#Retired Army personnel

[filectory]

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[balladofthe101st]

Buck Compton came back to see the Company to let us know that he was alright. He became a prosecutor in Los Angeles. He convicted Sirhan Sirhan in the murder of Robert Kennedy, and was later appointed to the California Court of Appeals. 

David Webster became a writer for the Saturday Evening Post and Wall Street Journal, and later wrote and book about sharks. In 1961, he went out on the ocean alone, and was never seen again.

Johnny Martin would return to his job at the railroad and then start his own construction company. He splits his time between Arizona and a place in Montana.

George Luz became a handyman in Providence, Rhode Island. As a testament to his character, sixteen hundred people attended his funeral in 1998.

Doc Roe died in Louisiana in 1998. He’d been a construction contractor.

Frank Perconte returned to Chicago and worked a postal route as a mailman.

Joe Liebgott returned to San Francisco and drove his cab.

Bull Randleman was one of the best soldiers I ever had. He went into the earth moving business in Arkansas. He’s still there.

Alton More returned to Wyoming with a unique souvenir: Hitler’s personal photo albums. He was killed in a car accident in 1958.

Floyd Talbert we all lost touch with in civilian life, until he showed up at a reunion just before his death in 1981.

Carwood Lipton became a glass making executive in charge of factories all over the world. He has a nice life in North Carolina.

Harry Welsh – he married Kitty Grogan. Became an administrator for the Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania school system.

Ronald Speirs stayed in the Army, served in Korea. In 1958, returned to Germany as Governor of Spandau Prison. He retired a Lieutenant Colonel.

Lewis Nixon had some tough times after the war. He was divorced a couple of times. Then in 1956, he married a woman named Grace and everything came together for him. He spent the rest of his life with her, travelling the world. My friend Lew died in 1995.

I took up his job offer and was a personnel manager at the Nixon Nitration Works, until I was called back into service in 1950 to train officers and rangers. I chose not to go to Korea. I’d had enough of war. I stayed around Hershey, Pennsylvania, finally finding a little farm. A little peaceful corner of the world, where I still live today. And there is not a day that goes by that I do not think of the men I served with who never got to enjoy the world without war.

[simply-ivanka]

Very Serious Charges:

Veterans have accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz of “embellishing” his military career and abandoning his National Guard battalion.

“On May 16th, 2005, [Walz] quit, betraying his country, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war,” Behrends and Herr wrote.

Retired Command Sergeants Major Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr said Walz retired from his 24-year tenure in the National Guard after learning that his battalion would be deployed to Iraq, despite allegedly assuring his fellow troops he would join them.”

August 6, 2024 | Ashe Schow

Vice President Kamala Harris picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday, and will likely emphasize his military service as part of their campaign.

But when Walz was running for governor in 2018, former members of the National Guard spoke out about his service, with a retired command sergeant major saying he “embellished and selectively omitted facts of his military career for years.”

In an open letter posted to Facebook that year, retired Command Sergeants Major Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr wrote that Walz retired just a few months after receiving a warning order that his battalion would be deployed to Iraq – even though he told military personnel he would be going on the mission.

“On May 16th, 2005, [Walz] quit, betraying his country, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war,” Behrends and Herr wrote.

The pair wrote that Walz said he needed to retire to run for Congress, but this was untrue. Walz could have run for Congress and requested permission from the Secretary of Defense before he entered active duty, the pair claimed.

“If he had retired normally and respectfully, you would think he would have ensured his retirement documents were correctly filled out and signed, and that he would have ensured he was reduced to Master Sergeant for dropping out of the academy,” the two wrote. “Instead he slithered out the door and waited for the paperwork to catch up to him.”

They noted that his official retirement document says “soldier not available for signature.”

Walz’s sudden retirement complicated his selection to the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy, Behrends and Herr wrote. Once someone accepts enrollment, they agree to three stipulations: to serve two years after graduation from the academy or promotion, that failing the course could result in being kicked out of the military, and that they will be reduced to Master Sergeant if they don’t complete the course.

Walz wasn’t promoted to Command Sergeant Major until September 17, 2004. A month earlier, he was photographed holding a protest sign outside a rally for President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign, though it doesn’t seem as though the military noticed or disciplined him.

