Lawmakers Want $26 Billion for Programs the Pentagon Didn’t Seek

(Politicians paying off the lobbyists that support their PAC) Read entire article, we are fucked.

Published December 03, 20231/3

WASHINGTON — House and Senate appropriators have added into their two fiscal 2024 Defense spending bills a combined $25.7 billion thePentagon did not formally seekfor more than 1,200 research and procurement projects, according to a CQ Roll Call analysis of a watchdog group’s previously undisclosed database.

The House-passed Defense appropriations bill would add $10.7 billion into these weapons accounts for580 different programs. The Senate’s companion measure contains nearly $15 billion inserted by senators for an almost completely different set of636 weapons projects, according to the Taxpayers for Common Sense database.

If history is a guide, the two sets of increases will mostly just be added together in the final bill, which appropriators hope to finish writing by early February, when the Defense Department’s funding under the current stopgap spending bill expires.

On top of the proposed additions for military research and procurement, appropriators are poised to add as yet unreckoned billions of dollars in unrequested spending this fiscal year for other categories of defense spending — fromfacilities maintenance to medical research.

Members of Congress have a duty to write spending bills as they see fit. But the fiscal implications of all the congressional tweaking — for the Pentagon budget and the widerfederal discretionary budget — are not widely appreciated.

One appropriator, Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., claimed in a July statement to have “secured” $832 million in this year’s Senate Defense appropriations bill for 21 different projects,a “significant portion of which will go to West Virginia.”. The West Virginia projects range from artificial intelligence to counterterrorism, and they benefit organizations ranging from Marshall University to the West Virginia National Guard, as well as creating a Defense Threat Reduction Agency outpost in the Mountain State.

The media, the public and members of Congress outside the Appropriations Committees havelittle means of knowing what benefitscome from all this spending.

The quantity and cost of the military research and procurement projects added to the Defense spending bills has swelled in recent years.

As CQ Roll Call reported in May, there isno indication that any audit agencyis studying the effectiveness or efficiency of this spending, the effects of the cuts required to pay for it, or the degree to which the contracts executed under these programs are vied for by more than one bidder. These increases are not considered earmarks because they are competitively awarded,at least nominally.

But in many cases, the recipient of the award is known well before the contract is open for bidding, sometimes because only one company or organization has the expertise to provide the technology and sometimes because of a lawmaker’s influence on the process, lobbyists and other defense insiders told CQ Roll Call earlier this year. The unrequested funding additions arerarely mentioned in hearings. The member of Congress who pushed for the funding is not noted in the tables.

“The lack of transparency is stunning,”Taxpayers for Common Sense’s Murphy said. “If lawmakers think squeezing tens of billions of dollars for these projects and programs into an already-bloated Pentagon budget makes sense, then they should have to put their name on these adds and offer some justification.”…

The number of spending increases enacted into law for just defense research programs grew each year between fiscal 2021 and 2023, from 600 to 776 to 996, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense…

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/12/03/lawmakers-want-26-billion-programs-pentagon-didnt-seek.html

>>20029307

2/3

Last year, in the House’s fiscal 2023 Defense appropriations bill, membersadded 411 funding increasesfor research programs, while the Senate’s companionbill added 580. The final Defense spending measure essentially added together the two sets of increases for research spending to get to the 996 contained in the conference report.

In the final fiscal 2022 Defense spending law, defense research and procurement increases amounted to$27.6 billion of the $58.5 billion in total unrequested defense spending, the Pentagon said in its report on congressional increases to that year’s military budget.

For fiscal 2023, the research and procurement increases comprised $40.3 billion of the $61.4 billion in total additions. It is the equivalent of running another Cabinet department each year.

In fiscal year 2023 law, members of Congress inserted into the Defense spending bill a minimum of $61.4 billion for all categories of military spending, two-thirds of it for research and procurement of military equipment, according to a Pentagon report disclosed by CQ Roll Call in October. Thatsum is the equivalent of the Department of Homeland Security budgetfor the same fiscal year.

Just the $26 billion that may be added to the defense research and procurement budget in fiscal 2024 is nearly as much as it would cost in the same time frame to fund a second Space Force or execute another Navy shipbuilding budget.

