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Report: 90% of Online Content May Be AI-Generated Garbage by 2026 – by Lucas Nolan – https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2023/09/03/report-90-of-online-content-may-be-ai-generated-garbage-by-2026/ – “A recent report from Europol warns that by 2026, as much as 90 percent of online content could be generated by artificial intelligence, raising concerns that the web might be even more jammed with useless garbage in a few short years than it is today… Futurism reports that a recent study by Europol suggests that by 2026, up to 90 percent of online content could be artificially generated. This staggering figure has sent ripples through various sectors, from journalism and art to technology and law enforcement. Synthetic media, which refers to content generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence, is not a new phenomenon. However, its rapid proliferation has raised eyebrows and concerns alike… “In most cases, synthetic media is generated for gaming, to improve services or to improve the quality of life,” the report states. While AI-generated content has its merits — such as enhancing user experience in gaming or streamlining customer service — it also opens the door to more nefarious uses. “The increase in synthetic media and improved technology has given rise to disinformation possibilities,” the report adds… The report states: “On a daily basis, people trust their own perception to guide them and tell them what is real and what is not. Auditory and visual recordings of an event are often treated as a truthful account of an event. But what if these media can be generated artificially, adapted to show events that never took place, to misrepresent events, or to distort the truth?” – The report also raises existential questions for artists, writers, and other content creators. In a world increasingly dominated by AI-generated content, what is the role of human creativity? Will artists and writers adapt to this new landscape, or will they be overshadowed by algorithms that can produce content at scale?”
ATF Agents Carrying Rifles Raid Oklahoma Gun Dealer’s Home, Confiscate Guns – by Michael Clements – https://dailynewsfromaolf.substack.com/p/atf-agents-carrying-rifles-raid-oklahoma – “As agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) left Russell Fincher’s house with 50 legally owned firearms and his freshly relinquished Federal Firearms License (FFL), they offered him a tip…. ‘They said, ‘Tell all your FFL friends we’re coming for them next“,’ Mr. Fincher told The Epoch Times…. An ATF spokesman said he could not comment on the June 16, 2023, raid at Mr. Fincher’s home in Tuskahoma, Oklahoma… “We are not allowed to comment pertaining to ongoing investigations. I can assure you once we can discuss the case, you will be notified,” Ashley N. Stephens, resident Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Tulsa Field Office, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times… According to Second Amendment advocacy groups, the raid indicates a coordinated effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to throttle legal gun sales to advance a gun-control agenda… Oklahoma state Rep. J.J. Humphrey is incensed over the raid… He wrote to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, and Pushmataha County Sheriff B.J. Hedgecock on Aug. 17, demanding an investigation… Mr. Humphrey told The Epoch Times that there is a legal term for what the ATF did to get Mr. Fincher to give up his FFL… ‘It’s called extortion. The mob does it, criminals do it, and when you have a badge, that makes it worse,’ Mr. Humphrey said… Mr. Stitt’s office did not respond to emails or telephone calls seeking comment… Spokespersons for the attorney general and Mr. Hedgecock said they are looking into the matter.”
The United Nations Charter Is A Disgrace – by Iain Davis – https://iaindavis.substack.com/p/the-united-nations-charter-is-a-disgrace – “The United Nations (UN) enables global governance and centralises global political power and authority. No national electorate on Earth has ever given their democratic mandate for the UN to create a global governance regime to serve the interests of private capital. But that is precisely what it has done… Any nation, or bloc of nations, that bids for dominance within the United Nations’ regime is seeking to maximise its, or their, influence. But they can never lead the UN because it represents the interests of a global public-private partnership (G3P) dominated by oligarchs, not nation states or their respective populations… In the recent BRICS XV Johannesburg II Declaration, the member states collectively announced: ‘We reiterate our commitment to inclusive multilateralism and upholding international law, including the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations (UN) as its indispensable cornerstone, and the central role of the UN in an international system in which sovereign states cooperate… The BRICS are seeking reform of the UN Security Council in an attempt to load it in their favour. While some might consider this preferable to the current situation, notably neither the governments of China nor Russia are suggesting they forego their Security Council veto powers… The BRICS initiative has already been countermanded by the NATO/G7 aligned efforts, led by the globalist think-tank Chatham House, to accept India and Brazil as permanent members of the UN Security Council, but offset it with the addition of Germany and Japan… Moreover, just like the G7/NATO alliance countries, the BRICS maintain their joint commitment to the UN Charter. The Charter is not the wonderful, emancipating constitution for humanity that the UN and governments would have us believe. On the contrary, it is a key document for the establishment of a system of global tyranny, where nation states are relegated to vassals of an international Criminocracy… Article 2 of the United Nations Charter declares that the UN is ‘based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.’ The Charter then goes on to list the numerous ways in which nation-states are not equal. It also clarifies how they are all subservient to the UN Security Council in matters of international “security.”.. Despite all the UN’s claims of lofty principles—respect for national sovereignty and for alleged human rights—Article 2 declares that no nation-state can receive any assistance from another as long as the UN Security Council is forcing that nation-state to comply with its edicts. Even non-member states must abide by the Charter, whether they like it or not, by decree of the United Nations… The UN Charter is a paradox. Article 2.7 asserts that “nothing in the Charter” permits the UN to infringe the sovereignty of a nation-state—except when it does so through UN “enforcement measures.” The Charter declares, apparently without reason, that all nation-states are “equal.” However, some nation-states are empowered by the Charter to be far more equal than others… While the UN’s General Assembly is supposedly a decision-making forum comprised of “equal” sovereign nations, Article 11 affords the General Assembly only the power to discuss “the general principles of co-operation.” In other words, it has no power to make any significant decisions… Article 12 dictates that the General Assembly can only resolve disputes if instructed to do so by the Security Council. The most important function of the UN, “the maintenance of international peace and security,” can only be dealt with by the Security Council. What the other members of the General Assembly think about the Security Council’s global “security” decisions is a practical irrelevance… The UN Secretary-General, identified as the “chief administrative officer” in the Charter, oversees the UN Secretariat. The Secretariat commissions, investigates and produces the reports that allegedly inform UN decision-making. The Secretariat staff members are appointed by the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General is ‘appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.’.. Under the UN Charter, then, the Security Council represent the regime’s enforcers. This arrangement affords the governments of its present permanent members—China, France, Russia, the UK and the US—considerable additional authority over every other nation. There is nothing egalitarian about the UN Charter… The UN came into being as a result of public-private partnership. Since then, especially with regard to defence, financing, global health care and sustainable development, public-private partnership has come to dominate the UN system… The UN is no longer an intergovernmental organisation, if it ever was one. It is a global collaboration between governments and a multinational infra-governmental network of private ‘stakeholders’.”