Less than a year after his promotion, Walz retired, meaning his promotion was nullified since he broke the agreement he signed when entering the academy.

On September 10, 2005, Walz was reduced to Master Sergeant. As Behrends and Herr wrote, “It took a while for the system to catch up to him as it was uncharted territory, literally no one quits in the position he was in, or drops out of the academy.”

In November 2005, Walz reached out to his former battalion as it was preparing for war. He offered to hold a fundraiser for their bus trip home over Christmas. “The same Soldiers he had abandoned just months before, trying to buy their votes,” Behrends and Herr wrote.

These are not the only two to call out Walz’s service. According to Behrends and Herr, Tom Hagen, an Iraq war veteran, wrote a letter to the Winona Daily News calling Walz’s retirement “disturbing”.

“But even more disturbing is the fact that Walz quickly retired after learning that his unit —southern Minnesota’s 1-125 FA Battalion — would be sent to Iraq,” Hagen wrote in the letter, according to Behrends and Herr. “For Tim Walz to abandon his fellow soldiers and quit when they needed experienced leadership most is disheartening. It dishonors those brave American men and women who did answer their nation’s call and who continue to serve, fight and unfortunately die in harm’s way for us.”

The letter prompted a scathing response from Walz, who defended his service record.

“After completing 20 years of service in 2001, I re-enlisted to serve our country for an additional four years following Sept. 11 and retired the year before my battalion was deployed to Iraq in order to run for Congress,” Walz said. “I’m proud of the 24 years I served our country in the Army National Guard. There’s a code of honor among those who’ve served, and normally this type of partisan political attack comes only from one who’s never worn a uniform.”

Behrends and Herr note that Walz’s official Report of Separation and Record of Service state that Walz re-enlisted on September 18, 2001, for six years. Walz said in his response to Hagen that he only re-enlisted for four years, which would have made his retirement date September 18, 2005 – four months later than when he actually retired.

“The bottom line in all of this is gut wrenching and sad to explain,” Behrends and Herr concluded. “When the nation called, he quit.”

By Caitlin Doornbos and Josh Christenson

Published Aug. 6, 2024, 1:00 p.m. ET

[darkmaga-returns]

https://en.topwar.ru/253668-the-wall-street-journal-v-komande-trampa-gotovjat-ukaz-o-chistke-generalov-vinovnyh-v-begstve-ssha-iz-afganistana.html

The Wall Street Journal: Trump's team is preparing an order to purge generals guilty of US flight from Afghanistan

Today, 10: 1726

The team of the 47th US President is currently actively working on an executive order to establish a “war council” that will have the power to remove US Army generals and admirals from their positions. fleet. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal. The publication notes that the new body may include retired generals and officers.

As commander in chief, Trump would already be able to fire any officer he wanted, something presidents rarely do for political reasons. But an outside council would be able to bypass the system by signaling to the entire military that he intends to purge a number of generals and admirals.

- notes the publication.

A draft order reviewed by The Wall Street Journal outlines that the military board will review active-duty senior military personnel, focusing on their leadership qualities and commitment to military excellence.

However, as the publication’s sources claim, the first to come under the new body’s scrutiny may be those generals whom Trump considers guilty of the shameful withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.

It is assumed that the military council will have the right to send recommendations to the US president on the removal of a particular general or admiral from office. Such a recommendation, as the newspaper claims, will become a kind of black mark for the military. After the corresponding recommendation lands on Donald Trump's desk, the general or admiral will be dismissed from their position within 30 days.

Let us add that earlier American media already reported that Donald Trump has prepared a so-called black list of his enemies, with whom he intends to settle accounts during his presidency. According to the press, it includes Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and several other high-ranking current and retired US politicians.

[readyforevolution]

JACK DANIELS HOLSCLAW (1918-1998)

Tuskegee Airman Jack Daniels Holsclaw was born in Spokane, Washington, on March 21, 1918. His father, Charles, was a clerk in a downtown store, and his mother, Nell, was a manager at Pacific Telephone and Telegraph. Holsclaw attended North Central High School in Spokane, where he excelled both academically and athletically. When he was 15, he became the first black person in Spokane to earn the Eagle Scout badge.

