(March 21, 2023)
„We will clean out all of the corrupt actors in our national security and intelligence apparatus, and there are plenty of them,“ Trump said.
„The departments and agencies that have been weaponized will be completely overhauled,“ he continued. „So that faceless bureaucrats will never again be able to target and persecute conservatives, Christians, or the left‘s political enemies, which they‘re doing now at a level that nobody can believe even possible.“
Mit dem Tag der Amtseinführung soll der Umbau der Exekutive beginnen. Ziel ist eine drastische Zentralisierung der Regierungspolitik, bei der das Weiße Haus eine straffe Kontrolle über alle Bundesbehörden, einschließlich des Justizministeriums erhalten würde.
Damit könnte er entscheidend auf Verfahren gegen ihn und andere Einfluss nehmen, die unter anderem am Sturm auf das Kapitol am 6. Januar 2021 beteiligt waren. Es würde ihm außerdem ermöglichen, gegen Personen vorzugehen, die diese Verfahren angestoßen haben.
Die Ministerien für Bildung und Heimatschutz etwa sollen abgeschafft werden, die US-Bundespolizei FBI, „eine zunehmend gesetzlose Organisation“, soll von Grund auf erneuert werden.
The Senate will vote on these resolutions when it reconvenes in November. Let me explain why these arms sales must not proceed.
Israel clearly had the right to respond to Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack on October 7th, which killed 1,200 innocent Israelis and took hundreds of hostages. But Prime Minister Netanyahu’s extremist government has not simply waged war against Hamas. It has waged all-out war against the Palestinian people, killing more than 41,000 Palestinians and injuring more than 95,000 – 60 percent of whom are women, children, or elderly people. Netanyahu has bombed hospitals and schools, starved children, destroyed infrastructure and housing stock, and made life unlivable in Gaza. The United States must end its complicity in this atrocity.
Sending more weapons is not only immoral, it is also illegal. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act lay out clear requirements for the use of American weaponry – Israel has egregiously violated those rules.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and a pair of his Senate colleagues on Wednesday formally introduced resolutions aimed at blocking a series of proposed arms sales to the Israeli government as it bombards Gaza and Lebanon, deepening humanitarian crises there and pushing the region to the brink of all-out war.
The six Joint Resolutions of Disapproval, five of which were backed by Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), would together prevent the sale of $20 billion of U.S. weaponry to Israel. The Biden administration approved the massive sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions, tank ammunition, F-15 fighter jets, and other military equipment last month.
The U.S. government’s handling of USAID’s memo led to internal conflict, with one official in the State Department, Stacy Gilbert, resigning in May over Blinken’s statement to Congress.
“There is abundant evidence showing Israel is responsible for blocking aid,” Gilbert wrote in a statement at the time. “To deny this is absurd and shameful. That report and its flagrant untruths will haunt us.” (mehr …)
Blinken’s decision allowed the U.S. to keep sending arms to Israel. Under U.S. law, the government is required to cut off weapons shipments to countries preventing the delivery of U.S.-backed aid.
Blinken told Congress, “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting” aid, even though the U.S. Agency for International Development and others had determined that Israel had broken the law.
The president’s announcement that he was prepared to condition American weaponry on Israel’s actions amounts to a turning point in the seven-month conflict between Israel and Hamas. And his acknowledgement that American bombs had been used to kill civilians in Gaza was a stark recognition of the United States’ role in the war.
The president has come under extraordinary pressure, including from members of his own party, to limit shipments of arms amid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
In dem CNN-Interview wurde Biden gefragt, ob mit dem Typ an US-Bomben, deren Lieferung vorerst auf Eis liege, Zivilisten in Gaza getötet worden seien. Biden sagte dazu: „Zivilisten wurden im Gazastreifen infolge dieser Bomben und anderer Methoden, mit denen sie Bevölkerungszentren angreifen, getötet.“
Biden machte zugleich deutlich, die US-Regierung werde weiter sicherstellen, dass Israel ausreichend militärische Ausrüstung zur eigenen Verteidigung habe, etwa das Raketenabwehrsystems Iron Dome.
(31.03.2024)
The arms packages included more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, according to Pentagon and State Department officials.
This month, the State Department also authorized the transfer to Israel of 25 F-35A fighter jets and engines worth roughly $2.5 billion, U.S. officials said.
The White House last week paused a shipment of weapons to Israel, as Israeli leaders closed in on a decision to launch an operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a senior administration official said Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed Wednesday in testimony to Congress that „we paused one shipment of high payload munitions.„
(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.