Nobel Winner Refutes Climate Change Narrative, Points Out Ignored Factor – by Jan Jekielek and Mimi Nguyen Ly – https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/nobel-winner-refutes-climate-change-narrative-points-out-ignored-factor-5486267 – “Note: this article is behind a paywall. To access it, click This Link, and put the URL above into the search bar… Nobel Prize laureate John Clauser has recently been in the spotlight for challenging prevailing climate models, which he says have ignored a key variable… Mr. Clauser, who recently became a recipient of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to quantum mechanics, holds degrees from Caltech and Columbia University. He served in roles at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the University of California, Berkeley. In 2010, he was honored with a portion of the Wolf Prize in Physics… Recently, Mr. Clauser joined another Nobel laureate and over 1,600 professionals in signing the World Climate Declaration (WCD) organized by Climate Intelligence (CLINTEL). This declaration asserts that there is no “climate emergency,” that climate change science is not conclusive, and that the earth’s history over thousands of years shows a consistently changing climate… The WCD highlights the limitations of current climate models, stating they overemphasize the impact of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2). “In addition, [climate models] ignore the fact that enriching the atmosphere with CO2 is beneficial,” the WCD reads, in part… The declaration further notes that both natural and human activities contribute to climate change and the actual warming observed is less than as predicted by the climate models, revealing our incomplete understanding of climate change… In an interview with The Epoch Times’s “American Thought Leaders,” Mr. Clauser voiced his reservations about current climate research quality and contends that U.S. climate policies are misguided… Clouds – Prominent climate reports, such as those by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), National Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society, emphasize the role of CO2 but miss the mark on the critical role of clouds in the climate system, according to Mr. Clauser… His curiosity about clouds began as a sailboat racer. He recalled, “I raced across the Pacific Ocean at least a dozen times. I had set up the boat with solar panels to charge the batteries. … I had an ammeter on the power output from the solar panels, and I noticed every time we sailed under a cloud, the output from the solar panels dropped by 50 percent to half of its value that it was, and then we came out from behind the cloud and boom, their power went back up. And I thought, ‘I wonder why it’s just about a factor of two.'” – “This is how I became very curious as to how clouds work. When the climate issues came along, I very quickly realized that cloud cover has a profound effect on the earth’s heat input that the clouds are reflecting a massive amount of light back out into space… “And so I read all of the various IPCC reports, National Academy reports on this,” he continued. “As a physicist, I’d worked at some excellent institutions— Caltech, Columbia, Cal Berkeley—where very careful science needed to be done. And reading these reports, I was appalled at how sloppy the work was. And in particular, it was very obvious, even in the earliest reports, and all carried on through to the present, that clouds were not at all understood. … It’s just simply bad science.” – Mr. Clauser highlighted insights from former President Barack Obama’s science adviser, Steve Koonin. In Mr. Koonin’s book, “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters,” the author noted the inconsistency of the IPCC’s 40 computer models, emphasizing their inability to explain the past century’s climate and suggesting that these models lack a crucial piece of physics… ‘The Missing Piece’ – “I believe I have the missing piece of the puzzle that has been left out in virtually all of these computer programs,” he stated. “And that is the effect of clouds.” – While many theories of anthropogenic climate change focus primarily on the impact of human-produced CO2, Mr. Clauser argues that these models overlook the significance of cloud dynamics… He referenced the 2003 National Academy report, which, he said, “totally admitted” its lack of understanding about clouds, and made “a whole series of mistaken statements regarding the effects of clouds.” – Drawing attention to Al Gore’s film, “The Inconvenient Truth,” Mr. Clauser noted, “[Mr. Gore] insists on talking about a cloud-free earth … That’s a totally artificial Earth.” According to Mr. Clauser, this cloudless portrayal of the earth reflects the approach taken by many in the climate science community… “That’s a totally artificial Earth. It is a totally artificial case for using a model, and this is pretty much what the IPCC and others use—a cloud free earth.” – Mr. Clauser pointed out that satellite images consistently show wide variances in cloud cover, which can span anywhere from five to 95 percent of the Earth’s surface… Effect of Clouds Compared to CO2 – Clouds play a paramount role in regulating the Earth’s temperature, serving as a “cloud-sunlight-reflectivity thermostat” that “controls the climate, controls the temperature of the earth, and stabilizes it very powerfully and very dramatically,” asserts Mr. Clauser… With two-thirds of the Earth being oceanic, the ocean becomes instrumental in cloud formation, he said… Minimal clouds result in heightened sunlight exposure to the ocean, triggering increased evaporation and subsequent cloud formation, resulting in more clouds. On the contrary, abundant clouds reduce this sunlight, thus curbing evaporation rates and cloud formation, resulting in fewer clouds, Mr. Clauser explains… This balance acts like a natural thermostat for the earth’s temperature, he said… Mr. Clauser contends that this “thermostat” mechanism has a vastly greater influence on Earth’s temperature than the effect of CO2 or methane. He presented to The Epoch Times preliminary calculations that suggest that the impact of this cloud-reflectivity mechanism might overshadow CO2’s influence by more than 100 or even 200 times… All clouds, irrespective of their altitude or type, appear bright white when viewed from the direction of the sun, according to Mr. Clauser. They typically reflect almost 90 percent of incoming sunlight, he said. The reflectivity fraction is referred to as albedo. The albedo has been inaccurately kept constant in various climate models, Mr. Clauser argues… He finds it baffling how these significant variations, ranging from five to 95 percent cloud cover, have been overlooked.”