Holsclaw entered Whitworth College in 1935 but transferred to Washington State College (now Washington State University) in 1936 to play baseball. Beginning in his junior year, he played center field and helped the Cougars finish as co-champions of the Northern Division, Pacific Coast Conference. He was the second African American earn a varsity letter in baseball at the college.

In 1939, Holsclaw transferred to a chiropractic program at Western States College in Portland, Oregon, where he met his wife, Bernice Williams. They had one son, Glen. Holsclaw completed the chiropractic program in 1942 and passed the Oregon state board examination.

While there, he enrolled in a government sponsored Civilian Pilot Training Program at Multnomah College and earned his pilot’s license. On October 5, 1942, he enlisted in the army as a private and entered flight school, training at Tuskegee Army Airfield, Alabama. After completing his training, he received his wings and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on July 28, 1943. Lieutenant Holsclaw received advanced training at Selfridge Field near Detroit, Michigan before his squadron was shipped to Italy in December 1943.

Lieutenant Holsclaw flew in the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332d Fighter Group, an all-black pursuit squadron. Holsclaw named his favorite P-51 “Bernice Baby” in honor of his wife. The 332d Fighter Group had distinctive red tails giving them the nickname “Red Tails.” The 332d Fighter Group escorted bombers on their runs over enemy territory, shielding them from German fighters. To the bomber crews that were protected by them they were the “Red Tail Angels.”

On July 18, 1944, in an aerial battle over Italy, Holsclaw shot down two German fighters. For this action he received the Distinguished Flying Cross. By December 1944, Holsclaw had completed 68 combat missions, nearing the limit of 70, when he became Assistant Operations Officer, an important administrative position that included aerial mission planning. In January 1945, Holsclaw was promoted to captain.

Captain Holsclaw returned to the United States in June 1945 to serve as assistant base operations officer at Godman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky. He served as an Air Force ROTC instructor at Tuskegee Institute and then Tennessee State College.

From 1954 to 1957, Holsclaw was assigned to Japan, and from May 1962 to the end of 1964, he served as chief of the training division, Sixth Air Force Reserve Region at Hamilton Air Force Base, California. He directed the preparation of two textbooks to guide incoming air force personnel. Holsclaw retired from the Air Force on December 31, 1964 as a Lieutenant Colonel.

From 1965 to 1973 Holsclaw served as a manager in the Marin County Housing Authority, California. In 1973, he and Bernice returned to Washington where Holsclaw joined the staff at the People’s National Bank in Bellevue. He remained there until his second retirement in 1983. He and Bernice took up residence in Arizona, where Jack Holsclaw died on April 7, 1998, at the age of 80.

In August 2019, the Jonas Babcock Chapter, NSDAR, dedicated a historical marker in the memory of Lt. Col. Holsclaw at the site of his childhood home in Spokane.

[misfitwashere]

November 12, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

NOV 13

The backdrop for today’s news is that Republicans in the Senate will vote by secret ballot tomorrow for a new Senate majority leader. That person will control the Senate calendar, deciding what measures will be taken up by the Senate for consideration and thus wielding power over Trump’s legislative plans. 

Trump and his sidekick Elon Musk, along with MAGA leaders and influencers, are backing Florida senator Rick Scott, who has signaled a willingness to do whatever Trump wants. Senators John Thune (R-SD) and John Cornyn (R-TX) are also staunch party members but are not as closely associated with the MAGA faction of the party.

MAGA control of the Senate is at stake, and Trump and his team are pushing their extremist agenda so aggressively it will be impossible for Senate Republicans to pretend they didn’t know what was at stake if they vote to empower the MAGAs. 

Today the Trump transition team floated the idea that Trump could sign an executive order creating a board of retired senior military personnel that would review high-ranking officers and recommend removing any they deemed unfit for leadership. Vivian Salama, Nancy A. Youssef, and Lara Seligman reported in the Wall Street Journal that such a board would enable Trump to purge the military of the generals whom he considers insufficiently loyal to him. Generals who refused to carry out what they considered unconstitutional orders—including using the military against U.S. civilians—infuriated Trump during his first term.