“The Pentagon spending bill has become an all-you-can-add buffet for lawmakers looking to fund military projects that benefit their districts or drive profits for their campaign contributors,” said Gabe Murphy, a policy analyst with Taxpayers for Common Sense. “Pentagon spending should reflect national security needs and strategy, not parochial political interests or corporate profits.”

It is hardly new for Congress to add considerable funds for their favored defense programs. But the growing cost of lawmakers’ hundreds of additions to the defense bill each year has received little discussion as a distinct issue, partly because thevast majority of the projects are individually not top-dollar or high-profile.

Also not well known is the purpose of most of the projects, which members of Congress supported them, whether they proved useful, and how often more than one entity bid for the work.

Because the total amount of defense money available to appropriators each year is limited by topline deals cut by leadership, adding money for one thing generally requires a cut elsewhere. Congress subtracted $17.4 billion from sundry defense programs in fiscal 2023, even with a $44 billion increase in the topline.

The topline for fiscal 2024 has not been set yet, and as a result, neither has the final sum of money available for congressional additions.

The president asked for $826.6 billion for fiscal 2024 programs covered by the Defense appropriations bill. The House version of that bill proposes slightly more, or $826.9 billion, while the Senate has recommended $831.8 billion, thanks to several billion in so-called emergency appropriations.

Thelion’s share of the added weapon projects, especially the research programs,are not even knownabout in the Pentagon’s upper echelons, according to defense officials andlobbyists who have requested anonymity…

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/12/03/lawmakers-want-26-billion-programs-pentagon-didnt-seek.html

>>20029326

3/3

Still, the projects are generally sought by someone in the far-flung Defense Department establishment or by a contractor or a university, supporters say. And Appropriations Committee staff vet the projects, even if critics say they and their bosses are inclined to include in the bill what members want to see included.

What’s more, sometimes appropriators make cuts to requested initiatives in order to avoid allocating money that will not be well spent. In so doing,they may also free up funds to pay for their own priorities. The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AppropriationsCommittee aides defendedthe addition of hundreds of research and procurementprojects as necessary.

“These increases include unfunded requirements of DOD and adjustments DOD asked for following the submission of the budget request to account for inflation or emergent requirements,” a Senate Appropriations Committee Republican staffer said. “In some instances, DOD relies upon congressional increases to keep production lines open or to sustain readiness of the military.”

A House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee aide said the congressional funding infusions for weapons projects in their districts are part of the “regular process.” “Ultimately,” the aide said, “it is Congress’ responsibility to write the funding bills each year.”

None of the 1,216 proposed increasesfor fiscal 2024 defense research and procurement projects were a part of the president’s formal budget request.

Moreover, only a mere 2% of the proposed additions, or 7% by dollar value, were even found on “unfunded priorities lists” for fiscal 2024 that Defense Department leaders sent Congress, the Taxpayers for Common Sense data indicate.

These lists are considered by some to be major upward drivers of the Pentagon budget, but in reality, they are just aminuscule subset of the congressional additions. For some of the weapons increases proposed this year, members of Congress would add money above the amount requested by the White House in order to buy more of something than the Pentagon wanted.

But for most of the increases — and the overwhelming proportion of the research projects — members created entirely new initiatives. In some cases, members continued programs that Congress had previously launched but that Defense Departmentleaders have not sought to continuesince they were begun.

The beneficiaries of the fiscal 2024 funding increases for defense research and procurement include some programs netting hundreds of millions each — such as $1.2 billion in the Senate bill to start building a destroyer ahead of the Navy’s schedule or $675 million in the House bill to procure V-22 tiltrotor aircraft than the Navy did not seek.

But most of the unrequested programs cost in the single-digit millions of dollars andgo to research initiatives at labs, contractors and other installationsacross the country. They are described only briefly in the committee reports, buried in funding tables, using arcane phrases such as “refractory metal alloys for hypersonics” and “ion trap quantum computing.”

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/12/03/lawmakers-want-26-billion-programs-pentagon-didnt-seek.html

>>20029307

The US Government needs to nixed and lets start all over. The Corruption, Greed and Outright theft by Congress is disastrous and they don’t care a bit about the Southern border. Just more arms to kill more.

>>20029315

They don’t even describe what these shiny toys for money are

The Supreme Court is Poised to Intervene in J6 Cases

thepoliticsbriefDecember 5, 2023

The Supreme Court of the United States could indirectly get involved in the January 6th charges against former President Donald J. Trumpif it decides to hear the cases of three protesters charged with “obstructing an official proceeding,” which is the same charge Trump is facing.

