Washington Regional SWAT counter-sniper Ben Shaffer said it was “absolutely” concerning that the roof of the AGR International building had been quickly scrubbed and gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks’ body disposed of before an official autopsy report could be released.
Five House Republicans — Reps. Andy Biggs and Eli Crane of Arizona, Matt Gaetz and Cory Mills of Florida, and Chip Roy of Texas — hosted the panel discussion with Shaffer and other witnesses at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
(today)
On Tuesday, Republican leaders from four US House of Representatives national security committees and one subcommittee released a statement endorsing Speaker Mike Johnson‘s proposal to advance legislation this week, offering security assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
„Speaker Johnson has produced a plan that will boost US national security interests in Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific,“ the leaders of the House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, Appropriations and Defense Appropriations panels said in a statement.
(02.04.2024)
With the onslaught of new wars, Congress added $70 billion over the last two years to an already bloated Pentagon budget, much of which is funneled directly into the coffers of defense contractors like Palatir, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. The stock values in these companies have since experienced double-digit growth – a lucrative business opportunity not overlooked by lawmakers calling the shots.
At least 25 members of Congress sitting on national security committees have simultaneously purchased stock in these very same companies. The majority of these members sit on the Senate and House Armed Services committees, the entities responsible for overseeing the Defense Department budget and contracts.
(02.11.2023)
Since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed, shares of Boeing Co, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon Technologies (RTX) have all increased in value, collectively adding roughly $23 billion in market capitalization.
In the weeks preceding the attack, Markwayne Mullin, Kevin Hern, Bill Keating, and Josh Gottheimer purchased shares of those defense companies.
(01.03.2024)
We, the undersigned parliamentarians, declare our commitment to end our nations’ arms sales to the State of Israel.
Our bombs and bullets must not be used to kill, maim, and dispossess Palestinians. But they are: we know that lethal weapons and their parts, made or shipped through our countries, currently aid the Israeli assault on Palestine that has claimed over 30,000 lives across Gaza and the West Bank.
We cannot wait. Following the interim ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Genocide Convention case against the State of Israel, an arms embargo has moved beyond a moral necessity to become a legal requirement.
We will not be complicit in Israel’s grave violation of international law. The ICJ ordered Israel not to kill, harm or “deliberately [inflict] on the [Palestinians] conditions of life calculated to bring about… physical destruction.” They have refused. Instead, they press on with a planned assault on Rafah that the Secretary General of the United Nations has warned will „exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare.“
Today, we take a stand. We will take immediate and coordinated action in our respective legislatures to stop our countries from arming Israel.
Signatories:
(02.03.2024)
The statement‘s signatories include legislators from Israel‘s top allies and weapons suppliers, including the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada. Just two U.S. lawmakers—Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.)—backed the statement.
The statement includes six signatories from Germany, which is facing an International Court of Justice (ICJ) case alleging complicity in genocide against Palestinians.
The lawmakers argued that an arms embargo on Israel is both „a moral necessity“ and „a legal requirement,“ given the ICJ‘s interim ruling in late January.
(04.03.2024)
Amid the deadly war in Gaza, over 200 legislators from 11 countries unite to oppose their countries’ arms exports to Israel. In a declaration published by the Progressive International parliamentarians declared “our commitment to end our nations’ arms sales to the State of Israel.”
“Our bombs and bullets must not be used to kill, maim, and dispossess Palestinians. But they are: we know that lethal weapons and their parts, made or shipped through our countries, currently aid the Israeli assault on Palestine that has claimed over 30,000 lives across Gaza and the West Bank. We cannot wait. Following the interim ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Genocide Convention case against the State of Israel, an arms embargo has moved beyond a moral necessity to become a legal requirement.
(05.03.2024)
Three Hadash-Ta’al lawmakers met Monday, March 4, with Jordan’s King Abdullah amid concerns that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan could amplify tensions in occupied East Jerusalem stemming from the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip. MK Ayman Odeh, the head of the parliamentary Hadash-Ta’al alliance, MKs Ahmad Tibi and Youssef Atawneh traveled to Amman and asked the Jordanian monarch to pressure Israel to ensure freedom of worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan and for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
„No more deaths, no more bombs …free Gaza,“ state Greens MP Gabrielle de Vietri told the crowd.