The chairman of VoteVets, retired major general Paul Eaton, warned that such a plan would turn the U.S. military into Trump loyalists. Eaton also warned military personnel what that would mean for the troops, suggesting that folks should “take a look at Stalin’s officer purges in early WWII that resulted in the Soviet, now-Russian Army, enduring incompetence and the use of its rank-and-file troops as cannon meat. The American military is the envy of the world’s militaries, given its efficiency for military effect and stunningly low casualty count. Probably a good model to keep.”

Transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, “[T]he American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver.” But Trump’s claims of a mandate are wrong. As vote counts continue to come in, it appears that Trump’s margin of victory was actually quite slim. 

Trump has also vowed to eliminate the Biden administration’s policies to address climate change, promising to “drill, baby, drill” and make the U.S. energy independent by increasing production of fossil fuels. In fact, the production of oil and gas hit an all-time high during the Biden administration and the U.S. exports those products, but so long as the U.S is tied to fossil fuels, it will likely always import them because the oil it exports is a different kind than it uses. 

It is not clear that even MAGA Republicans want to kill the green energy initiatives in the Inflation Reduction Act that have brought new factories and good jobs to more Republican-dominated states than Democratic-dominated states.

Today, chair and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil Darren Woods asked the incoming administration not to change Biden’s climate policy dramatically, saying that the lack of consistency on climate change is bad for the economy. “I don’t think the challenge or the need to address global emissions is going to go away,” he said. “Anything that happens in the short term would just make the longer term that much more challenging.”

Exxon has invested heavily in the carbon capture industry. In 2023, Woods predicted that the company’s low-carbon business could generate more money than its traditional oil and gas products in as little as a decade, telling investors he expects carbon capture to be a multitrillion-dollar business.

Trump and his team, apparently led by Elon Musk, have begun to float names for different administration posts, all of whom appear to be picked to replace nonpartisan federal experts with right-wing culture warriors.

For secretary of homeland security, Trump has proposed loyalist Kristi Noem, currently governor of South Dakota. Noem had been under consideration for vice president, but fell out of the running after boasting that she had shot her dog for misbehaving. Earlier this year, Noem appeared to suggest that Texas, which became a state in 1845, was one of the original signatories to the Constitution. She has been a Trump loyalist focusing on the border.

For U.S. ambassador to Israel, Trump has picked former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who denies Palestinian rights to the West Bank, instead supporting Israeli settlements in that land and saying that “Israel has title deed” there, calling the area by the biblical name “Judea and Samaria.”  

For secretary of defense, Trump has tapped Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth, a combat veteran and host of the weekend edition of Fox & Friends, a show Trump reportedly enjoys. As national security expert Tom Nichols points out, the Secretary of Defense has access to the nuclear command-and-control procedure. The secretary oversees about 1.3 million active-duty troops and another 1.4 million in the National Guard and employed in Reserves and civilian positions, as well as a budget of more than $800 billion.

Hegseth lobbied Trump to intervene in the cases of service members accused of war crimes, and he cheered on Trump’s January 6, 2021, rally. He became popularly known after accidentally hitting a man with an ax on the Fox & Friends show in 2015. Then, in 2019, he regained notoriety when he volunteered that he had not washed his hands in ten years because he does not believe germs are real. Hegseth has said women do not belong in combat and has been vocal about his opposition to the equity and inclusion measures in the military that he calls “woke.”

Lolita C. Baldor and Tara Copp of the Associated Press reported that the news that Trump has tapped the inexperienced Hegseth to run the world’s largest and most powerful military “stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world.” While some Republicans say they look forward to getting to know him better, others appear to share the Pentagon’s concerns. 

But the news that Trump wants a Fox News Channel host in one of the most important positions in the United States government got overtaken quickly by Trump’s announcement that “the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy,” an entrepreneur who challenged Trump for the presidential nomination, will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” under his administration. Their advice will, Trump announced, “pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” 

Their project is nicknamed “DOGE,” an apparent reference to Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency and meme coin, known as “Dogecoin.” That cryptocurrency surged after the announcement of the new DOGE under Trump, adding to the gains of 153% since Election Day. 

By law, a president does not have the power to create a new department or agency, and participating in one would require Musk and Ramaswamy to get rid of their conflicts of interest.

Trump’s announcement said that Musk and Ramaswamy would “work together to liberate our Economy, and make the U.S. Government accountable to ‘WE THE PEOPLE.’ Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026—a smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I am confident they will succeed!” 