NBC reports that the Supreme Court is in the process of reviewingthree challenges from convicts Joseph Fischer, Edward Lang, and Garret Miller. Originally, the court was going to talk about these cases at their weekly meeting on Friday. However, that meeting had to be canceled because former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor died. The case is most likely to be heard on December 8th.

The charge against Fischer, Lang, and Miller is an overextension of 18 U.S.C. 1512(c)(2), according to the defense attorneys, which says it is illegal to “corruptly” block, influence, or slow any official action. The defendants want the charge against them to be dropped. The law was passed in 2002 as a result of the Enron incident and is known as theSarbanes-Oxley Act. Its purpose is to protect people from destroying evidence and not to protest or even fight.

In their statement, Trump’s lawyers said that the law was “enacted as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in response to the Enron scandal, to close a loophole in federal criminal law on evidence tampering.”As part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Congress passed § 1512(c)(2). This was done because of “the exposure of Enron’s massive accounting fraud and revelations that the company’s outside auditor, Arthur Andersen LLP, had systematically destroyed potentially incriminating documents.”

According to Fischer’s lawyers, the Enron prosecutions showed a major flaw in the U.S. Code: the most recent version of § 1512(b) said that a defendant could not convince another person to destroy records related to an investigation or other proceeding,but those who destroyed evidence themselves were not responsible.

As a result, Trump’s lawyers argue:

“Thus the indictment takes a statute directed at the destruction of recordsin accounting fraud and applies it to disputing the outcome of a Presidential election. This stretches the statutory language beyond any plausible mooring to its text, which violates the canons of avoidance, lenity, and restraint discussed above.”

If the case or cases are taken up by the Supreme Court, Randall Eliason, a former federal prosecutor and professor at George Washington University Law School, told NBC News thatTrump “could credibly ask to delay his trial until the case is resolved.” This could push Trump’s trial past Election Day 2024, but it might not. She said that if the Supreme Court steps in, the decision would probably come before the end of June, and the trial could still happen before November.

But any delay in the trial in Washington, D.C. is naturally good for Trump because he could have the charges against him dropped if the trial goes on long enough after his inauguration.

In August, when Jack Smith charged Trump, the former president wrote on Truth Social, “CRAZY! My political opponent has hit me with a barrage of weak lawsuits, including D.A., A.G., and others, which require massive amounts of my time & money to adjudicate. Resources that would have gone into Ads and Rallies, will now have to be spent fighting these Radical Left Thugs in numerous courts throughout the Country. I am leading in all Polls, including against Crooked Joe, but this is not a level playing field. It is Election Interference, & the Supreme Court must intercede. MAGA!”

The Supreme Court intervening in the January 6 casescould set up a domino effect where similar overcharges for defendantswould be more highly scrutinized, if not struck down.

No case, obviously, would be bigger than that of former President Donald Trump.

(Anons please pray the SC takes these cases.)

https://thepoliticsbrief.com/the-supreme-court-is-poised-to-intervene-in-j6-cases/

Santos turns to Cameo after expulsion from Congress, gets hired by Fetterman to take shot at Bob Mendendez

Personalized videos from Santos' Cameo page start at $200

Bradford Betz By Bradford Betz , Tyler Olson Fox News

Published December 4, 2023 3:56pm EST

After his expulsion from Congress last week, George Santos is finding a new way to make some cash: Cameo.

Cameo is a website where people can pay celebrities to make personalized videossuch as for the holidays or a birthday.

A link to Santos’ Cameo profile is available on his X profile. On his Cameo profile, Santos describes himself as a "former congressional ‘icon’" and "The Expelled member of Congress from New York City."

Interested parties can book a personal video with Santos starting at $200.

Santos joins the league of former politicos — including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Roger Stone — who have joined Cameo to make some extra money.

Later Monday, Santos posted a video addressed to embattled Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey. Democrat Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania took credit for the video.

"I thought my ethically-challenged colleague @BobMenendezNJ could use some encouragement given his substantial legal problems," Fetterman tweeted. "So I approached a seasoned expert on the matter to give ‘Bobby from Jersey’ some advice."