FDA Clears New COVID-19 Vaccines in Bid to Counter Waning Effectiveness – by Zachary Stieber – https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/fda-authorizes-new-covid-19-vaccines-in-bid-to-counter-waning-effectiveness-5487196 – “Note: this article is behind a paywall. To access it, click This Link, and put the URL above into the search bar… U.S. drug regulators on Sept. 11 cleared new COVID-19 vaccines to try to counter the poor effectiveness the current options provide… The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared shots from Moderna and Pfizer that will be available to Americans as young as 6 months old later this month… “Vaccination remains critical to public health and continued protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death,” Dr. Peter Marks, a top FDA official, said in a statement. “We very much encourage those who are eligible to consider getting vaccinated.” – The FDA approved the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for people aged 12 and older. Regulators granted emergency authorization for the shots for people aged 6 months to 11 years… There was no mention of Novavax, whose vaccine is also currently available in the United States… The shots target XBB.1.5, a subvariant of the Omicron virus variant. That subvariant has already largely been displaced by newer strains, including EG.5, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)… The authorizations came despite a dearth of data from clinical trials… Moderna stated that in a trial, its new shot induced immune responses against EG.5, also known as Eris, and other newer variants… Pfizer stated that preclinical data have shown that antibodies generated by its new vaccine “effectively neutralize” EG.5… The new shots were authorized based on studies on neutralizing antibody levels that appeared to show “a similar magnitude to the extent of neutralization observed with prior versions of the vaccines against corresponding prior variants against which they had been developed to provide protection,” the FDA stated. “This suggests that the vaccines are a good match for protecting against the currently circulating COVID-19 variants.” – The CDC plans to meet with its advisers on Sept. 12 to consider which populations it should recommend receive the new vaccines. If the panel recommends a vaccine, the federal government must pay for it… Many countries have suggested that younger, healthy people not receive COVID-19 vaccinations as the disease has died down… The United Kingdom, for instance, in August, said that vaccination this fall was recommended only for select groups, including people designated as at-risk… The CDC scaled back its recommendations earlier this year for some populations… CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said earlier this year that the CDC was poised to recommend annual COVID-19 shots… Pfizer and Moderna have said the new shots will cost about $110 to $130… Number of Shots – The new vaccinations are cleared for varying numbers of shots, depending on age group and prior vaccination… People aged 5 years and older, whether or not they’ve received a vaccine, are eligible to receive a single dose of one of the new shots… Children aged 6 months through 4 years who have previously been vaccinated can receive one or two doses of one of the new vaccines… Children in that age group who have not been vaccinated can receive three doses of the new Pfizer vaccine or two doses of the new Moderna vaccine… Another Replacement – The FDA cleared, and the CDC recommended, updated shots in the fall of 2022 amid waning effectiveness… Those shots were bivalent, containing components of the Wuhan strain and Omicron… Those shots have not performed well against infection or severe disease, according to observational data. They were authorized and recommended based on animal testing… Just 17 percent of the U.S. population had received a bivalent dose as of May 10, the most recent date the CDC lists data for. Some doctors have opted against receiving them… The FDA stated that it expects to update the vaccines on an annual basis, as it does with influenza vaccines… A survey of more than 2,000 adults in Arizona found that the primary reason for not receiving a bivalent was having protection from prior infection… Other common reasons included wariness about side effects and belief that the booster would not add protection… Novavax – Novavax said its newer shot performed well against newer variants, but the FDA didn’t clear it. Novavax said in a statement that its updated vaccine is “under review” by the FDA… “We still expect to be available this fall and anticipate we will be a player for the season,” a Novavax spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email… An FDA spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email: “Questions about the application’s current status may be directed to the company. As the FDA has done throughout the pandemic, we will make information available as appropriate.” – Criticism – Some experts have criticized U.S. authorities for clearing the new shots without strong data… “There’s essentially no data,” Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo said at a recent press conference. “Not only that, but there are a lot of red flags.” – He pointed to studies finding that the effectiveness of the vaccines turns negative over time… Other papers have found that the vaccines cause cardiac problems such as heart inflammation, the doctor noted… “It’s truly irresponsible for FDA, CDC, and others to be championing something … when we don’t know the implications of it,” he said… Dr. Paul Offit, an FDA adviser, suggested to the Daily Mail that younger, healthy people who have already been vaccinated don’t need one of the new doses… “We are best served by targeting these booster doses to those who are most at risk of severe disease,” such as people older than 75, Dr. Offit said. “Boosting otherwise healthy young people is a low-risk, low-reward strategy.” – (Underlined Emphases added) – Comment: The FDA is “approving” these shots despite a lack of clinical trials or anything approaching an “Emergency Use” (No Emergency!) approval.”
The Legitimization of Child Abuse – by Paul Craig Roberts – https://thealtworld.com/paul_craig_roberts/the-legitimization-of-child-abuse – “It is extraordinary how concern with child abuse has altered over the past 25-40 years. In culling my overgrown library, I came across documents and articles about the frame-up of the Amirault family in the Fells Acre day care case during the 1980s and the Wenatchee, Washington child abuse in the 1990s witch hunt that I played a role in exposing… The creation of Child Protective Services at the insistent of “child advocates” created a new government bureaucracy with little to do. “Child advocates” fantasized that children were routinely raped by their parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, Sunday school teachers, and child care providers. With the new bureaucracy in place, perpetrators of child abuse had to be found in order to justify the agency and its budget… In Wenatchee seeing opportunity a corrupt police detective, Robert Perez, pressured his 13-year old daughter to bring rape accusations. She later recanted, but not before many parents and the local pastor, Robert Roberson and his wife, were accused of organized rape of children. Children were taken from their homes and put into fraudulent “recovered memory therapy” used to convince them that they had been raped… The corrupt Child Protection Services agency and prosecutor could not make the false charges stick against Pastor Robertson and his wife, but large numbers of parents who were poor were convicted, sent to prison and their children taken into custody… Pastor Robertson or his attorney or someone contacted me, and I investigated the story. I wrote about it extensively, and the Wall Street Journal and even the Reader’s Digest joined in. The fraudulent convictions were exposed, and courts freed all those imprisoned. I was interested to see that in Wikipedia’s account my role in exposing the false convictions is not mentioned. They have many ways to disappear you… I provide this brief history to remind that children were so overprotected by authorities as to result in many wrongful convictions of innocent adults… Now look at what child abuse consists of today. Parents who object to their children being brainwashed and indoctrinated in public schools into thinking they are in the wrong physical body and parents who object to the chemical castration of their sons, to having their daughters breasts removed, to having their children injected with substances to suppress their natural sexual development are said to be child abusers and have their children taken away from them. To be clear, child abuse is now institutionalized by authorities who commit child abuse, and parents are unable to protect their children from the abuse… It only required a few years for those destroying our civilization to create virtue out of sin… Child abuse is being legitimized in another dangerous way. Pedophilia until only yesterday was the sin of sins. Today it is well on its way to normalization. You are no longer supposed to call pedophiles pedophiles. Their new designation is “minor attracted person.” As the explanation goes, a minor attracted person’s sexual needs are just as legitimate as a heterosexual person’s, a lesbian’s, a homosexuals, a bisexuals, and a tranny’s. There is no difference. It was obvious that once homosexuality was legitimized, all other perversions would follow… If children can decide (with the aide of indoctrination) that they are in the wrong body, they can also decide if they want to have sex with adults. According to authorities, it is the parents who object who are oppressing the children and, thereby are guilty of child abuse… One of the books I came across is about the assault on the family. It has been going on for a long time, and today is more or less institutionalized. Why has this been permitted? Why is there no protection for the family, only offense against it? Why is government authority arrayed against the family? Today defenders of family, the basic unit of civilization, are portrayed as dangers to children’s rights and society… The situation today is that intellectuals, Democrat Party, government at all levels, and the presstitutes, are against the family, because the family is the basis of social stability, and the agenda is to destroy social stability in the interest of elite control as advocated by the WEA’a Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, George Soros and many others who learned at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Stanford and so many other indoctrination centers that Western Civilization is racist and evil and must be destroyed… Western civilization is being destroyed in front of our eyes, and no one is doing anything about it.”