Trump appears to see himself as the founder of a new United States of America while, ironically, the real winners of the chaos he is ushering into the government will be Russia, China, and the other autocratic states eager to dismantle American democracy.

Trump’s demonstration of his plans just before Senate Republicans have to choose their leader seems an attempt to jam those who might stand against him into his camp. And yet, the Framers of the Constitution believed that the Senate would be the key guardrail to stop the rise of an autocrat who would destroy democracy and install himself as a king. They expected that the determination of senators to guard their own power would protect the nation. 

Almost two hundred and fifty years into their experiment, we’re about to find out if they were right.  

—

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Arsenal, route mapping, and coup attempt: timeline reveals plan to assassinate Moraes, Lula, and Alckmin, according to Brazil's Federal Police

The Federal Police arrested four military personnel and a federal police officer on Tuesday in an operation investigating an alleged plot to assassinate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following former President Jair Bolsonaro's defeat in the 2022 election. The plan was reportedly led by a group of Army "black ops" members, consisting of active-duty or reserve forces specializing in special operations.

Tuesday's actions were part of an inquiry into whether there was an attempted coup following the recent presidential election outcome. Five preventive arrest warrants and three search and seizure warrants were issued. The arrested individuals include retired General Mário Fernandes and military members Hélio Ferreira Lima, Rafael Martins de Oliveira, and Rodrigo Bezerra de Azevedo, all "black ops" members, along with Federal Police agent Wladimir Matos Soares.

Below is the timeline of the investigation into the alleged coup attempt.

Continue reading.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Behold! :: David Rowe

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 12, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

The backdrop for today’s news is that Republicans in the Senate will vote by secret ballot tomorrow for a new Senate majority leader. That person will control the Senate calendar, deciding what measures will be taken up by the Senate for consideration and thus wielding power over Trump’s legislative plans. 

Trump and his sidekick Elon Musk, along with MAGA leaders and influencers, are backing Florida senator Rick Scott, who has signaled a willingness to do whatever Trump wants. Senators John Thune (R-SD) and John Cornyn (R-TX) are also staunch party members but are not as closely associated with the MAGA faction of the party.

MAGA control of the Senate is at stake, and Trump and his team are pushing their extremist agenda so aggressively it will be impossible for Senate Republicans to pretend they didn’t know what was at stake if they vote to empower the MAGAs. 

Today the Trump transition team floated the idea that Trump could sign an executive order creating a board of retired senior military personnel that would review high-ranking officers and recommend removing any they deemed unfit for leadership. Vivian Salama, Nancy A. Youssef, and Lara Seligman reported in the Wall Street Journal that such a board would enable Trump to purge the military of the generals whom he considers insufficiently loyal to him. Generals who refused to carry out what they considered unconstitutional orders—including using the military against U.S. civilians—infuriated Trump during his first term.

The chairman of VoteVets, retired major general Paul Eaton, warned that such a plan would turn the U.S. military into Trump loyalists. Eaton also warned military personnel what that would mean for the troops, suggesting that folks should “take a look at Stalin’s officer purges in early WWII that resulted in the Soviet, now-Russian Army, enduring incompetence and the use of its rank-and-file troops as cannon meat. The American military is the envy of the world’s militaries, given its efficiency for military effect and stunningly low casualty count. Probably a good model to keep.”

Transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, “[T]he American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver.” But Trump’s claims of a mandate are wrong. As vote counts continue to come in, it appears that Trump’s margin of victory was actually quite slim. 

Trump has also vowed to eliminate the Biden administration’s policies to address climate change, promising to “drill, baby, drill” and make the U.S. energy independent by increasing production of fossil fuels. In fact, the production of oil and gas hit an all-time high during the Biden administration and the U.S. exports those products, but so long as the U.S is tied to fossil fuels, it will likely always import them because the oil it exports is a different kind than it uses. 

It is not clear that even MAGA Republicans want to kill the green energy initiatives in the Inflation Reduction Act that have brought new factories and good jobs to more Republican-dominated states than Democratic-dominated states.

Today, chair and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil Darren Woods asked the incoming administration not to change Biden’s climate policy dramatically, saying that the lack of consistency on climate change is bad for the economy. “I don’t think the challenge or the need to address global emissions is going to go away,” he said. “Anything that happens in the short term would just make the longer term that much more challenging.”