"Hey Bobby!" Santos begins the video. "Uh, look. I don't think I need to tell you but these people that want to make you get in trouble and want to kick you out and make you run away,you make ‘em put up or shut up! You stand your ground sir, and don’t get bogged down by all the haters out there. Stay strong! Merry Christmas!"

The freshman lawmaker from Pennsylvania has been outspoken in his calls for Menendez — who is facing federal charges for participating in a bribery scheme — to step down from Congress if Santos deserves to be kicked out.

Santos’ move to Cameo comes as he faces serious legal trouble, and likely hefty legal bills, in his post-congressional life. Federal prosecutors in a 23-count indictment have accused him of duping donors, stealing from his campaign and lying to Congress.

The House voted Friday to expel the New York Republican representative after a blistering ethics report on his conduct heightened lawmakers' concerns about the scandal-plagued freshman.

(Never give up Santos! KEK)

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/george-santos-turns-cameo-income-expulsion-congress

>>20029484

I think Santos is going to eventually release all the on congress sooner or later to show the public Congress is smoke and mirrors and they mostly are all corrupt and perves. That will be fun.

Does anyone think he was planted by the CIA

Republicans Propose New Office To Enforce Affirmative Action Ban

Legislation from J.D. Vance and Jim Banks would create special inspector general to investigate discriminatory admissions practices

(Go after Harvard first and other Ivy League Schools)

Congressional Republicans on Tuesday introduced a bill that would create a dedicated office for investigating race discrimination in college admissions, the most dramatic effort yet to enforce the Supreme Court's ban on affirmative action.

The College Admissions Accountability Act, introduced by Sen. J.D. Vance (R., Ohio) and Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), would establish a special inspector general within the Education Department—separate from the Office of Civil Rights—to probe potential violations of the colorblind standard set forth in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which ruled that race-conscious admissions programs violate the 14th Amendment. The bill would also bar schools that flout the decision from receiving any form of federal aid.

"Every student in America is entitled to equal protection under the law, regardless of their background," Vance told the Washington Free Beacon. "This bill creates the means necessary to enforce the Court's decision and hold colleges and universities accountable for illegal discrimination on the basis of race."

The proposed law comes asuniversities around the country are combing for loopholes in the affirmative action ban. Some institutions have overhauled their essay prompts to focus on race and identity—even though the Supreme Court said essays couldn't be used as a work-around—while others have advised faculty not to create a "record" of "discriminatory intent" and warned that socioeconomic preferences don't "do the trick demographically."

Columbia Law School even announced that it would require short video statements from applicants to provide "insight into their personal strengths." The plan, which would have given admissions officers a visual proxy for race, was junked after the Free Beacon asked Columbia for comment.

The proposed bureaucracy, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Unlawful Discrimination in Higher Education, would take direct aim at these evasions. "Following the Court's ruling, several American colleges and universities issued statements or unveiled new policies at odds with its letter and spirit," the bill reads. "Institutions of higher education, including their offices of admission, must comply with the Constitution and laws of the United States, as interpreted by the judiciary."

The bill would create a new mechanism for applicants and university employees to file discrimination claims against admissions departments. Those claims would be investigated by the special inspector general—nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate—who could then recommend enforcement actions, including the revocation of federal funds, to the secretary of education and attorney general.

The office would also submit quarterly reports to Congress on the allegations it has received and what corrective steps have been taken. That means the secretary of education and attorney general, while theoretically free to ignore the office’s recommendations, would face public pressure to lay down the law.

Universities, meanwhile, would be at constant risk of humiliation if they adopt the sort of race-based policies that have become de rigueur throughout higher education. Though focused on admissions, the bill also covers "financial aid determinations" and "academic programs," empowering the inspector general to go after scholarships, fellowships, and research programs that exclude non-minorities.

"The federal government has given the universities free rein to discriminate against white and Asian students," Christopher Rufo, the conservative activist behind numerous state laws banning critical race theory, said of the bill. "Senator Vance's proposed legislation will put a stop to this."