Blinken: US Does Not Oppose Ukrainian Attacks Inside Russia With US-Supplied Missiles – by Caitlin Johnstone – https://thealtworld.com/caitlin_johnston/blinken-us-does-not-oppose-ukrainian-attacks-inside-russia-with-us-supplied-missiles – “During an appearance on ABC’s This Week with Jonathan Karl, Secretary of State Tony Blinken explicitly said that the US would not oppose Ukraine using US-supplied longer-range missiles to attack deep inside Russian territory, a move that Moscow has previously called a “red line” which would make the United States a direct party to the conflict… ‘We understand that the United States is considering sending those long-range missiles that Ukraine has been asking for for a long time,’ Karl said in the interview. ‘These are long-range missiles, 200 miles in range. Are you okay if those missiles allow Ukraine to attack deep into Russian territory?’ – ‘In terms of their targeting decisions, it’s their decision, not ours,’ answered Blinken after some bloviation… ‘We’ve seen an increasing number of attacks on Russian territory by Ukrainian drones, some in Moscow, Rostov-on-Don just a couple of days ago. Did you bring that up?’ asked Karl… ‘No,’ said Blinken… ‘Are you — are you okay with — I mean, obviously, they’re — it’s their decisions, but is this war now escalating into Russia?’ asked Karl… ‘Jon, we haven’t encouraged and we haven’t enabled any use of weapons outside of Ukraine’s territory,’ Blinken said. ‘Having said that, let’s take a step back for a second. Virtually every single day the Russians are attacking indiscriminately throughout the entire country of Ukraine. Just during the 48 hours that I was there going in, more missiles were launched at civilian targets, including in Kyiv while I was there; a horrific attack on a marketplace, people just going to buy food, civilians, had nothing to do with this war — killed 17 people. This is the daily life for Ukrainians. This is what they face every single day. So they have to make the basic decisions about how they’re going to defend their territory and how they’re working to take back what’s been seized from them. Our role, the role of dozens of other countries around the world that are supporting them, is to help them do that. And ultimately, what we all want is an end to this Russian aggression and an end to the aggression that, again, is just and is durable. That’s what Ukrainians want more than anyone else. That’s what we’re working toward.’ – The interview then concluded without any further follow-up from Karl. By successfully winding down the clock babbling about what Ukraine has a right to do, Blinken avoided discussing the real issue of what the US itself is doing. Nobody disputes that Ukraine has a right to attack Russian territory; Russia is attacking Ukrainian territory, so of course Ukraine has a right to retaliate. That is not being seriously debated anywhere. What’s being debated is whether the US should be backing those attacks, because doing so could lead to nuclear war… A year ago when Ukraine first started urging the United States to send it the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) — which has nearly four times the range of the HIMARS weapons the US has been supplying — Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova immediately responded with a warning that their use on Russian territory would make the US a direct participant in the conflict, and Russia would respond accordingly… ‘If Washington decides to supply longer-range missiles to Kyiv, then it will be crossing a red line, and will become a direct party to the conflict,’ Zakharova said, adding that Russia ‘reserves the right to defend its territory.’ – As Michael Tracey noted on Twitter, Blinken was saying last year that Ukraine had provided assurances to the US that it would not use the other weapons systems the US has been supplying ‘against targets on Russian territory.’ Going by Blinken’s current statements and the attacks we’ve been seeing from Ukraine inside the Russian Federation, this agreement appears no longer to be in place.”
Not So Easy Being Green: Biden Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm Encounters Charging Woes, Angry Families on Electric Vehicle Promotion Tour – “One month after Jennifer Granholm encouraged Americans to purchase electric vehicles for their summer road trips, the energy secretary embarked on an EV trip of her own to promote the wonders of green driving. It did not go well. – by Collin Anderson – https://freebeacon.com/energy/not-so-easy-being-green-jennifer-granholm-encounters-charging-woes-angry-families-on-electric-vehicle-promotion-tour/ – During one leg of the June trip, NPR reported Sunday, Granholm planned to stop at a public charging station outside of Augusta, Georgia, before continuing northwest to Athens. Before Granholm arrived, however, her staff realized the station would not be able to accommodate Granholm’s caravan—one charger was broken and others were in use. Granholm’s team responded by using a gas-powered car to block the public from accessing the station’s only available charger, prompting one family—which had a baby in the car on a hot Georgia day—to call the police… The revelation reflects the electric vehicle issues that are plaguing the Biden administration’s prized green energy transition. President Joe Biden has worked to spur EV adoption by spending hundreds of billions of dollars on charging infrastructure and other green subsidies, but the effort is yet to deliver a reliable public charging experience for everyday Americans. Public charging stations are often broken and crowded, and when they do work, it can still take hours to fully charge a vehicle… Still, those issues did not stop Granholm in May from advising road-tripping Americans to purchase an electric vehicle. Beyond the charging woes associated with the vehicles, that purchase is an expensive one—Granholm’s June caravan of EVs included a Ford F-150 Lightning and a Cadillac Lyriq, according to NPR, both of which can cost upwards of $60,000. As a result, less than one-fifth of Americans say they’re very likely to make their next vehicle an electric one, according to an Associated Press poll published in April… In a statement sent to the Washington Free Beacon, the Energy Department touted Biden’s $7 billion investment into “reliable EV charging infrastructure” and did not address Granholm’s tour… Granholm’s Georgia charging fiasco was not the only headache the Biden administration official experienced during her June trip, which saw her visit Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. Granholm’s pricey Cadillac Lyriq developed a “hardware issue” that made it difficult to charge, NPR reported. Granholm also encountered faulty chargers in Tennessee… “It’s just par for the course,” one electric vehicle driver told NPR after waiting for Granholm to charge her fleet of vehicles in Georgia… Granholm’s botched electric vehicle promotion tour did not stop the former Michigan governor from praising the Biden administration’s green transition. Just week’s after the tour’s conclusion, Granholm said Biden’s green energy spending ‘is delivering clean energy savings, battery investments, EV charging infrastructure, and more.’ – Eventually, Biden’s green energy push will bring mandates, not just subsidies. The Democrat’s Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have both proposed rules that would effectively force automakers to ensure that two-thirds of the vehicles they sell are electric by 2032. Republicans have pledged to prohibit those rules.”