„A temporary ceasefire is just the bare minimum of what must happen, and the Greens have been unequivocal in their calls not only for a ceasefire but for a lasting and just peace for Palestine.“
One of the speakers, Independent senator Lidia Thorpe, spoke of how she had been in police protection in recent weeks and had been trapped in her home for five months.
(Dec 11, 2023)
Legal experts and scholars have been warning since October that U.S. officials could be rendering themselves complicit in war crimes—and genocide—by continuing to arm the Israeli military as it wages indiscriminate war on the Gaza Strip.
Tlaib echoed that warning Monday, noting that the Biden administration has opted to „give weapons to a military that is very publicly and actively committing serious war crimes and crimes against humanity.“
Eli on @GBHNews
Jewish constituents met with Clark who is „2nd in command“ in the House for the Democrats. She has not used her power to stop the genocide in Gaza
Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 9A; American Postal Workers Union (APWU); United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE) Eastern Region; New York City’s arm of Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA); Adalah Justice Project, American Muslims for Palestine N.Y./N.J.; Jewish Voice for Peace-N.Y.; New York Communities for Change; the New York Working Families Party; and more took to the streets to call for “peace and justice for Palestine.”
They carried signs stressing U.S. worker demands for a cease-fire in the conflict that has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 8,000 children.
Banners at the front show how much $ @ChuckSchumer, @HakeemJeffries, & @SenGillibrand have taken from AIPAC.
@StatusCoup
Am Freitag war der Containerfrachter „Al Jasrah“ in der Meerenge zwischen dem Jemen und Dschibuti beschossen und beschädigt worden. Die Besatzungsmitglieder blieben laut Hapag Lloyd unverletzt. Die Bundesregierung verurteilte den Angriff und prüft eine Bitte aus den USA um eine Beteiligung der deutschen Marine an einem Einsatz
(15.11.2023)
The letter is co-signed by Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, James McGovern, Mary Gay Scanlon, Raúl Grijalva, Pramila Jayapal, Joaquin Castro, Delia Ramirez, Henry Johnson, Greg Casar, Jesús “Chuy” Garcia, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Nydia Velázquez, Ayanna Pressley, Jonathan Jackson, Barbara Lee, André Carson, Jamaal Bowman, Summer Lee, Veronica Escobar, and Ilhan Omar.
The letter is endorsed by MoveOn, Amnesty International, Demand Progress, Center for International Policy, Center for Jewish Nonviolence, Churches for Middle East Peace, CIVIC, Common Defense, Friends Committee for National Legislation (FCNL), MADRE, Oxfam America, Win Without War, POMED, Working Families Party, Action Corps, Adalah Justice Project, American Friends Service Committee, Americans Justice In Palestine, Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Democracy for Arab World Now, IfNotNow, Institute for Policy Studies New Internationalism Project, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Migrant Roots Media, National Iranian American Council Action, Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore, Pax Christi USA, Peace Action, Peace Action Montgomery, The Duty Legacy, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Women for Weapons Trade Transparency and the Yemeni Alliance Committee.
(15.11.2023)
Touma-Sliman, who the committee said did not apologize and did not recant her statements, is barred from Knesset committee and plenum sessions for two months, and also receives a two-week pay deduction.
On October 19, the Ethics Committee of the Knesset suspended another Communist lawmaker, MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash), for what it deemed as “anti-Israel statements after the war in Gaza broke out.” Cassif has been suspended for 45 days.
(November 11, 2023)
We told the police that we are going to have this protest, that it’s going to be only leadership, that it’s not going to be a massive demonstration or something like this. The next day, when Barakeh was heading to Nazareth, they arrested him.
How do you interpret these crackdowns? Is this an attempt by the Israeli government to effectively criminalize expressions of Palestinian identity and solidarity?
Not only the Palestinian identity. I think that whatever they couldn’t pass through the judicial overhaul, they are passing now under the cover of the war.
(November 7, 2023)
The terror group’s three top leaders alone are worth a staggering total of $11 billion and enjoy a life of luxury in the sanctuary of the emirate of Qatar.
The emirate has long welcomed the leaders of the terror group and installed them in its luxury hotels and villas at the same time as it hosts a vast American military presence.
Now US Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) is sponsoring a bill that would strip Qatar of its status as a key US ally, The Post has learned, unless it kicks out the Hamas leadership.
On Monday, Sahra Wagenknecht presented her “Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance — for Reason and Fairness.” The aim is to formally launch the party in January, in time for European Parliament elections in June. Three state elections in Germany‘s formerly communist east will follow next fall.