Conservatives argue the new inspector general role is necessary because the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, which oversees campus compliance with nondiscrimination law, has proven unable or unwilling to enforce the rules on the books. It can take over four years for the office to resolve discrimination cases, said Mark Perry, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute who has filed over 800 complaints against race- and sex-based programs across the country. And schools often avoid punishment by making superficial changes that let the discrimination persist…

The bill, which appropriates $25 million for the new role..

https://freebeacon.com/policy/republicans-propose-new-office-to-enforce-affirmative-action-ban/

Zelensky will brief senators Tuesday ahead of key vote on military aid

BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 12/04/23 7:30 PM ET

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address senators at a classified briefing Tuesday via a secure video conference feed, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced.

Zelensky will brief senators on the state of the war in Ukraine and the need for another round of military aid a day before the Senate is scheduled to vote on proceeding to the legislative vehicle for a $106 billion emergency foreign aid package that includes more than $61 billion for Ukraine.

“The administration has invited President Zelensky to address senators … as part of our classified briefing tomorrow so we can hear directly from him precisely what’s at stake in this vote,” Schumer announced on the Senate floor. “I ask that all senators — all senators — attend this important briefing.”

Zelensky warned senators at a closed-door meeting in the Old Senate Chamber in September that Ukraine would lose its war with Russia without more aid from the United States.

Schumer filed cloture Monday evening on a motion to proceed to the shell bill that will carry the supplemental foreign aid package.

The final details of the package are still being worked out. It’s being held up by a disagreement between the two parties about adding immigration and asylum policy reforms to reduce the flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border.

(Hell NO, Not one more penny for Ukraine!)

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4342075-zelensky-will-brief-senators-tuesday-ahead-of-key-vote-on-military-aid/

5 Dec, 2023

European Council chief cuts China trip short over Ukraine dispute – media

Charles Michel will attempt to defuse an ongoing spat with Budapest over Kiev’s bid for EU membership, Politico reported

European Council President Charles Michel will return from China ahead of schedulein a bid to save Ukraine’s bid for EU membership, Politico reported on Tuesday. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has urged Michel to postpone accession talks with Kiev until the bloc gets its Ukraine strategy straight.

Michel will fly back to Brussels after one day of meetings on Thursday, an EU official told Politico. “He will return to Brussels to continue his discussions with leaders on a way forward,” the official stated.

Ukraine applied for EU membership last February and was granted candidate status four months later. According to Politico, a set ofdraft conclusionsfor a summit of EU leaders later this month will include a line stating that “the European Council decides to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova.”

In a letter on Monday, Orban urged Michel to postpone a decision on these negotiations. “The European Council is not in a position to take key decisionsunless a consensus on our future strategy towards Ukraine is found,” he explained.

Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs was more blunt. “How can [we] talk about the accession of a country that has been in the last two years at war, with public administration working only thanks to foreign money,with the level of corruption, with 20% of the country occupied… how can anyone suggest the country is ready for accession talks?” he told reporters on Monday.

Despite the EU’s announcement last month that it would unlock €900 million ($972 million) in frozen funds for Hungary, Kovacs said that Budapest’s “position on Ukraine … would stand regardless of what is going on with the funds.”

Any decision on Ukraine’s membership would require theunanimous consentof all 27 EU member states, meaning that Orban could use Hungary’s veto to block the entire process.

Hungary is not the only country taking issue with Michel’s plan to fast-track negotiations. Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said on Monday that he “can’t imagine” Ukraine becoming a member state amid its ongoing conflict with Russia, while Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg warned last month that accelerating membership talks could alienate other candidate countries in the Western Balkans, wheresome states have been waiting almost two decadesfor their accession process to begin.

“I think that Ukraine’s membership in the EU is terribly, terribly far away,” Blanar told the Standard news portal, with Schallenberg telling the Financial Times thatUkraine would “probably never be part of” the EUif its application was assessed like those of previous candidates.

(Welcoming a corrupt welfare state to the EU will be the demise of the EU!)

https://www.rt.com/news/588561-charles-michel-ukraine-membership/

>>20029612

5 Dec, 2023

Ukraine’s EU accession is ‘terribly far away’ – member state

Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar “can’t imagine” Kiev being part of the bloc while its conflict with Russia continues

Ukraine cannot hope to join the EU any time soon as the country is not only embroiled in a bloody conflict with Russiabut also has yet to meet a list of preconditions, Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar has said.

Speaking to the Standard news portal on Monday, Blanar questioned the push by some senior EU policymakers to formally open talks on Kiev’s accession to the bloc, saying he“can’t imagine” Ukraine becoming a member state under the current circumstances.