Not So Fast Karen: Federal Judge Blocks New Mexico Governor’s “Health Emergency” To Suspend Gun Rights – by Tyler Durden – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/not-so-fast-karen-federal-judge-blocks-new-mexico-governors-health-emergency-ban-guns – “The ruling comes after both the state AG and various other officials said they’d refuse to enforce it, AP reports… The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Judge David Urias marks a setback for Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham as she responds to several recent shootings that took the lives of children, including an 11-year-old boy as he left a minor league baseball game in Albuquerque. –AP… The order has been slammed on both sides of the aisle, as even gun-grabbing Democrats like Ted Lieu called it unconstitutional, and far-left rag Slate says it’s “already backfiring… “Lawsuits have been filed, calls for impeachment have been sounded, and now, famed 2nd Amendment author and economist John R. Lott Jr. has chimed in with a dose of sanity… As he writes in RealClear Wire: After several road rage cases claimed the lives of children this summer, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham suspended the open and concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque and throughout Bernalillo County for the next 30 days. Grisham’s response will not make New Mexicans safer. Indeed, the opposite is true… None of the attacks that Grisham can point to involved permit holders. That’s not too surprising – permit holders in New Mexico and the rest of the country are exceptionally law-abiding. In 2021, there was just one revocation for every 45,000 permit holders in New Mexico. Nor was that an outlier. In 2019 and 2020, there were no revocations… For criminals, it is already illegal to carry guns. All Grisham’s edict does is make it illegal for law-abiding citizens to carry… Academic research shows that police are the most important factor in reducing crime. However, the police understand that they virtually always arrive at the crime scene after the crime occurs, as one recent road rage incident illustrates. At the end of August, a law-abiding citizen with a permit used his gun to protect himself from a road rage attack near Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico… The Albuquerque police department doesn’t have enough officers to answer every call for help. Police Chief Harold Medina acknowledges that Albuquerque ranks at the bottom of cities in police officers per capita. And by the end of 2021, Albuquerque had only 70% of the number of police officers that it should have. When the police cannot protect people, the solution is not to disarm law-abiding citizens… Albuquerque’s murder rate has soared by 70% while Grisham has been governor. But instead of addressing the problems created by Democrats’ attitudes toward law enforcement, Grisham blames the crime surge on law-abiding gun owners… There are now over 22 million concealed handgun permit holders nationwide, and we have decades of data on the behavior of permit holders. Some other states have especially detailed data. In Florida and Texas, permit holders are convicted of firearms-related violations at one-twelfth the rate at which police officers are. And police are convicted at just one-twentieth of the rate for the general population at large… The average concealed carry permit revocation rate in the 19 states with comprehensive data is one-tenth of one percent. Usually, revocations occur because someone moves, dies, or forgets to bring the permit while carrying.”
IRS Launches “Sweeping, Historic” Tax Enforcement Crackdown Using AI – by Tom Ozimek – https://www.activistpost.com/2023/09/irs-launches-sweeping-historic-tax-enforcement-crackdown-using-ai.html – “The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that, thanks to a new funding boost, it’s launching a “sweeping, historic” tax enforcement initiative using artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies to catch tax evaders more effectively… “There is a sea change taking place at the IRS in every aspect of our operations,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a Sept. 8 statement, which notes that the tax agency has completed a top-to-bottom review of its enforcement efforts and is girding to catch people “abusing the nation’s tax laws,” thanks in part to cutting-edge tech… “The changes will be driven with the help of improved technology as well as Artificial Intelligence that will help IRS compliance teams better detect tax cheating, identify emerging compliance threats and improve case selection tools to avoid burdening taxpayers with needless ‘no-change’ audits,” Mr. Werfel said… The new enforcement thrust is said to focus on higher-earning Americans and big corporations, with the IRS pledging not to increase audit rates for people earning less than $400,000 per year… This has been an oft-repeated promise in the face of Republican assertions that working-class taxpayers would be subjected to tougher enforcement thanks to the tens of billions of dollars in additional IRS funding… As part of the new enforcement crackdown, the tax agency said that it would prioritize cases involving taxpayers earning over $1 million but with recognized tax debt of more than $250,000… The IRS said that, as it expands its effort to target higher-earning Americans, it has already identified 1,600 or so millionaires who owe hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes—in part thanks to the deployment of cutting-edge technology… The IRS’ AI Facelift… The IRS said it expects AI tools to help boost tax enforcement of large partnerships, in particular… To that end, complex computer algorithms have already been used by the agency to assist with identifying targets for tax enforcement… The IRS said that “cutting-edge machine learning technology” has already played a role in helping the agency flag and open investigations into 75 of the largest partnerships in the United States, each with over $10 billion in assets on average… “With the help of AI, the selection of these returns is the result of groundbreaking collaboration among experts in data science and tax enforcement, who have been working side-by-side to apply cutting-edge machine learning technology to identify potential compliance risk in the areas of partnership tax, general income tax and accounting, and international tax in a taxpayer segment that historically has been subject to limited examination coverage,” the IRS said in the announcement.”
