Saturday March 6, 2021
If you want to know why waste and conflicts of interests are so prevalent in the United States, you need to look no further than the recent report of he Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) on the so-called G222 program.
I wrote about this program in 2013 but we now have the result of the criminal investigation. Under the program, the United States Air Force spent $549 million to buy 20 Italian-made cargo planes for the Afghan government. They were found to be unreliable and turned into scrap metal for $40,257. No action was taken against the company, Alenia North America, or the Air Force General responsible for the outrageous contract (despite a finding of a conflict of interest).
The Justice Department refused to take action because such cases are “unheard of.” Perhaps, but government officials and contractor heard the message loud and clear: there is virtually no contractual waste that you can commit in the United States military that will result in sanctions. This picture from SIGAR is what remains of over half a billion dollars of US taxpayer money.
read on...
Saturday March 6, 2021
Twice in the last six weeks, warnings were issued about imminent, grave threats to public safety posed by the same type of right-wing extremists who rioted at the Capitol on January 6. And both times, these warnings ushered in severe security measures only to prove utterly baseless.
read on...
Friday March 5, 2021
Venezuelan non-president, Juan Guaido, is back in headlines after the new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called him to discuss America's favorite talking points: “a return to democracy” via “free and fair elections.”
I'm sure the irony will not be lost on those who question the legitimacy of the US election that saw Biden take power.
Anyway, you would have to have been offline or in a coma for the past couple of years to not be aware of some key facts about ‘interim president’ Guaido and US “concern” for Venezuelans.
Venezuelans didn't vote for Guaido to be president, he hasn't even stood for president. Venezuelans voted for Maduro. America can huff and puff and whine, but that won't change the reality.
Guaido named himself ‘interim president’, to the support of only roughly 50 countries – leaving a glaring nearly 150 countries not recognizing this Western-groomed stooge as Venezuela's leader.
read on...
Friday March 5, 2021
Some people are criticizing President Biden for the recent US air strikes in Syria as well as his refusal to sanction Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman, the man who US officials have concluded orchestrated the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
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Thursday March 4, 2021
The FBI and Homeland Security are issuing warnings that a second "siege" of the US Capitol may be staged today, citing "chatter" among extremist groups. Does all of this sound like the scare propaganda from the dark days of the "War on Terror"? Endless warnings of "chatter" to justify further restrictions on our liberty like the so-called PATRIOT Act? Are they blowing propaganda smoke or should we be afraid? Today on the Liberty Report...
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Thursday March 4, 2021
If Dr. Seuss is the standard by which all authors are to be judged, make way for the book burnings.
And bring lots of firewood.
Because if Dr. Seuss and his cartoonish characters can’t pass the anti-racism muster of the faces of the left, how can Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” or Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House on the Prairie” series, or J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan,” each with their own set of perceived and real stereotypes and slurs? Even Roald Dahl’s original “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” has inspired criticism over the depiction of the Oompa Loompas as jungle-dwellers. Let’s not forget Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind,” in all its slavery glory, or Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist,” in all its anti-Semitic glory, or Lynne Reid Banks’ “The Indian in the Cupboard,” in all its — well, the title speaks volumes on that one, yes?
The list is endless.
The list can be endless.
Even the Bible speaks to the enslavement of various peoples.
Are we to turn off all the offensive to our ears, in some sort of — futile — attempt to whitewash, er, erase, not just history, but fancy and fiction and flights of imaginations?
read on...
Thursday March 4, 2021
How Russia responds to Israel's attacks on Iranian targets inside Syria could make all the difference as to whether the region boils over into full-scale war or continues to simmer at its current, already dangerous, level.
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Wednesday March 3, 2021
Yesterday's announcement by Texas Governor Greg Abbott that effective March 10th the statewide mask mandate and partial lockdown would be lifted was a huge blow to the lockdowners. There is a feeling of the fall of the Berlin Wal of virus tyranny. But many are left questioning: why the authoritarian over-reach in the first place? Will Abbott be punished politically? Watch today's Liberty Report...
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Wednesday March 3, 2021
We have been discussing erosion of free speech and academic freedom protections at colleges and universities around the United States. Most faculty have been conspicuously silent as their colleagues are attacked, suspended, or even fired for taking opposing views on systemic racism, police brutality, or movements like Black Lives Matter. In Sweden, the response has been quite different after Professor Jonas Ludvigsson, announced that he would stop all further research on Covid-19 after a campaign of abuse and harassment following his study on the low threat that the virus poses to children and teachers. The country is ramping up protections for academics to combat such cancelling campaigns.
Ludvigsson researches and teaches clinical epidemiology at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute. His research is consistent with studies that have long found a low risk to students and teachers. This research was highlighted during the Trump Administration in a call for the resumption of classes but largely ignored by the media. The argument for reopening schools, particularly for young children, was portrayed as political and “not following the science.” Commercial rans that calls to returning to the classroom was tantamount to “murder.” However, the science has been overwhelmingly supportive of such reopening. Indeed, Catholic and other private schools in many states never closed without surges in the virus.
Ludvigsson looked at children from age 1 to 16 during the first wave of COVID-19 and found that only 15 children went to the ICU, for a rate of 0.77 per 100,000. Moreover, in the 1-16 age group, there was only a slight increase from the four-month period before the pandemic to the four-month period following the period.
read on...
Wednesday March 3, 2021
It took an entire year, but lockdowns and mask mandates are officially incredibly unpopular with half of the country, to the point that governors are rapidly making sweeping changes to their year-long COVID-19 policies.
read on...
