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Bombshell filing: 9/11 hijackers were CIA recruits

https://thegrayzone.com/2023/04/18/9-11-hijackers-cia-recruits/
Created
Wed, 19/04/2023 - 11:17

At least two 9/11 hijackers had been recruited into a joint CIA-Saudi intelligence operation that was covered up at the highest level, according to an explosive new court filing.  A newly-released court filing raises grave questions about the relationship between Alec Station, a CIA unit set up to track Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and his associates, and two 9/11 hijackers leading up to the attacks, which was subject to a coverup at the highest levels of the FBI. […]

The post Bombshell filing: 9/11 hijackers were CIA recruits appeared first on The Grayzone.

Debt ceiling slapstick

https://digbysblog.net/2023/04/18/debt-ceiling-slapstick/
Created
Wed, 19/04/2023 - 09:00
Here’s the latest on the debt ceiling from TPM. Sigh. This could easily go sideways. It’s a clown show. And after all, Marge Greene is the shadow speaker of the House. Kevin McCarthy is Speaker in name only: Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has such a tenuous grip on his own conference that the debt-ceiling hostage-taking he is attempting to pull off has all the hallmarks of the bumbling kidnapping capers you see in the movies: -The House GOP can’t agree amongst themselves what to ask for as ransom. -They can’t get the White House to take them seriously enough as a ragtag band of kidnappers to engage in negotiations. -They keep threatening dire consequences for not taking them seriously but are repeatedly hobbled by their own lack of consensus. At this point, McCarthy wants the House to vote by the end of the month on a package that combines the debt ceiling with draconian spending cuts, but he clearly doesn’t have (i) internal agreement on those cuts or on how much to raise the debt ceiling by; or (ii) the votes to push a package through as early as next week.

About that pudding ad

https://digbysblog.net/2023/04/18/about-that-pudding-ad/
Created
Wed, 19/04/2023 - 07:30
Dan Pfeiffer (subscription) explains why MAGA’s usual childishness is actually quite savvy in this case: One of the Super Pacs allied with Donald Trump released a video on Friday morning that took the Internet by storm. The ad uses the potentially apocryphal story of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis eating chocolate pudding with his fingers to attack his past support for cutting Social Security and Medicare. Most Trump World shenanigans are stupid, bordering on self-destructive. That is not the case with this ad, which ran on CNN and Fox News on Friday morning. On the day after DeSantis signed a dangerous six-week abortion ban, it seems trite to care about the manner in which he consumes packaged desserts. While impulse control is a valuable attribute in a Commander-in-Chief who can unilaterally launch nuclear warheads, no one should really care that DeSantis was unwilling to wait for a spoon. Frankly, his pudding impatience may be the most relatable thing about the otherwise painfully awkward, malfunctioning Westworld robot authoritarian.

Stand your ground?

https://digbysblog.net/2023/04/18/stand-your-ground/
Created
Wed, 19/04/2023 - 06:00
It’s just a legal license to kill The NY Times had this on the shooting of Ralph Yarl in Kansas City: Chief Graves said that the teenager was expected to give a formal statement to investigators when his injuries allow. She also said that there was a “potential” self-defense or “stand your ground” element that investigators were examining. But the following day, Mayor Lucas said that Missouri’s Stand Your Ground law, which was adopted in 2016, should not apply in this case. “If Stand Your Ground really lets somebody just shoot somebody that rings a doorbell,” he said, “that put the life of every postal worker, every campaigner, every Amazon delivery person at risk in this country.” I’m sure the man believes he was standing his ground because he “felt threatened” when a Black teenager rang his doorbell. Then there’s the man in New York who shot at a car that accidentally turned into the wrong driveway and killed a young woman as the car was turning around. I’m sure he believes he was “standing his ground” too.

Malcolm Fraser would have agreed with Paul Keating on AUKUS

https://johnmenadue.com/aukus-the-possible-consequences-of-our-alliance-with-th…
Created
Wed, 19/04/2023 - 04:59
Like so many Australians, I am very worried by our commitment to AUKUS. I agree strongly with many other critics that we have been placed in peril by our government’s submarine agreement with the US and the UK. As John Menadue wrote on 1st April “The AUKUS alliance has forever changed Australia’s sovereignty. Foreign policy Continue reading »

Scorched Earth: Anti-reunification forces use Taiwan to subvert China

https://johnmenadue.com/china-taiwan-reunification-what-will-it-mean-for-austra…
Created
Wed, 19/04/2023 - 04:55
US and British arms industry companies and their little mentioned but crucial support cast of Taiwanese military, lawmakers and government official counterparts are opposed to China-Taiwan reunification, because the current situation acts as their ATM, generating billions of dollars in profit. The recent visit to China by former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou – the first Continue reading »

Secrecy is our enemy: whistleblowers must be defended

https://johnmenadue.com/secrecy-and-whistleblowers/
Created
Wed, 19/04/2023 - 04:54
One of the most hated aspects of the Morrison government was the secrecy. Over and again, we continue to shock to revelations of hidden wrongdoing long after their defeat last May. It was a crucial aspect of the Coalition government’s efforts over a decade to diminish our democratic structures, shifting us towards competitive authoritarianism, and Continue reading »

The crisis of academic values and governance in Australian universities

https://johnmenadue.com/the-crisis-of-academic-values-and-inadequate-governance…
Created
Wed, 19/04/2023 - 04:52
In Australia, public universities face a crisis that threatens the future of this country. It is not a crisis of funding. Nor is it yet a quality crisis, although members of the Association of Australian University Professors (AAUP) are attuned to seeing standards slip and young colleagues brutalised by the Australian Higher Education System (AHES). Continue reading »