Official Worldwide Gov. Reports prove COVID Vaccination is causing Depopulation at a frightening rate – by The Expose – https://expose-news.com/2023/09/13/government-reports-prove-depopulation-by-covid-vaccination/ – “If we are to believe that the huge increase in deaths in 2020 was because of the emergence of the alleged Covid-19 virus, then one would expect the so-called “life-saving” vaccine, that has been rolled out worldwide and injected into the arms of millions multiple times, to have reduced the number of excess deaths being recorded across the world dramatically… So why is it that the year 2022 has officially been a record-breaking year in terms of death for countries across Europe? – According to official statistics published by 28 countries across the continent, Europe has recorded over 193,000 more excess deaths so far this year than it normally recorded prior to the alleged emergence of Covid-19… The continent has also suffered nearly 30,000 more excess deaths than it recorded in 2020 at the height of the alleged Covid-19 pandemic and nearly 27,000 more excess deaths than it recorded in 2021… The statistics do not include the country of Ukraine so the increased number of deaths can not be blamed on the deaths of Ukrainians in the ongoing war in the country… It appears instead that the record-breaking increase in deaths can be attributed to the fact that so many children and young adults are now dying alongside a persistent increase in deaths among all other age groups… Is it just a coincidence that the increase in deaths among children started to occur as soon as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the Covid-19 injection for 12 to 15-year-olds? – Is it just a coincidence that that increase in deaths among children levelled out just prior to the EMA approving the Covid-19 injection for 5 to 11-year-old children, and then shot up again in the weeks after? – Helpful statistics published by the UK Government on deaths by Covid-19 vaccination status strongly suggest it is far from a coincidence, with each and every single age group in England proving to have the lowest mortality rates per 100,000 people among the unvaccinated… This means we have indisputable evidence that the Covid-19 injections are killing people, and with over 193,000 extra excess deaths across Europe this year, we are quite possibly witnessing depopulation due to Covid-19 vaccination unfold before our very eyes… Let’s first take a look at the mortality rates by vaccination status that have been quietly published by the UK Government. The rates apply to people in England, but there’s no reason to believe that this same trend isn’t being seen worldwide… A UK Government agency, known as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), recently published new data on deaths by vaccination status in England. The dataset is titled ‘Deaths by Vaccination Status, England, 1 January 2021 to 31 May 2022‘, and it can be accessed on the ONS site here, and downloaded here… Table 6 of the dataset contains data on deaths involving Covid-19, deaths not involving Covid-19 and all-cause deaths by age group in England between 1st January 2021 and 31st May 2022, and it includes the number of deaths among children aged 10 to 14 by vaccination status, and teenagers aged 15 to 19 by vaccination status.In regard to Covid-19 deaths, the ONS reveals that the mortality rate among unvaccinated children aged 10 to 14 equates to 0.31. But in regards to one-dose vaccinated children the mortality rate equates to 3.24 per 100,000 person-years, and in regards to triple vaccinated children the mortality rate equates to a shocking 41.29 per 100,000 person-years… These figures reveal that unvaccinated children are much less likely to die of Covid-19 than children who have had the Covid-19 injection… And unfortunately, there is little improvement when it comes to non-Covid-19 deaths.”
The West appears to be preparing another regime change ‘uprising’ in Syria – There are new signs of a foreign-sponsored destabilization with the intent to repeat the 2011 ‘revolution’ – by Eva K Bartlett – https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2023/09/12/the-west-appears-to-be-preparing-another-regime-change-uprising-in-syria/– Twelve years on, the West’s war on Syria continues, with seemingly new plans to destabilize the country and overthrow its leadership. This after years of brutal sanctions against (and crocodile tears for) the Syrian people… Earlier this year, a discussion between journalist Edward Xu and Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general, went viral when Xu’s questions led to a bold-faced display of feigned ignorance on the UN spokesman’s part. Asked whether he thought the presence of the US military in Syria was illegal or not, Haq stammered out, “There’s no US armed forces inside of Syria…I believe there’s military activity, but in terms of a ground presence in Syria, I’m not aware of that.” – Xu had referred to a US airstrike the day prior that had killed 11 people in Syria and asked for Haq’s comment on whether or not Syria’s territorial integrity should be respected. Haq called for “foreign forces” to exercise restraint, but presumably he didn’t mean US forces – since, of course, according to him, none were there… Haq’s claim of not being aware of the illegal presence of at least 900 US troops on the ground in Syria is contradicted by US officials’ statements clearly indicating such a presence exists and will remain for “many, many, years and decades to come,” as General Mark Milley, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in late August. Of course the US has no plans of leaving Syria – why would it, when there are so many natural resources left to plunder (oil, gas, wheat…), as the US and its proxies have been doing for years. Former President Donald Trump even bragged about this in November 2019, saying, “We’re keeping the oil…We left troops behind only for the oil.” – While the Xu-Haq exchange took place last March, it remains very relevant today as the US and its allies gear up to cause more instability in Syria, with the same old goal of overthrowing the Syrian government… Syria 2011 destabilization ‘protests’ anew? – British journalist Vanessa Beeley recently reported on potential new Western efforts to destabilize Syria, fomenting unrest much like in 2011. But this time, the unrest is being fomented in Sweida province, with Israel playing an instrumental role, she said… In a subsequent interview on Redacted, Beeley stated the number of US military personnel and contractors on the ground in northeast Syria is somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000. The US, she said, continues to use al-Tanf, its illegal military base in the southeast of the country on the borders with Iraq and Jordan, to train still more militants to eventually have them take control over part of the Syrian-Jordanian border and thus close off an important land border for Syria… Worse still is the prospect of Syria 2011 all over, with the US and allies, “training 16,000 Druze fighters in Sweida,” with the intent of sowing chaos as in 2011. “There is a very small minority here that is – with the backing of Israel and the US – looking for autonomy, very similar to the Kurdish project in the northeast, and a federalist project to separate them from the Syrian State and to create an independent statelet,” Beeley said. “This is part of the US-Israeli plan to Balkanize Syria and divide it into warring statelets. This movement is basically now being power multiplied by the US at al-Tanf.”… She also highlighted a recent visit by three US congressmen to a district in northern Syria controlled by terrorist factions, pointing out that they had entered Syria illegally (as Western politicians and corporate media prefer to do) to fraternize with terrorist groups (as Western politicians and media prefer to do)… Syrian analyst Kevork Almassian recently commented on the Sweida protests, noting that “the leaders of the protesters are calling for political decentralization, which is the fancy word for partition and autonomy of the province from Damascus.” – Syria’s economy is in shambles now, largely a result of the US-led war on Syria and years of steadily more brutal Western sanctions. “Can someone please explain to me how political decentralization will solve the [economic] misery, and why no one from these leaders of the protesters are asking the EU the US to lift the draconian sanctions against them that is causing all this misery?” Almassian asked… “Why is no one from these so-called leaders of the protesters saying let’s go and liberate the eastern shore of the Euphrates from the American occupation forces who are occupying their oil and wheat fields?”