Exxon has invested heavily in the carbon capture industry. In 2023, Woods predicted that the company’s low-carbon business could generate more money than its traditional oil and gas products in as little as a decade, telling investors he expects carbon capture to be a multitrillion-dollar business.

Trump and his team, apparently led by Elon Musk, have begun to float names for different administration posts, all of whom appear to be picked to replace nonpartisan federal experts with right-wing culture warriors.

For secretary of homeland security, Trump has proposed loyalist Kristi Noem, currently governor of South Dakota. Noem had been under consideration for vice president, but fell out of the running after boasting that she had shot her dog for misbehaving. Earlier this year, Noem appeared to suggest that Texas, which became a state in 1845, was one of the original signatories to the Constitution. She has been a Trump loyalist focusing on the border.

For U.S. ambassador to Israel, Trump has picked former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who denies Palestinian rights to the West Bank, instead supporting Israeli settlements in that land and saying that “Israel has title deed” there, calling the area by the biblical name “Judea and Samaria.”  

For secretary of defense, Trump has tapped Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth, a combat veteran and host of the weekend edition of Fox & Friends, a show Trump reportedly enjoys. As national security expert Tom Nichols points out, the Secretary of Defense has access to the nuclear command-and-control procedure. The secretary oversees about 1.3 million active-duty troops and another 1.4 million in the National Guard and employed in Reserves and civilian positions, as well as a budget of more than $800 billion.

Hegseth lobbied Trump to intervene in the cases of service members accused of war crimes, and he cheered on Trump’s January 6, 2021, rally. He became popularly known after accidentally hitting a man with an ax on the Fox & Friends show in 2015. Then, in 2019, he regained notoriety when he volunteered that he had not washed his hands in ten years because he does not believe germs are real. Hegseth has said women do not belong in combat and has been vocal about his opposition to the equity and inclusion measures in the military that he calls “woke.”

Lolita C. Baldor and Tara Copp of the Associated Press reported that the news that Trump has tapped the inexperienced Hegseth to run the world’s largest and most powerful military “stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world.” While some Republicans say they look forward to getting to know him better, others appear to share the Pentagon’s concerns. 

But the news that Trump wants a Fox News Channel host in one of the most important positions in the United States government got overtaken quickly by Trump’s announcement that “the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy,” an entrepreneur who challenged Trump for the presidential nomination, will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” under his administration. Their advice will, Trump announced, “pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” 

Their project is nicknamed “DOGE,” an apparent reference to Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency and meme coin, known as “Dogecoin.” That cryptocurrency surged after the announcement of the new DOGE under Trump, adding to the gains of 153% since Election Day. 

By law, a president does not have the power to create a new department or agency, and participating in one would require Musk and Ramaswamy to get rid of their conflicts of interest.

Trump’s announcement said that Musk and Ramaswamy would “work together to liberate our Economy, and make the U.S. Government accountable to ‘WE THE PEOPLE.’ Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026—a smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I am confident they will succeed!” 

Trump appears to see himself as the founder of a new United States of America while, ironically, the real winners of the chaos he is ushering into the government will be Russia, China, and the other autocratic states eager to dismantle American democracy.

Trump’s demonstration of his plans just before Senate Republicans have to choose their leader seems an attempt to jam those who might stand against him into his camp. And yet, the Framers of the Constitution believed that the Senate would be the key guardrail to stop the rise of an autocrat who would destroy democracy and install himself as a king. They expected that the determination of senators to guard their own power would protect the nation. 

Almost two hundred and fifty years into their experiment, we’re about to find out if they were right.  

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[fullmetal-scar-simping]

Thinking about those dudes who came to help Mustang on Promised Day. They were under his command during the genocide and were thankful to him bc his pillars of flame kept them safe. I initially thought they must've quit the army or smth after the genocide and were a contact Mustang had with a bond/gratitude that he could cash in on when he needed help, so I wondered what they were doing between that and Promised Day, maybe some underground spy thing, maybe some inconspicuous life in reserve to be called in when he needed, NOPE! THEY WERE IN THE MILITARY THIS WHOLE TIME. UNDER GRUMMAN. Truly my lofty expectations have let me down.

