Tag: taxes

Government Conducts Brutal Dog Experiments, Congress Writes Strongly Worded Letter

Nothing exceeds like excess, the U.S. government being the largest flusher of taxpayer cash — confiscated at gunpoint, by the way — down the toilet in world history.

But it’s not just wasted money — it’s wasted money used to torture innocent animals with no discernible public benefit, all in the name of The Science™, In Which We Trust.

          Related: Washington Post Admits It Lied About Fauci’s Beagle Torture Regime — For Years

Via White Coat Waste Project (emphasis added):

“Since the 1980s, DOD policy has banned the use of dogs (and cats and primates) in trauma training and weapons experiments, but we’ve exposed a loophole that’s allowed the agency to continue torturing dogs in other testing.

Now, we’re setting our sights on the DOD’s dog abuse and have exposed how it’s wasting $1 million to butcher beagles in completely unnecessary and cruel drug tests.

According to federal spending databases, the U.S. Army has recently commissioned a $949,108 experiment on beagles in which the animals will be forced to ingest massive doses of an experimental drug for the alleged purpose of winning FDA approval.  These tests typically abuse dozens of puppies and they’re killed and dissected at the end…

However, the FDA has stated clearly that it, ‘does not mandate that human drugs be studied in dogs’ And the DOD even admits, ‘animal models have limited relevance to humans and poorly predict effects in humans.’”

The letter penned by 25 Congressional members reads as follow (emphasis added):

“We are writing to obtain additional information regarding the Department of Defense’s (DoD) funding of seemingly unnecessary and inhumane experiments on dogs.

An investigation by the watchdog group White Coat Waste Project reported in May 2024 that the DoD recently spent approximately $949,000 to commission a three-month-long drug toxicity study using beagle dogs. This kind of drug toxicity testing typically involves forcing puppies to ingest large doses of experimental compounds daily for 13 weeks, after which they are killed. With the contract beginning on August 1, 2023, and scheduled to end on July 31, 2024.

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Two of Five State Bureaus Under Biden-Harris Regime Fail to Confirm Adherence to Vetting Requirements — Raising Concerns Over $293 Million Potentially Profiting Taliban

A recent audit report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has exposed the Biden-Harris administration’s alarming failure to comply with counterterrorism vetting requirements for significant funds allocated to Afghanistan.

The audit, covering the period from March 2022 to November 2022, found that two out of five State Department bureaus failed to retain necessary documentation to demonstrate compliance with partner vetting requirements.

This lapse raises serious concerns that extremist groups, including the Taliban, may have profited from $293 million in U.S. taxpayer funds.

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) were unable to provide sufficient documentation for their programs in Afghanistan.

This failure means that SIGAR could not confirm whether these bureaus complied with State’s partner vetting policies, risking that funds could be misused or fall into the hands of terrorist-affiliated organizations.

This oversight comes at a time when the Taliban is reportedly establishing close ties with newly registered Afghan NGOs, raising fears that these entities could be funneling American aid directly into the hands of extremists.

Since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021, there have been alarming reports of their efforts to secure U.S. funds intended for humanitarian assistance. SIGAR highlighted that over 1,000 new national NGOs have registered under the Taliban’s Ministry of Economy, many of which are suspected to be fraud and have links to terrorist activities.

The lack of rigorous vetting processes by the Biden administration’s State Department is not only a breach of protocol but also a potential betrayal of American taxpayers who expect their contributions to genuinely assist the Afghan people rather than bolster extremist factions.

The report indicates that while three other State Department bureaus— Political-Military Affairs, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA); Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM); and South and Central Asian Affairs, Office of Press and Public Diplomacy (SCA/PPD)— managed to comply with vetting requirements, DRL and INL’s failures are particularly egregious given the substantial amounts of money involved.

Together, these two bureaus accounted for nearly $294 million in disbursements without adequate oversight or documentation, which might inadvertently benefit terrorist organizations.

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U.S. Poured Billions of Military Aid Into Lebanon. Now Israel Threatens to Invade.

Attacks between Israel and Hezbollah, the militia and political party based just across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, are fueling fears that a wider regional conflict may erupt any day.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shia group loosely allied with Hamas, has been in a low-level war with Israel since the conflict in Gaza began last October. Hezbollah, which is believed to have an arsenal of more than 150,000 rockets and missiles, has repeatedly emphasized that attacks will continue as long as the war persists.

Over the weekend, a rocket attack that the U.S. and Israel said originated in Lebanon killed at least 12 civilians in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights. The Israeli foreign minister said that the attack “crossed all red lines,” and said “the moment of all-out war against Hezbollah and Lebanon” is approaching. Hezbollah denied responsibility for the strike.