The Linke, which has its roots in both East German communism and the West German labor movement, has long been riven by strife and the defection of Wagenknecht‘s team could eventually sound its death knell.
But political analysts focused primarily on BSW‘s potential threat to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has surged in strength on migration fears and is polling at around 22 percent, ahead of all three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz‘s ruling coalition.
A German Left party politician who has criticized military support for Ukraine announced the creation of a breakaway group that is set to shake up opposition to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government.
Gemeinsam mit Wagenknecht, Mohamed Ali und Leye traten folgende Bundestagsabgeordnete aus der Partei aus: Ali Al-Dailami, Sevim Dagdelen, Klaus Ernst, Andrej Hunko, Zaklin Nastic, Jessica Tatti und Alexander Ulrich.
Die 38 Mitglieder des Ausschusses in der 20. Legislaturperiode:
(5.Dezember 2021)
Nach dem Putsch-Urteil 1 BvR 781/21 des Bundesverfassungsgerichts ist der Systemwechsel offiziell. Faktisch erklären die von der Merkel-Einheitsregierung in sechzehn langen Jahren in das höchste Verfassungsorgan bugsierten Roten Roben, dass im Grundgesetz gar nicht drin steht was da drin steht und der Staat alles mit den Bürgerinnen und Bürgern machen kann – er muss nur sagen, es sei notwendig. Grenzen dafür setzen die Verfassungsrichterinnen und -Richter nicht.
(…)
Wenn Ihr, liebe Leserinnen und Leser, nicht lest, oder wenn Ihr zwar lest, aber Euch nicht in der Lage seht es ausreichend weiter zu erzählen bzw. einen einzigen Abgeordneten / eine einzige Abgeordnete in Bundestag und sechzehn Landtagen zu finden, der / die lesen und die Zahlen der Regierung überprüfen will, kann ich Euch nicht helfen. Meine Arbeit ist getan.
Was Ihr natürlich auch noch machen könnt: die wenigen mehr oder weniger unabhängigen Journalistinnen und Journalisten ansprechen, die sich eventuell in der Lage sehen könnten, sich diesem alles entscheidenden Detail zu widmen, so dass sich wiederum ein einziger Parlamentarier irgendwann zur Gewaltenteilung genötigt sehen könnte (von irgendwelchen Parteien oder Gerichten will ich gar nicht mehr reden):
A source who was privy to the discussions among the senators, who met behind closed doors, said lawmakers from seven northern states, which share border with Niger Republic namely; Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Zamfara, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno, vehemently rejected the move.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “It was a stormy session with concern on the implications of the war if allowed to start.
“It’s time to say ‘enough.’ Year after year, we spend more and more on our national defense – it’s too much with too little accountability. We have troops on food stamps while at the same time, price-gouging defense contractors are getting richer by the day.
Our camp brings more than 50 Israeli and Palestinian youth together for a week of dialogue, learning, listening, and relationship building.
Initially, the attacks were confined to social media and threats to withhold government funding if the camp proceeds. However, the situation escalated dramatically during the Knesset meeting yesterday…
During the weekly Education, Culture and Sports Committee meeting, Almog Cohen from the far-right Otzma Yehudit Party, announced he will „break and blow up the camp“on the first day at the Ben Shemen Youth Village.
„I will come on the first day of the summer camp and break it up. We will come, 10 MKs, and wish luck to our forces in killing as many terrorists as possible and as few innocents as possible.“
Laut Aussagen des Unternehmens wird die Software allein an Regierungen vertrieben, um sie bei der Bekämpfung von Kriminalität und Terrorismus zu unterstützen. Doch die Recherchen des Mediennetzwerks haben ein Spionagesystem aufgedeckt, mit dem mehr als 65 Länder die Smartphones von Journalisten, Anwälten, Menschenrechtsaktivisten, Staatschefs und politischen Gegnern auf der ganzen Welt ausspähten. Die Autorin des Dokumentarfilms hat die Journalistinnen und Journalisten des Pegasus-Projekts exklusiv über Monate während ihrer Recherchen begleitet. Sie prangern autoritäre Entwicklungen in vielen Staaten sowie Eingriffe in die Privatsphäre der gehackten Personen an.