FTAC: A unit run by a handful of psychiatrists who are monitoring the British public for people who they deem to be a risk to MPs – by Rhoda Wilson – https://expose-news.com/2023/09/13/ftac-a-unit-run-by-a-handful-of-psychiatrists/ – “The Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (“FTAC”) is a joint NHS/Metropolitan unit – except it is not run by either the National Health Service (“NHS”) or the police… It is run by a small group of five psychiatrists known as Fixated Research Group (“FRG”) – only two of whom are British. Yet this small, mainly non-British, group monitors British citizens who challenge politicians and get too close… If this group deems a member of the public to be a risk to a politician, or a “fixated loner,” they will most likely deem that person mentally ill and can request a psychiatric or psychological evaluation, or even have a member of the British public sectioned… On Friday, UK Column News’ Brian Gerrish raised the topic of FTAC. Gerrish first looked at this joint NHS/Metropolitan Police unit ten years ago. At that time the unit only “managed the risk” posed by adults. But recently it has expanded its operations to cases involving children… In the video below, the 12-minute section on FTAC begins at timestamp 17:23. You can find the show notes to accompany UK Column News’ broadcast on its website HERE… FTAC was set up to set up in October 2006 by the Home Office, the Department of Health and the Metropolitan Police Service to assess and manage the risk to politicians, members of the British Royal Family, and other public figures from obsessive people. It begins work when a public figure receives a threatening communication. In practice “manage the risk” may not be as kindly as the term suggests… In 2009, relating to the case of Maurice Kirk, UK Column’s Mike Robinson wrote: “The Fixated Threat Assessment Centre is there to make sure that in circumstances such as [Maurice Kirk], instead of prosecuting a charge in the courts, the charge is used as an excuse for a corrupt judge to order psychological and psychiatric assessments. All it takes is for some so-called psychiatrist to say that he feels an assessment should take place, and before you know it, you’re ‘Sectioned’.” Maurice Kirk – Fixated Threat? UK Column, 10 May 2009.. On FTAC’s website, it states: “This site is operated by the Fixated Research Group and is independent from the Metropolitan Police Service and NHS provider organisations.” – On its website, the Fixated Research Group (“FRG”) identifies that the main risk to elected politicians comes not from terrorist or criminal groups, but from fixated loners. “So, if you think you’re going to get too close and challenge a politician, and too regularly, you need to be careful because this unit is going to be on you,” Gerrish said… FRG assumes that “the majority of fixated loners are mentally ill.” Among the risks which need to be assessed, FRG states: Disruption: the risk that the behaviours will disrupt a person’s ability to go about their normal lives and duties, or disrupt public events… Attention to inappropriate communications and approaches to public figures is a way of identifying seriously ill people who have fallen through the care net… Looking at the above in the round, “This is getting very close to anybody who dares stand up to their MP,” Gerrish said.”
The US Air Force Is Clearing Out Jungles In The Pacific To Prepare For War With China – by Caitlin Johnstone – https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-us-air-force-is-clearing-out – “The US Air Force is clearing out jungles in the Pacific and replacing them with airfields for its coming war with China, because there exist people on this earth who look at a jungle and think, “This should be replaced with an airfield to prepare for a war with China.” – There are people on this earth who say, “You know the world would be a much better place if all these trees and exotic insects and birds were replaced with long stretches of concrete lined with nuclear bombers on high alert.” – There are people on this earth who see bulldozing rainforests to make way for war planes as much simpler and easier than just making peace… There are people on this earth who would spend their entire lives making up new excuses to fight new enemies, and then tear up every inch of the biosphere looking for ways to defeat those enemies… There are people on this earth who would rather wipe out all biodiversity than allow for any diversity in world leadership… There are people on this earth who would rather rule supreme over a wasteland of irradiated dust and ashes than see the rise of a multipolar world… There are people on this earth who would rather annihilate everything than take a brief moment to pause and look inward. … There are people on this earth who would rather stare down the barrel of nuclear armageddon than turn and stare at themselves… There are people on this earth who would light the skies on fire before they’d take even a minute to just be here now… There are people on this earth who would rather destroy everything than make peace with anything… There are people on this earth who look at the staggering beauty of the natural world and think how wonderful it would be if they could tear it all down and funnel it into a factory to make Tomahawk missiles… The biosphere is dying, and we are hurtling toward nuclear war, and it is so very, very heartbreaking, and yet even in the midst of that heartbreak nature shines as majestically as ever, and some moments all you can do is take in the beauty and take it as your solemn, sacred duty to appreciate it while it lasts,and look at the trees and the bugs and the birds and the critters who never had anything to do with this madness, and bow as deeply as your body can bow, and say I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Is the Almighty US Dollar About to Take a Fall? – BRICS alliance is seeking a multipolar global financial system – by Philip Giraldi – https://thealtworld.com/philip_giraldi/is-the-almighty-us-dollar-about-to-take-a-fall – August 23rd was a big news day all over the world. The western media’s focus on the events of that day was solidly on the unproven claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind the sabotage or shooting down of an executive jet that killed his former associate Yevgeny Prigozhin. In reality, however, there was a far more important story that was coming out of South Africa. In fact, Putin had a far more important job to do on that day due to his desire to make progress in stripping the United States of its dollar hegemony. Putin was engaged by videolink in the discussions taking place in Johannesburg regarding expanding the so-called BRICS monetary union, in part to include measures that would diminish the dominance of the dollar in the world economy. That objective would have been damaged severely if Putin had been implicated in the spectacular public assassination of a rival on the same day as the BRICS meeting that would have been not only an embarrassment but also very damaging vis-a-vis his credibility as a statesman. If Putin had really wanted to kill Prigozhin, there were less politically damaging ways to do so and as of this writing the cause of the airplane crash remains unknow. By one theory, the death of Prigozhin was carried out by an airplane bomb planted by US or British intelligence working with Ukrainian agents inside Russia to discredit the Russian leader, knowing that even if he were innocent he would be blamed for the killing, which is precisely how the story has been developing in the US and Europe… The name BRICS comes from an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill reportedly coined the term BRIC (without South Africa) in 2001 and the group was set up a few years later using the acronym. Recently, the drive to expand BRICS has gained momentum as a result of the completely avoidable Ukraine war. The venerable status quo for international finance was developed in the wake of the Second World War at Bretton-Woods, where the instruments of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were created, to include endorsing the dollar as the de facto world reserve currency for many transactions. The entire structure is, by design, managed by a transatlantic capitalist cabal based in Washington… There is currently only limited competition to the IMF and World Bank in the global marketplace for credit, loans, issuance of money and capital, the power to grow and develop economies, project finance, and to stay competitive with the influx of much needed capital to house, clothe, educate, or feed the people of the world. And the United States knows that and usesThe BRICS banking model, based as it is on a multipolar world with multiple currencies and lending arrangements, has offered an alternative to this out-of-control monster of a global banking monopoly maintained by the IMF. This is why 132 nations, which had been calling on the UN for a new financial model, immediately saw hope in the BRICS alternative banking and financing initiatives which began to take shape in 2015. Within the first year, 57 countries formally joined the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), constituting the first total break from the Western Bretton Woods institutions, with initial capitalization of the BRICS New Development Bank stated to be $100 billion… So BRICS has been around in its current form for about eight years, but interest in it exploded with events surrounding the start of the Ukraine War. A little over a year and a half ago, the US responded to the Russian intervention in Ukraine by using its control over the international banking system to slap sanctions on Moscow’s financial assets around the world, including freezing billions of dollars in banks in New York. By one estimate, $1 trillion in Russian assets were frozen and Russian banks were also denied access to the SWIFT global messaging service that connects financial institutions and facilitates rapid and secure payments. Washington subsequently announced that the frozen money would not be returned and would be instead used for Ukraine’s reconstruction. That set off warning lights all around the world, though there had already been similar behavior on the part of the US in relation to Iranian and Venezuelan assets. Many were asking the question “If they can do it to a great power like Russia they can also do it to me to punish me? What should I do?” Of course the simple answer is to get out of dollars as a reserve currency, though that was something difficult to do as most energy sales and purchases continue to be, by arrangement, denominated in dollars. Hence the transition to BRICS away from dollars, permitting financial transactions in a range of currencies.”