On Monday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken cautioned Israeli President Isaac Herzog about ramping up its war with Hezbollah in response on a call, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

But the conflict has been escalating for weeks. Israel has increased airstrikes aimed at the group. Current and former Israeli officials have also spoken publicly about shifting their attention from Hamas to the more powerful Hezbollah.

After Israeli officials warned of the possibility of launching a war that would send Lebanon “back to the Stone Age,” the Biden administration intensified diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions and forestall a conflict that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said could have “terrible consequences for the Middle East.”

The low-level war has created a tinderbox that could explode into a regional conflict involving Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Yemen and, to an even greater extent than now, the United States.

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5,800 IRS Employees And Contractors Owe Nearly $50 Million In Unpaid Taxes: Treasury IG

At least 5,800 IRS employees and contractors owe almost $50 million in overdue taxes and more than half of them haven’t been required to agree to a payment plan, according to the Department of the Treasury’s Inspector-General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

In a report made available to The Epoch Times, TIGTA  said auditors found 3,414, or 4 percent, of the 85,359 employees at the IRS have unpaid taxes. Of those with payment plans, $9 million remains unpaid, while $12 million is owed by employees without a payment plan.

Among IRS contractors, which include many former tax agency employees, 2,573 of 25,732 (10 percent) contractors have unpaid taxes. Of those without a payment plan, $17 million is owed and those with a payment plan have $8 million outstanding.

The TIGTA also reported that 512 former IRS employees were rehired, either as employees or contractors, despite having “tax compliance issues or conduct and performance problems, including criminal misconduct, sexual misconduct, inability to perform duties, fighting and assault, and unauthorized access to tax return information, have been rehired by the agency and its contractors,” according to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who requested the watchdog’s report.

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Pentagon Again Applies Budget Lies To Deliver More Weapons To Ukraine

Whenever the Pentagon runs out of money designated by Congress as aid to Ukraine it starts to use creative accounting to free up some additional money from its general budget. The ‘accounting errors’ used therein are always in favor of more weapons to Ukraine.

Exclusive: Pentagon accounting error overvalued Ukraine weapons aid by $3 billion – May 19 2023, Reuters

The Pentagon overestimated the value of the ammunition, missiles and other equipment it sent to Ukraine by around $3 billion, a Senate aide and a defense official said on Thursday, an error that may lead the way for more weapons being sent to Kyiv for its defense against Russian forces.

Pentagon accounting error provides extra $6.2 billion for Ukraine military aid – June 20 2023, AP

The Pentagon said Tuesday that it overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion over the past two years — about double early estimates — resulting in a surplus that will be used for future security packages.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said a detailed review of the accounting error found that the military services used replacement costs rather than the book value of equipment that was pulled from Pentagon stocks and sent to Ukraine. She said final calculations show there was an error of $3.6 billion in the current fiscal year and $2.6 billion in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended last Sept. 30.

As a result, the department now has additional money in its coffers to use to support Ukraine as it pursues its counteroffensive against Russia. And it come as the fiscal year is wrapping up and congressional funding was beginning to dwindle.

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Google Jigsaw, GIFCT, and Tech Against Terrorism Develop Altitude: A Controversial Tool to Monitor “Potential” Extremist Content, Raising Censorship Concerns

There are suspected, and investigated instances of Big Government-Big Tech collusion.

And then there’s Google.

And within Google, there’s something now called Jigsaw. But that’s a rebranding of something Eric Schmidt thought of more than a decade ago, and was originally called Google Ideas.

Before the rebranding, way back when, Google Ideas was in the news for alleged ties with the US State Department (of the time).

So – what’s Jigsaw up to now?

Misinformation. Disinformation. Toxicity. Terrorism even. Against, obviously. “Climate change” – not cited but probably pending – is what this particular portion of Google is now involved with, working with the likes of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT).

Google Jigsaw was always about geopolitics, alarming as that information may be, bearing in mind the way Google reaches those billions of people around the world in the first place. Search. Videos. Fun.

GIFCT, meanwhile, brings together Big Tech and the UN-backed Tech Against Terrorism initiative. And GIFCT is seen as one of those large, tech-industry-spanning entities, that use their great power for the evil – namely, censorship.

But it does get worse. The Tech Against Terrorism is known for making alarming statements about matters like undefined “conspiracies,” but also content featuring “tradwives.” Well, that surely falls way clear of anything related to – terrorism. Or anything.