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Western media reports claiming that Russia could place nuclear weapons in space are nothing more than a ploy by the White House to convince US lawmakers to approve further military aid to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
Citing sources, several US media outlets reported this week that American intelligence had obtained information on purported Russian plans to deploy a nuclear anti-satellite system in space, although the idea supposedly remains at the developmental stage.
Fox News Digital obtained the notice sent to congressional members Wednesday, which pointed to „an urgent matter with regard to a destabilizing foreign military capability that should be known by all Congressional Policy Makers.“
Turner‘s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital‘s request for comment and more information.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Wednesday at the White House press briefing that earlier in the week, he reached out to the Gang of Eight to offer himself for a personal briefing on the matter.
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Barbara Lee explains her rationale for voting against the Authorization to Use Military Force in Afghanistan, citing the overly broad nature of the bill.
(August 18, 2021)
In the days after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, just one member of Congress voted against giving President Bush authority to go to war in Afghanistan.
Barbara Lee, a Democratic representative from California, warned at the time that approving the so-called Authorisation for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) could mean the US would be embarking “on an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target.”
(19.01.2024)
The growing willingness of establishment Democrats to criticize or push back on Israel — a move that would have come with serious political ramifications just a few months ago — signals a shift in the politics of the party since the war in Gaza began more than 100 days ago. Senators from swing states, including Georgia, Wisconsin and Minnesota, have signed on to some of these measures as polls show a notable drop in support for Biden among young, Muslim and Arab American voters over his handling of the issue.
(20.01.2024)
The list of 15 Jewish Democrats who issued Friday’s statement was significant for including at least seven lawmakers endorsed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s affiliated political action committee. AIPAC discourages open disagreement with Israeli governments on security issues.
Those seven are Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon, Dan Goldman of New York, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mike Levin, Adam Schiff and Brad Sherman of California.
(19.01.2024)
The letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, led by U.S. Representatives Ayanna Pressley and Jamie Raskin, was signed by 60 Democratic House of Representatives members, reflecting concern, especially on the left, over the steep toll on Palestinian civilians of Israel‘s campaign against Hamas.
(…)
Separately, a group of Democratic senators said on Friday that 18 Democrats in that chamber support an amendment that would require that any country receiving funding in the supplemental use the money in accordance with U.S. law, international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict.
(31.12.2023)
President Joe Biden once again bypassed Congress to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel, despite growing domestic and international outrage over Israel’s mass killing of more than 21,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, and including hundreds of UN workers, journalists and medical personnel.
[NOTE: Yesterday, CAIR welcomed the launch of a case by South Africa in the United Nations’ top court accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.]
“Given the urgency of Israel’s defensive needs, the secretary notified Congress that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer,” the department said.
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
(03.12.2023)
“The intelligence community has indicated that they did not have access to this document,” Kirby said in an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
(03.12.2023)
“Intelligence is a mosaic, and sometimes you know you can fashion things together and get a pretty good picture,” Kirby replied. “Other times, you know that there’s pieces of the puzzle that are missing.”
Kirby also declined to say whether Hamas’ incursion into Israel should be seen as a failure of Israeli intelligence.
(01.12.2023)
On Capitol Hill, members of the Senate and House intelligence committees have received several briefings about the Oct. 7 attack, according to a congressional aide familiar with the matter.
In at least one of those closed-door conversations, members were told that Israel had been aware about the potential for a Hamas attack from Gaza. But those readouts did not include the specific details of the Jericho Wall document, said the aide.
(November 1, 2023)
And also just to be very clear, everything that I’ve been describing, all of these various mechanisms that the state has been using, are backed by Israeli courts, and backed by the Israeli legal system. This is not some random phenomena that is happening uniquely to a single unlucky community far from the eyes of the state. On the contrary, this is part of an ongoing Israeli state project of trying to push, to cleanse, as many Palestinians out of Area C, using all available state mechanisms in order to accomplish this goal. (…)
There are checkpoints. There are threats. And all this goes on for years. And yet somehow you managed to stay on the land and make a living and try to raise a family under these conditions. And that in and of itself is horrific and criminal and appalling, and also happens in broad daylight. Everything I’ve been talking about now and describing has been documented for years already by Palestinian, Israeli, and international human-rights organizations. But Israel never relented and never stopped because, as I said, it’s part of the state’s goal to accomplish that. What has escalated in recent weeks is that you have repeated reports of masked men showing up in the middle of the night. Armed, masked men.
Maybe they are settlers, maybe they’re soldiers, maybe they’re a mix. And they openly threaten the people in the community and tell them that they have twenty-four hours to leave, and if you say otherwise we would wipe you out.