>DOUGH
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld gave a speech on Sept. 10, 2001, at an event for the Department of Defense’s Acquisition and Logistics Excellence Week.
In the speech, Rumsfeld talked about how it was difficult to track financial transactions because of antiquated systems within the Department of Defense.
As an example, he said that “according to some estimates” the department was unable to track $2.3 trillion in transactions.
The issue was being unable to track how the money was spent, though, not money going missing entirely.
"We cannot share information from floor to floor in this building because it's stored on dozens of technological systems that are inaccessible or incompatible," Rumsfeld said.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4683428/user-clip-23-trillion
>Department of Defense was unable to track $2.3 trillion in transactions.
have not passed an audit
>https://x.com/hillaryclinton/status/1701218017894433098
On one of our worst days, many Americans gave their best: their bravery, their selflessness, and their care for others. Today, let's honor the memory of those we lost and reaffirm our commitment to what they left behind: our families & communities, our democracy, and our country.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Skull_and_Bones_members
KITE - HIT - STEEL - PLANE - MUST
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/11/briefing/the-hunter-biden-case.html
The Hunter Biden Case
An example of America’s dueling realities.
Cashing in
When top Democrats are asked about Hunter Biden, they tend to dismiss his problems as a private issue. “Hunter Biden is a private citizen, and this was a personal matter,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said last month when asked about federal tax and gun charges against him. “The president, the first lady, they love their son, and they support him as he continues to rebuild his life.”
This explanation is partially fair. Hunter Biden has struggled with drug addiction. His failure to pay taxes seems connected to the chaos of his life while he was using crack cocaine, and the gun charge stems from his claiming to be sober when he bought a handgun in 2018.
But it’s a stretch for anyone to suggest that Hunter Biden is merely a private citizen. When his father was vice president from 2009 to 2017, Hunter tried to create the impression that he could leverage his family connections to help his clients, as a former business partner has testified to Congress.
Some clients believed it. Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, put Hunter on its board, in an attempt to signal that it was pro-Western. A Chinese tycoon also signed a partnership with him. All told, Hunter made more than $800,000 in 2013 and more than $1.2 million in 2014.
My colleague Luke Broadwater, who covers Congress, told me that he initially found the public discussion of Hunter Biden to be uninteresting — typical partisan noise. But Luke came to believe the story was more important. “Many rich and famous people try to cash in on their family name, including relatives of the politicians,” Luke said. “It’s certainly worth newspaper coverage.”
Luke notes that Joe Biden made a false statement during a 2020 campaign debate when he claimed, “My son has not made money” in China. “The only guy who made money from China is this guy,” Biden continued, referring to Donald Trump. (Amazingly, Biden was correct about the Trump part: The Trumps received money from the same Chinese company.)
These details are not pretty. The current president’s son made substantial sums of money from the perception of his proximity to top government officials, and the president has claimed otherwise. That story is notably different from past Republican lies about Obama’s birthplace or Kerry’s war record.
Unsupported claims
The problem for Biden’s Republican critics is that they are making their own untruthful statements — or at least statements lacking any support. House Republicans have claimed that the elder Biden himself received money as part of Hunter’s business dealings; they have produced no evidence to support the claim, Luke notes. There is also no evidence that Joe Biden altered policy to benefit Hunter’s clients.
Sometimes, the Republican claims have turned farcical. House Republicans portrayed Gal Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, as a truth teller who would expose the Bidens. Luft has not done so. Instead, a grand jury indicted him last month for acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government and helping Iran evade sanctions. Luft denies any wrongdoing.
For anybody who wants to dig deeper into the Hunter Biden saga, I recommend this detailed article by my colleagues Adam Entous, Michael Schmidt and Katie Benner. Here’s the key sentence: “The real Hunter Biden story is complex and very different in important ways from the narrative promoted by Republicans — but troubling in its own way.” As Michael said to me: “Should the vice president’s son be selling the perception of access to his father even if that son isn’t delivering anything for that money?”
Jonathan Chait of New York magazine has compared Hunter Biden to the Supreme Court justices who have accepted large gifts from private citizens. “In American politics, the worst abuses by powerful people usually involve clever ways to exploit the law without committing crimes,” Chait wrote.
Yes, Trump and his family have profited much more from their government service than Hunter Biden has. But that isn’t a fully satisfying explanation to many Americans. Perhaps, Chait argues, it’s time for stricter ethics rules for the highest officials and their close relatives:
“It’s unsavory, but it’s not a crime” is a good argument for a defense lawyer. It’s not a great argument for people who are in a position to write new laws and whose survival depends on refuting the cynicism of a pseudo-populist whose appeal is rooted in the corrosive assumption that every politician is on the take.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dov_S._Zakheim
Zakheim retired as a senior vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton in 2010.
Wolfowitz is the only World Bank president to have resigned over a scandal.
>EU Chief Calls for Global Digital IDs and New U.N. Body to Govern Artificial Intelligence
U.S. facing 'massive shortage' of conspiracy theories as all of them have come true.
natural beauty
Prime Minister Modi criticized Canada for allowing Sikh secessionist groups to operate in the country.