9/11 Unanswered Questions: Mysterious September 11, 2001 Breakfast Meeting on Capitol Hill – by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky – https://michelchossudovsky.substack.com/p/911-unanswered-questions – “Author’s Note: While the Joint inquiry (under the helm of Bob Graham and Porter Goss) had collected mountains of intelligence material, through careful omission, the numerous press and intelligence reports in the public domain (mainstream media, alternative media, etc), which confirm that key members of the Bush Administration were involved in acts of political camouflage, were carefully removed from the Joint inquiry’s hearings... In retrospect, the mission of Porter Goss and Bob Graham to Pakistan in late August 2001 (which was documented in my earlier writings) was part of the preparation of the propaganda campaign, with a view to sustaining the official narrative, i.e. “Al Qaeda was behind the conspiracy to bring down the WTC towers, Muslims did it”, etc., which essentially sustains the official 9/11 narrative… The following text published by Global Research in 2002 provides details on the breakfast meeting hosted by Sen Bob Graham and Rep. Porter Goss on the morning of September 11… Mysterious September 11, 2001 Breakfast Meeting on Capitol Hill – Was it an ‘intelligence failure’ to give red carpet treatment to the [alleged] ‘money man’ behind the 9-11 terrorists, or was it simply ‘routine’?.. On the morning of September 11, Pakistan’s Chief Spy General Mahmoud Ahmad, the alleged “money-man” behind the 9-11 hijackers, was at a breakfast meeting on Capitol Hill hosted by Senator Bob Graham and Rep. Porter Goss, the chairmen of the Senate and House Intelligence committees: ‘When the news [of the attacks on the World Trade Center] came, the two Florida lawmakers who lead the House and Senate intelligence committees were having breakfast with the head of the Pakistani intelligence service. Rep. Porter Goss, R-Sanibel, Sen. Bob Graham and other members of the House Intelligence Committee were talking about terrorism issues with the Pakistani official when a member of Goss’ staff handed a note to Goss, who handed it to Graham. ‘We were talking about terrorism, specifically terrorism generated from Afghanistan,’ Graham said… Mahmoud Ahmad, director general of Pakistan’s intelligence service, was ‘very empathetic, sympathetic to the people of the United States,’ Graham said… In late August 2001, barely a couple of weeks before 9/11, Senator Bob Graham, Representative Porter Goss and Senator Jon Kyl were in Islamabad for consultations. Meetings were held with President Musharraf and with Pakistan’s military and intelligence brass including the head of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) General Mahmoud Ahmad. An AFP report confirms that the US Congressional delegation also met the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef. At this meeting, which was barely mentioned by the US media, ‘Zaeef assured the US delegation [on behalf of the Afghan government] that the Taliban would never allow bin Laden to use Afghanistan to launch attacks on the US or any other country.’.. Note the sequencing of these meetings. Bob Graham and Porter Goss were in Islamabad in late August 2001. ● The meetings with President Musharraf and the Afghan Ambassador were on the 27th of August 2001, ● The mission was still in Islamabad on the 30th of August, ● General Mahmoud Ahmad arrived in Washington on an official visit of consultations barely a few days later (September 4th). ● During his visit to Washington, General Mahmoud met his counterpart CIA director George Tenet and high ranking officials of the Bush administration. ● 9/11 “Follow-up Meeting” on Capitol Hill… On the morning of September 11, the three lawmakers Bob Graham, Porter Goss and Jon Kyl (who were part of the Congressional delegation to Pakistan) were having breakfast on Capitol Hill with General Ahmad, the alleged “money-man” behind the 9-11 hijackers. Also present at this meeting were Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. Maleeha Lodhi and several members of the Senate and House Intelligence committees were also present… This meeting was described by one press report as a “follow-up meeting” to that held in Pakistan in late August. “On 8/30, Senate Intelligence Committee chair Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) “‘was on a mission to learn more about terrorism.’ (…) On 9/11, Graham was back in DC ‘in a follow-up meeting with’ Pakistan intelligence agency chief Mahmud Ahmed and House Intelligence Committee chair Porter Goss (R-FL)”] (The Hotline, 1 October 2002): ‘When the news [of the attacks on the World Trade Center] came, the two Florida lawmakers who lead the House and Senate intelligence committees were having breakfast with the head of the Pakistani intelligence service. Rep. Porter Goss, R-Sanibel, Sen. Bob Graham and other members of the House Intelligence Committee were talking about terrorism issues with the Pakistani official when a member of Goss’ staff handed a note to Goss, who handed it to Graham. “We were talking about terrorism, specifically terrorism generated from Afghanistan,” Graham said.’.. Goss could not be reached Tuesday [September 11]. He was whisked away with much of the House leadership to an undisclosed “secure location.” Graham, meanwhile, participated in late-afternoon briefings with top officials from the CIA and FBI… While trivializing the importance of the 9/11 breakfast meeting, The Miami Herald (16 September 2001) confirms that General Ahmad also met Secretary of State Colin Powell in the wake of the 9/11 attacks: ‘Graham said the Pakistani intelligence official with whom he met, a top general in the government, was forced to stay all week in Washington because of the shutdown of air traffic “He was marooned here, and I think that gave Secretary of State Powell and others in the administration a chance to really talk with him”. Graham said.’.. Again the political significance of the personal relationship between General Mahmoud (the alleged “money man” behind 9/11) and Secretary of State Colin Powell is casually dismissed. According to The Miami Herald, the high level meeting between the two men was not planned in advance. It took place on the spur of the moment because of the shut down of air traffic, which prevented General Mahmoud from flying back home to Islamabad on a commercial flight, when in all probability the General and his delegation were traveling on a chartered government plane. With the exception of the Florida press (and Salon.com, 14 September, 2001), not a word was mentioned in the US media’s September coverage of 9-11 concerning this mysterious breakfast reunion.”