The minister remarked that he was “curious” to see how those officials, including EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, “will answer the question ofhow we can start negotiations with a country that is in a state of war.”

“Personally, I think that Ukraine’s membership in the EU is terribly, terribly far away,” he said.

While Blanar did not rule out Ukraine joining the EU at some point, he stressed that Bratislava “refuses to approach this issue politically.”

“The only thing we support is that there should be a perspective for Ukraine in the future, but in compliance with all the rules, as all other countries,” he insisted. “No exceptions will be accepted.”

Slovakia halted all military assistance to Ukraine after the election of its new Prime Minister Robert Fico, who argued that “the EU should change from an arms supplier to a peacemaker.”

Ukraine first designated EU accession as a strategic goal in 2019. In late February 2022, days after the start of the conflict with Russia, Ukraine officially submitted its application to the bloc. However, numerous EU officials have avoided setting a precise deadline for Ukraine joining the union, insisting that Kiev must first implement a number of reforms and crack down on rampant corruption.

In early November, the EU Commission recommended opening formal membership talks with Ukraine, arguing that it had made sufficient progress to warrant such a step. However, the proposal was opposed by Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban called it “unfounded and poorly prepared.”

Austria, another EU member state, has also warnedagainst fast-tracking Ukraine’s bid, with Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg warning that such a policy could alienate other candidate countries in the Western Balkans, where some states have been waiting for their accession process to begin for up to 20 years.

(This whole thing is a hoax by the EU leaders, they don’t want Ukraine either, they just want to blame the denial on a few rogue states.)

https://www.rt.com/news/588544-slovakia-ukraine-accenssion-far-away/

The evil never ends

5 Dec, 2023

Get Covid shots for Christmas – Germany

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has urged at-risk individuals to be vaccinated ahead of the holiday season

German Health MinisterKarl Lauterbach has said it is the “optimal time” for peopleto receive newly adapted coronavirus vaccinations, as he urged people to get their shots before the Christmas holidays. (Germany’s economy is crashing and burning due to pushing Ukraine war with Russia, so they need to eliminate more citizens. Guaranteed Illegal Aliens don’t get the jab though.)

Speaking at a meeting on Monday dedicated to the long-term health effects of Covid-19, the minister argued that the danger currently posed by the virus was being“underestimated.” He also lamented that thetake-up rate of newly adapted boostershots has thus farbeen disappointing.

“The problem of long Covid has not yet been solved,” Lauterbach said, stressing that the infection was not a simple cold and posed a real threat to people with chronic health issues.

Germany has seen a spike in coronavirus cases over the last week.According to figures from the Robert Koch Institute(RKI), there have been 23,265 infections reported in the country in the past seven days, compared to around 13,000 in the previous six weeks. (They made up the numbers.)

The head of the RKI, Lars Schaade, has admitted however that thecurrent level of cases does not carry the same significanceas at the height of the pandemic, citing the population’s raised immunity through prior infections and vaccinations.

Meanwhile, one of the largest Covid vaccine producers, Pfizer, has been hit with a lawsuit in the US state of Texas over accusations that it misrepresented the effectiveness of its coronavirus shots and sought to suppress public discussion of the product’s failures.

“Pfizer engaged in false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices by making unsupported claims regarding the company’s Covid-19 vaccine, in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement, arguing the company had illicitly made billions of dollars in profit.

Pfizer has dismissed the allegations, arguing that the lawsuit has “no merit” and insisting the company is “deeply committed” to its patients and customers.

https://www.rt.com/news/588550-germany-covid-booster-christmas/

5 Dec, 2023

Boris Johnson considered military raid on NATO state – Daily Mail

The ex-prime minister was said to be “enraged” after the EU threatened to prevent doses of a Covid vaccine from entering the UK

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson askedmilitary advisers to prepare plans to raid a Dutch Covid-19 vaccine plant to retrieve 5 million AstraZeneca doses, the Daily Mail has claimed. (He wasn’t going to get the money the pharma company providing)

Johnson was “enraged” by a diplomatic spat with the EU after Brussels threatened to prevent doses of the vaccine from being sent to the UK from the plant in March 2021, the outlet reported on Sunday, citing anonymous sources.