“The nexus of such forces with organized crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking should be a concern for Canada as well,” the ministry said. “It is essential for the two countries to cooperate in dealing with such threats.”
Separatist Sikh groups held a referendum in Canada asking whether their majority regions in India should be independent.
Trudeau: “Obviously Canada will always defend freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, peaceful protest. That’s something that’s extremely important to us. At the same time as we are always there to prevent violence, to push back against hatred,” he said a news conference in the Indian capital. “It’s important to remember that the actions of the few do not represent the entire community or Canada.”
This is hardly a new issue between the countries. Canada has the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab in India.
“New Delhi has been long sensitive to Sikh protesters in Canada. In June, India criticized Canada for allowing a float in a parade depicting the 1984 assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards, perceived to be glorification of violence by Sikh separatists.
‘They are promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats, damaging diplomatic premises and threatening the Indian community in Canada and their places of worship’, the Indian statement said.”
Relations the two countries remain tense. The Canadian government, earlier this month, paused talks on a proposed trade treaty with India, months after announcing that they aimed to seal an initial agreement this year.
https://www.gelitin.net/projects/b-thing/
https://www.gelitin.net/publications/the-b-thing
https://www.instagram.com/p/Co2NWTcrS0e/
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/box-cutters-on-canadian-flight-on-september-11-1.400056
Box cutters on Canadian flight on September 11
Canadian police are investigating the discovery of box cutters aboard an Air Canada plane due to have flown to New York on September…
Canadian police are investigating the discovery of box cutters aboard an Air Canada plane due to have flown to New York on September 11th, the day hijackers used similar tools to enact a terrorist strike against the United States, the airline confirmed today.
The Air Canada plane was grounded at Toronto after authorities learned of the hijackings against the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center that led to the collapse of the twin towers, Air Canada spokeswoman Ms Laura Cooke said.
"I can't make comments because it's under investigation," she said.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/box-cutters-on-sept-11-air-canada-ny-flight/article18418858/
Box cutters on Sept. 11 Air Canada N.Y. flight
The RCMP are investigating the discovery of box cutters on an Air Canada plane that was to fly from Toronto to New York on Sept. 11, The Globe and Mail has learned.
Flight 704, which was scheduled to leave at 9 a.m., never took off from Pearson International Airport. It was grounded minutes after two hijacked airliners slammed into the World Trade Center in New York.
The Air Canada passengers left the plane and went home.
The Globe has learned that over the past few weeks, RCMP investigators have visited most of the passengers on Flight 704.
One passenger who was on board the aircraft confirmed yesterday that the Mounties had come to his home. "They asked me if I had noticed anything suspicious . . . if I remember anyone who looked suspicious."
The passenger, who asked not to be identified, said he was instructed by police not to speak to anyone about the investigation.
"I asked them why they were asking questions and they told me box cutters were found under some of the seats. It's pretty scary to know that I was on a flight to New York on Sept. 11 and box cutters were under some seats."
The terrorists who hijacked the four U.S. airplanes on that day used box cutters in their attacks on the crews and passengers.
The four airplanes they commandeered left three different airports – in Boston, New York and Washington. The first, American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston, crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:48 a.m. The last plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a Pennsylvania field at 10:10 a.m.
RCMP spokesman Jack Bellerose refused to confirm or deny the discovery, saying that "even if we had information to that effect, we would not be able to give it to you because it would be part of an investigation."
However, a police source said once the discovery was made, the aircraft was secured and thoroughly combed for possible leads.
Laura Cooke, a spokeswoman for Air Canada, said "if your information is correct, then this is a police matter and I can't comment."
She confirmed, however, that on Sept. 14, Peel Regional Police had been called in to investigate the discovery of two X-Acto knives in overhead bins of an Air Canada Airbus 320 that had been grounded at Pearson International Airport on Sept. 11.
X-Acto knives have razor-sharp retractable blades and can used as box cutters.
The knives were found by a passenger as Flight 792, from Toronto to Calgary, was boarding.
That aircraft was the same one that was to have been used for Flight 704 to New York on Sept. 11, The Globe and Mail has learned.
Peel Regional Police and the RCMP were called in and the aircraft was impounded for a thorough search using dogs trained to sniff out explosives and weapons. All the passengers were taken off the flight and put on another plane bound for Calgary.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38499883
The warrior monks who invented banking
Templars were much closer to a private bank - albeit one owned by the Pope
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/23/muammar-gaddafi-tent-trump-estate
Alissa Heinerscheid became the first woman to lead Bud Light in the brand’s 40-year history. And she has wasted no time getting to work. Heinerscheid, 38, oversaw a creative agency review that led to the late August hiring of Anomaly, which is taking over from Wieden+Kennedy, signaling big marketing changes ahead for the nation’s largest beer brand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beelzebub
Baal of flies
>NIST report has a plane running parallel to second plane that was never investigated.
source.dat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion's_Belt