

The Coming Fight Over American Surveillance

The Coming Fight Over American Surveillance

But no threat of any kind is required to conduct surveillance under Section 702. The law permits surveillance of any foreigner abroad, as long as a significant purpose of the surveillance is to acquire “foreign intelligence information.” FISA defines this term extremely broadly to include any “information related to . . . the conduct of U.S. foreign affairs.” A conversation between friends about whether the United States should do more to support Ukraine would justify surveillance under this definition.

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