At the time, the EU was embroiled in a dispute with the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company over the rollout of the vaccine. AstraZeneca had said production issues meant it could only deliver about one-quarter of the planned stock to the EU, and had refused to divert supplies from its factories in the UK.

This prompted Brussels to threaten to ban exports of the vaccine from its own territory, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen claimed was necessary to ensure “Europe gets its fair share.”

Johnson, who had pledged that priority groups in the UK would be fully vaccinated by mid-April 2021, subsequently asked military advisers to prepare plans to forcefully retrieve the vaccine doses from the plant in Leiden, the Daily Mail reported.

“The PM was enraged,” the diplomatic source told the newspaper. “He ordered officials to look at all options for responding, and that did include asking the security services to look at whether there were any options for physically going and taking the vaccines from the Netherlands and bringing them here.”

A second source said that the EU, whose actions they described as “Trumpian,” could not “accept the fact that we had negotiated a better deal with AstraZeneca… They (the vaccines) were effectively stolen.” (What does this have to do with Trump)

However, the idea was abandoned after Johnson was advised that conducting amilitary-style operation to seize the vaccines would seriously undermine relations with the EU. It would also threaten the supply of future vaccine doses from elsewhere in the bloc, the Daily Mail said.

Johnson is expected to reference the EU row when he gives evidence to a UK Covid inquiry on Wednesday. It was previously reported by The Times that the former premier will admit he “unquestionably made mistakes” in his leadership throughout the pandemic. However, he is also set to claim that his actions saved hundreds of thousands of lives. (Kek look at the UK files exposing Boris as a stooge and incompetent!)

https://www.rt.com/news/588543-uk-johnson-vaccines-dutch-raid/

5 Dec, 2023

Over 50 Indian cough-syrup makers fail quality test – report

New Delhi has ordered testing of medicines destined for export after a link to a spate of child deaths in Central Asia and Africa

More than 50 cough syrup manufacturers in India have failed quality tests that were made mandatory by the government due to concerns over the quality of medicines the country exports. According to a report released by the state’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), out of 2,104 test reports filed by Indian pharmaceutical companies,over 120 failed to meet standard qualityrequirements, as the Economic Times reported on Monday.

Extensive testing is being carried out after over 140 deaths in The Gambia, Uzbekistan, and Cameroon came to be linked to Indian-made cough syrups, hindering the reputation of thecountry’s $41-billion pharmaceutical industry.

In response, the Indian government in May made it mandatory for cough syrup manufacturers to get their products tested at government labs before export. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is collaborating with state governments and exporters to ensure the implementation of the new rule.

Cough syrups manufactured in India have been under scrutiny after the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert in October 2022 over four brands of cough syrup manufactured and exported by Indian drug maker Maiden Pharmaceuticals to The Gambia in West Africa.At least 70 children have died there from acute kidney injurythat could be linked to cough and cold syrups.

New Delhi took up the issue with the WHO, with the regulator, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), writing a “strongly worded letter” to the WHO, stating that all control samples of the products have been found to be in compliance with specifications, Economic Times reported. The report claimed the statement issued by the WHO on The Gambia case was based on “an assumption that has yet not been substantiated by the WHO or its partners on [the]ground.”

Meanwhile, The Gambia recalled multiple cough and cold medications andbanned all Maiden Pharmaceuticals’ products. In October, the country’s high court opened legal proceedings over the deaths, and about $230,000 per child is being sought in compensation.

A similar case came to light in December last year in Uzbekistan, where the health ministry linked the death of dozens of children to the consumption of cough syrup manufactured byMarion Biotech of Noidain the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Marion had allegedlybought a chemical for its syrup – propylene glycol– from a Delhi-based trader that did not have a license to sell pharmaceutical products andonly “dealt in industrial grade.”

In August, New Delhi orderedRiemann Labsin Madhya Pradesh state to cease operations following allegations that its cough syrup was linked to the death of at least six children in Cameroon in March 2023. Before that, the WHO had said that a sample picked up from Riemann-manufacturedNaturcoldsyrup in Camerooncontained as much as 28.6% toxic diethylene glycol, compared with an acceptable limit of no more than 0.10%.

