The US is building, rather than tearing down GTMO prison facilities

By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos | Responsible Statecraft | January 2, 2022

There seems to be little effort to hide the fact that the Biden Administration does not plan to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in his first term as he once declared. That pledge is but a whisper on the wind, much like the promises made by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. According to a recent New York Times report by Carol Rosenberg, who has been been covering the infamous GTMO for the 20 years since it opened, the military is building a new, secret courtroom on the premises — which won’t be completed until 2023.

The US is building, rather than tearing down GTMO prison facilities

Related:

Trial Guide: The Sept. 11 Case at Guantánamo Bay

Apple is sticking taxpayers with part of the bill for rollout of tech giant’s digital ID card

Apple is sticking taxpayers with part of the bill for rollout of tech giant’s digital ID card

The agreement, obtained through public record requests from CNBC and other sources, mostly portrays Apple as having a high degree of control over the government agencies responsible for issuing identification cards.

Apple has “sole discretion” for key aspects of the program, including what types of devices will be compatible with the digital IDs, how states are required to report on the performance of the effort, and when the program is launched, according to the documents. Apple even gets to review and approve the marketing that states are required to do.

COVID-19 and 9/11 (Never Forget?)

In response to the events of September 11, 2001, the emergency use authorization (EUA) concept was created. The ostensible idea was to empower the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow the use of potentially life-saving products (e.g. medicines, etc.) after a terrorist attack. However, the EUA designation was not put into effect until late 2020 — for the COVID-19 “vaccines.”

COVID-19 and 9/11 (Never Forget?)

Capitol Police to use Army surveillance gear to monitor Americans and ‘identify emerging threats’

Capitol Police to use Army surveillance gear to monitor Americans and ‘identify emerging threats’

“As awful as the events on Jan. 6 were, increased use of biased surveillance technology is never the answer,” he said. “Such technology will inevitably be used to target Black, brown, and Muslim communities and protesters, not White, racist, far-right mobs like those who were given free rein to enter the Capitol. So we need greater civilian oversight of police, not greater police power.”

The Last–And Only–Foreign Scientist in the Wuhan Lab Speaks Out + The US is concealing its research on deadly viruses — while criticizing China’s secrecy over the Wuhan lab

The Last–And Only–Foreign Scientist in the Wuhan Lab Speaks Out

Related:

The US is concealing its research on deadly viruses — while criticizing China’s secrecy over the Wuhan lab

But the relentless focus on China-based research, and what may have gone wrong there, misses a deeper and more disturbing truth. The vast majority of virology — including the Wuhan study and other gain-of-function research conducted outside the US — is supported by American funding. The training, ethical guidelines, and standards for bioscience adhered to by top researchers worldwide are dominated by US institutions. If it becomes demonstrably true that a cutting-edge laboratory caused a pandemic, either now or in the future, America would deserve the blame, regardless of which country happens to be hosting those experiments.

The U.S. is funding dangerous experiments it doesn’t want you to know about

Near Misses at UNC Chapel Hill’s High-Security Lab Illustrate Risk of Accidents With Coronaviruses