Laut Aussagen des Unternehmens wird die Software allein an Regierungen vertrieben, um sie bei der Bekämpfung von Kriminalität und Terrorismus zu unterstützen. Doch die Recherchen des Mediennetzwerks haben ein Spionagesystem aufgedeckt, mit dem mehr als 65 Länder die Smartphones von Journalisten, Anwälten, Menschenrechtsaktivisten, Staatschefs und politischen Gegnern auf der ganzen Welt ausspähten. Die Autorin des Dokumentarfilms hat die Journalistinnen und Journalisten des Pegasus-Projekts exklusiv über Monate während ihrer Recherchen begleitet. Sie prangern autoritäre Entwicklungen in vielen Staaten sowie Eingriffe in die Privatsphäre der gehackten Personen an.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) are warning the CIA they could subpoena the agency if it does not produce documents related to a 2020 letter pushing back on the Hunter Biden laptop story.
“If the CIA does not produce all responsive documents, the Committees may resort to compulsory process,” Turner and Jordan wrote in the Wednesday letter to CIA Director William Burns, giving a May 30 deadline.
(8.März 2023)
Im zweiten Weltkrieg setzte der Bundesrat ständige Kommissionen ein, um bei dringlichen Entscheiden die demokratische Legitimation abzuholen und beschlussfähig zu sein. Nicht so in der Covid-Krise: Alle beschlossenen Massnahmen wurden vom Bundesrat allein gefällt, entweder gestützt auf das Epidemiengesetz oder das Covid-Gesetz. Bei den Massnahmen gestützt auf das Epidemiengesetz wurden die Kantone konsultiert. Das Parlament wurde nur bei Massnahmen gestützt auf das Covid-Gesetz konsultiert.
(…)
In der Covid-Krise wurden zwar Grundrechte massiv eingeschränkt; eine Vorschrift zu erlassen, den Kantonen vorzuschreiben, welche Daten in welcher Form geliefert werden sollen, damit man eine fundierte Entscheidungsgrundlage hat, schaffte man aber nicht: Hierfür fehlte dem Bundesrat eine gesetzliche Grundlage. Zettel wurden von Hand ausgefüllt, gefaxt und dann im System eingegeben. Ein an Covid verstorbenes Kind schaffte es schweizweit auf die Titelseite; tatsächlich handelte es sich um eine Seniorin, die in unleserlicher Schrift erfasst wurde. Auch heute, mehr als zwei Jahre nach Beginn der Covid-Krise haben wir keine sinnvollen Daten aus den Intensivstationen. Man glaubt es kaum!
In less than 24 hours, Israelis gave more than $272,750 to help Palestinians whose homes and businesses were destroyed by dozens of rioting settlers in the northern West Bank town of Huwara on Sunday.
A 37-year-old Palestinian man was killed, 300 were wounded – four of them seriously – and dozens of buildings and vehicles were set on fire in the mass riot that followed the killing of two Israeli brothers in a terror shooting in the same town. Labor party member Yaya Fink started an online crowd-funding campaign the morning following the attack.
Der kommunistische Abgeordnete Michail Abdalkin aus der Region Samara veröffentlichte nach der Rede vom Dienstag ein Video, das zeigt, wie er vor seinem Computer sitzt und Putin zuhört – an seinen Ohren hängen dabei Spaghetti. Im Russischen gibt es den Ausdruck „Nudeln an die Ohren hängen“, was so viel bedeutet wie: belogen werden.
(07.02.2023)
(08.02.2023)
A Communist lawmaker on Tuesday urge at the Knesset podium citizens of the nation to civil unrest against the “dictatorship” of the new Netanyahu government. MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash) was quickly removed by Knesset ushers. “In light of the current emergency situation, I call for civil unrest…” Cassif said before being interrupted by Deputy Speaker Nissim Vattori (Likud), who called on Knesset ushers to forcibly remove Cassif from the plenum.
The Hadash lawmakers present at the time then erupted in a shouting match, with Cassif and fellow opposition MKs labeling the coalition members as “fascists.”
And here, not a day goes by without more business owners moving their money and their activity, or at least some of it, abroad. As a self-defense mechanism to keep its value from being destroyed. Most them aren’t declaring this. It is their own personal money that they are moving. But in the atmosphere of McCarthyism that is spreading here like the plague, they are immediately denounced as traitors. As defaming the state. Foxes in its vineyards. Journalists who report on what is happening or bring evidence from other countries that have been through similar processes are chastised and lambasted.