India is the largest supplier of generic drugs in the world, with an estimated 3,000 drug companies and around 10,500 manufacturing units, exporting cough syrups worth $17.6 billion in 2022-23 alone, according to news agency PTI. In June this year, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told the agency that 71 companies had been issued notices after the reported deaths due to contaminated medicines. Out of them,18 companies were asked to stop operations.

The minister also said an extensive risk-based analysis is done continuously to ensure the production of quality medicines in the country. “We are the pharmacy of the world and we want to assure everyone that we are the ‘quality pharmacy of the world,’” Mandaviya explained.

(Exactly why we should not buy drugs made in China and India. China doesn’t report their poisoned products intentionally. I wonder if China sabotaged some of the Indian companies. Generics suck!)

https://www.rt.com/india/588549-india-cough-syrup-testing/

Is there a Putin/Russia curse like the Trump curse?Seems like it.

https://www.rt.com/business/588523-russian-oil-price-cap-failure/

This is funny!

Harnwell: BBC Carries Front-Line Account Of “Splits Between Ukraine’s Government And Its Generals” Frontline Soldiers in Ukraine dishing dirt on the leaders, and the drone wars of Russia

Rumors from Si Hersh that top military leaders in Ukraine and Russia working on a peace plan.

Once President Zelensky’s ability to bring in the cash fully peters out — and the war tilts definitively in Russia’s direction — the corrupt oligarchal regime that is the Government ofUkraine will ask itself why it still needs to be led by an increasingly erratic prima donna.

After all, you don’t require a particularly long CV to lose a war. Anybody could do it.

Either inadvertently or deliberately — you decide for yourself — theBBC names two leading contenders should Tenpercentskyydecide to “spend more time with his family”. The mayor of Kiev and the CinC, General Zaluzhny.

8:55

https://rumble.com/embed/v3x157v/?pub=4

>>20029994

MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE

1 DEC, 19:31

Russia, Ukraine engaged in private military-to-military peace talks — Hersh

Hersh said, citing a US official, thatZaluzhny had US backing in holding the talks

NEW YORK, December 2. /TASS/. Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces ofUkraine Valery Zaluzhnyand Chief of the General Staff of theRussian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimovare holding private talks, US journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh said, citing sources.

"Thedriving force of those talkshas not been Washington or Moscow, or [US President Joe] Biden or [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, but insteadthe two high-ranking generals who run the war, Valery Gerasimov of Russia and Valery Zaluzhny of Ukraine," he said in an article, citing US officials and Americans that are familiar with the situation in the Ukrainian government.

Hersh said, citing a US official, that Zaluzhny had US backing in holding the talks. Thepotential deal stipulates that Crimea will remain Russian and there will be elections on the territoriesthat were liberated by Russia and then joined the country, the journalist said.

In exchange,Russia could be willing to allow Ukraine to join NATO, with a caveat that NATO would have to commit to "not place NATO troops on Ukrainian soil." The agreement also would not allow NATO to place offensive weapons in Ukraine.

(Wow a Coup against Zelensky’s power, he’s still begging for money though)

https://tass.com/world/1715005?utm_source=duckduckgo.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=duckduckgo.com&utm_referrer=duckduckgo.com

>>20030035

GENERAL TO GENERAL: A potential peace is being negotiated in Ukraine by military leaders

Dec. 1, 2023. Seymour Hersh

It’s been a rough couple of months for President Joe Biden and his feckless foreign policy team. Israel is going its own way in its war against Hamas, with renewed bombing in Gaza, and the American public is bitterly divided, all of which is reflected in polls that continue to be unfavorable to the White House.

Meanwhile, the president and his foreign policy aides have also been left on the outside as serious peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have rapidly gained momentum.

“Everyone in Europe is talking about this”—the peace talks—an American businessman who spent years dealing with high-level Ukrainian diplomatic and military issues in the government told me earlier this week. “But there are lots of questions between a ceasefire and a settlement.”

The veteran journalist Anataol Lieven wrote this week that the battlefield situation in Ukraine and thus “a ceasefire and negotiations for a peace settlement are becoming more and more necessary for Ukraine.” He said that it was “exceptionally difficult” for the Ukrainian government headed by Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to talks, given its repeated refusal to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The driving force of those talks has not been Washington or Moscow, or Biden or Putin, but instead the two high-ranking generals who run the war, Valery Gerasimov of Russia and Valery Zaluzhny of Ukraine….

https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/general-to-general