Other than the overall question – where’s our tax money going when it’s given to the UN, the same question arises specifically in the US and the EU – when Jigsaw announces its (Project) Altitude?

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Israeli PM Netanyahu always brings his dirty laundry to US state visits so White House staff can clean them for free, report says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu consistently brings bags of dirty laundry when he and his family visit President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, so White House staff can clean it for free, according to The Washington Post.

“The Netanyahus are the only ones who bring actual suitcases of dirty laundry for us to clean,” an anonymous US official told The Post. “After multiple trips, it became clear this was intentional.”

Since former President Barack Obama’s administration, the US government has offered laundry services to all foreign leaders for free, The Post reported. The trend has continued into Trump’s administration, US officials told the newspaper.

Netanyahu last visited the White House on September 15, 2020, when Trump presided over the signing of the Abraham Accords, a diplomatic-normalization agreement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.

The Post did not specify where Netanyahu and his wife stayed the night, but the venue was likely Blair House, one of a clutch of buildings opposite the White House that together make up the President’s Guest House.

Netanyahu also stayed at Blair House in January 2020 and March 2018.

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A Child Tax Credit Expansion Is Stuck in the Senate—Here’s Why

Legislation to expand the Child Tax Credit is currently stalled in the Senate amid deep disagreements about its passage before the 2024 election.

The federal Child Tax Credit was first introduced in 1997 and, presently, allows parents with children aged 17 and under to write off up to $2,000 per child on their annual tax burden, of which $1,600 is refundable. The credit was temporarily expanded to $3,000 for the year 2021 and made fully refundable—leading to an estimated 44 percent reduction in the national child poverty rate. Proponents argue it is necessary to help low-income families afford food and clothing, among other things, for their children.

In January, negotiators in the Senate and House of Representatives announced a bipartisan deal to expand the credit for tax years 2023, 2024, and 2025, which passed the House by a vote of 357–70 later that month.

However, nearly six months later, no action has been taken on the bill in the Senate, with time running out for the 118th Congress to pass it.

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Another Kamala Harris Failure: After Three Years and Billions of Dollars, Rural High Speed Internet Plan Has Connected ZERO People

Border Czar Kamala Harris, who failed miserably protecting our borders, was tapped to lead another component of the Biden-Harris agenda, connecting rural Americans to high-speed internet.

The program was launched in 2021 at a cost of $42 billion to American taxpayers.

President Biden put VP Harris in charge of the effort, and after 985 days under her leadership, NOT ONE person has been connected, and zero Americans have benefitted from this boondoggle.

Brendan Carr, who serves as Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, shared the abject failure of the Biden-Harris plan, which broadband infrastructure builders have said is “wired to fail.”

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Boeing, Money Printing, & The Military-Industrial Complex

Boeing’s commercial jets struggle, but its military machines thrive, all fueled by endless fiat money…

Not-so-mysteriously, none of the problems now associated with Boeing passenger planes seem to be affecting the weapons of annihilation they produce for the Military-Industrial Complex’s borderless global war machine, which is fueled by infinite fiat money.

Myriad problems with Boeing passenger jets have put the company into the news just about every day for months, but the company makes much more than just planes for commercial passenger airlines. Boeing is also a major aerospace contractor that produces fighter jets, attack helicopters, predator drones, missiles, and even the president’s airplane, Air Force One. 

To be fair, Boeing’s record as of late beyond commercial jets is far from perfect — its Starliner, a crewed craft designed to bring astronauts to the ISS, was plagued with issues on the way to the space station that are now being investigated by its astronauts. And Boeing’s main rival in the space industry, SpaceX, has had its own problems with similar craft.

But when was the last time you heard about an Apache helicopter breaking down on its way to deliver a payload of highly-combustible “democracy” to a country unfortunate enough to be on the ever-expanding list of nation-states roped into unnecessary wars waged by the US or one of its global proxies?

Somehow, the systemic quality control issues at Boeing appear much more likely to get a handful of hapless air travelers injured than to cause problems with a military operation that has the “righteous” cause of protecting the petrodollar hegemon. The printing of fiat money fuels both phenomena in different ways.

Boeing’s corner-cutting and quality control issues are just one symptom of living in a fiat money system. As the dollar is debased, the incentive and ability to create solid, long-lasting products is degraded in kind. Manufacturing costs rocket upward as supplies, materials, logistics, storage, maintenance, insurance, wage demands, and every other production factor all increase, leading to a degradation in quality across the process as the irresistible temptation intensifies to prioritize minimizing costs over producing reliable, well-made, quality goods such as safe airplanes. 

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