The hearing, organised by PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, will focus on the role played by spyware in secret state surveillance, as part of a report on this topic being prepared for the Assembly by Dutch MP Pieter Omtzigt.
Participants include:
* Krzysztof Brejza, a member of the Polish Sejm from the opposition Civic Platform party, and a former member of PACE (accompanied by his lawyer, Dorota Brejza).
* Diana Riba, a Spanish member of the European Parliament from Catalonia’s Republican Left Party, and Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s committee of inquiry which is also currently investigating the use of Pegasus and similar spyware.
* Thanasis Koukakis, an investigative journalist from Greece specialising in financial affairs, who has reported on corruption and money laundering (via teleconference).
Politicians and journalists from Poland, Spain and Greece who have been targeted by the Pegasus or similar spyware are to give testimony at a public hearing of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Paris on 12 December 2022, to be live-streamed in English.
The hearing, organised by PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, will focus on the role played by spyware in secret state surveillance, as part of a report on this topic being prepared for the Assembly by Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD).
Kaum waren in der Nacht zum Mittwoch die ersten Informationen über den mutmaßlichen Niedergang einer Rakete auf polnischem Territorium durchgesickert, kannten deutsche Politiker, insbesondere von der FDP-Fraktion, und Medien kein Halten mehr: Ohne jede weitere Recherche oder den Versuch einer Verifikation titelte zum Beispiel das ZDF, obwohl zu diesem Zeitpunkt keinerlei entsprechende offizielle Stellungnahme aus Polen oder den USA vorlag, „Russische Raketen treffen polnisches Gebiet“. Dies griffen dann zahlreiche Politiker der Ampel-Koalition, unter anderem die Vorsitzende des Verteidigungsausschusses des Bundestages, ebenso unhinterfragt auf. Ein hysterisches Zitierkartell, basierend, wie wir jetzt wissen, auf Fake News.
Der Minister lässt den Fluggästen also die Wahl, nach ihrer eigenen Vernunft zu handeln. Bürger in Fernzügen dagegen trifft der FFP2-Maskenzwang, der keine wissenschaftliche Grundlage hat.
Gut, Ihr wollt nicht national sein, sondern europäisch – mindestens. Nicht hausbacken kleinbürgerlich, sondern weltläufig. Sagen wir jetzt einfach mal: geschenkt. Aber zumindest müsstet Ihr doch dem Individuum die Stange halten, gegen den Kollektivismus. Ihr müsstet doch für den Einzelnen kämpfen, nicht für das Volksganze. Auf Eurer Fahne muss doch „Selberdenken“ stehen, nicht „Mitmarschieren“.
Sie haben vielleicht letzte Woche auf Achgut.com Bericht zur Coronalage – die unbekannte Studie gelesen. Seit gestern nimmt die Geschichte Fahrt auf. Ob es die Twitternachrichten meines geschätzten Kollegen Christian Haffner oder der Achgut-Artikel waren oder was auch immer, die Bild-Zeitung hat sich gestern der Sache angenommen und titelte (hinter der Bezahlschranke): Erst wenn Maßnahmen beschlossen sind – Regierung will brisante Corona-Daten nicht rausgeben! Ein offen zugänglicher Kommentar legt nach: „Alle Corona-Daten auf den Tisch!“
Deutsche Grüne gehören neben Lauterbach zu den Letzten, die an eine gefährliche „Pandemie“ glauben. Im Ausland lacht man darüber. Außerdem nähren sie das widerlegte Gerücht, die Schule seit ganz besonders gefährlich.
Die „Bild“ schreibt: „Obwohl die Regierung neue Corona-Daten von hoher politischer Relevanz hat, will sie Bürger und Abgeordnete vorerst nicht darüber in Kenntnis setzen.“ Leider ist der kritische Beitrag der Boulevardzeitung hinter einer Bezahlschranke versteckt. Wie so oft bei kritischen Themen. Einerseits kann man so sagen, man habe ja berichtet. Andererseits hält man so die Zahl der Leser streng begrenzt und richtet nicht allzu viel Schaden für die Regierung an.
Jeder Abgeordnete, der am 8. September für die Verlängerung der Corona-Maßnahmen stimmt, ist persönlich verantwortlich für das menschliche Leid, das dadurch verursacht wird. Die Tatsachen dafür liegen längst auf dem Tisch.