Seeing as not Mustang, not his men, not his former men, none of them seemingly having any outside ally contacts or dabbling in smth underground like I dunno hiding as some bumfuck civilian work, aside from Madame Christmas and her whole thing, made me so... I don't even know how to describe it. Did I overestimate Mustang? Like, not even trying to expand their sphere of influence or smth? I dunno what I'm even expecting out of them anymore.

Mustang wanted to rise in the ranks protecting the few under him with his limited power until he got on top, okay, but like. What will he do if/when he is asked to participate in another genocide? Are the lives he's taken, that he's going to take, an acceptable price for his dream? Trying to change nothing? Nothing at all? Not even “from the inside” like Miles ‘tried’?

If the Amestrian military gov were to tell Mustang to put down a group of people who also want to change Amestris albeit by overhauling it instead of conforming to it, a radical group who might have the power to sway people to think like them, do you think Mustang will do it?

I wonder what Miles would think of such a group as well. Of his daughter (OC) being part of it.

Oh yeah, those guys. I forgot they existed! But now that I'm not only reminded that they were A Thing, but also reminded (informed? I forget, was this confirmed in Brotherhood as well?) that they continued to have thriving careers in the military under Grumman I can confidently say: oh for fuck's sake.

The ethos of mangahood is that reform is necessary, and must come from within. Unfortunately this precludes it from entertaining the notion of solidarity with non-establishment groups and rebels. (Though typically working with cops and soldiers, former or active duty, doesn't bode well for more principled revolutionaries and for the common folk but hey.) Mustang's approach is meant to be taken seriously because we're not even supposed to think about what other alliances could be made outside of the few dissenting military personnel.

Nevermind the fact that none of these soldiers even so much as retire or defect. And nevermind that it would counter the staunch "reform from within" perspective if we had to actually show those who want to aid in toppling the government who have become angry, jaded, or irreverent towards the state. Why, that's for beating out of Scar so everyone can swallow the correct lesson: soldiers are the best among us, who are sometimes commanded to do sad things. Enlist to fix this!

It really makes Studio Bones' decision to create McDougal and have the first episode kicked off by quelling a nearly successful destruction of Central just. Such a fucking choice. The implications are massive, and they don't reflect well on any of our protags whatsoever.

See, I can usually enjoy the tragicomedy of our dickhead protags realizing to their petrified astonishment later that, "Oh no. Oh no oh no oh fuck we fought that one guy whom we could have allied with instead and would have had [in some respects] a far easier time taking down this regime together on a quicker timeline, rather than aligning our coup with the Promised Day." Obviously we don't get such self-awareness ever, so I don't even get to enjoy a wry chuckle at their expense.

McDougal's Brotherhood-exclusive existence is the most damning and ironic choice for this adaptation the writing team could have made. Fma broadly is not good at showing organized resistance. Outside of the military dissenters, it's lone actors all the way down. I'm not expecting some sort of high minded polemic on insurrectionist anarchism or Marxist organizing etc etc, but it is a notable blind spot. So McDougal, in canon, being a one-man army against Amestris, who rightfully didn't trust any of these other career genociders he once fought alongside to take up the cause with him, and is felled without a second thought and without internal crisis by Big """Revolutionary""" Mustang and friends cements right out the gate that this story will not handle any of its harder themes well.

Sadly, McDougal's fate answers your questions for you. Mustang would absolutely oppose any threat to the current government that isn't spearheaded by him and his lackeys. Given that he only calls on former squad mates and the Briggs squadron to back his coup, he never cared to consider anyone outside of their ranks for a multi-disciplinary attack. If we had gotten a chance to see Mustang curse the fact that someone had murdered McDougal, instead of apprehending him so that Mustang could perhaps orchestrate his freedom and collaborate with a growing cell of rebels, that could have been an interesting character moment that makes Mustang a 0.5% less putrid bootlicking dictator-wannabe than he actually is.

If they won't serve as part of his new government's military force and appropriated economic hub (the military arm in Ishval, using Scar for this purpose), then he won't organize with them. Again though, so long as he remains in the military, with a goal to gain a higher station in the state, any underground cells or anti-state groups would be better off rejecting someone like Mustang as the fed he is.

(We both know Scar alone pokes a hundred more holes into whatever miniscule revolutionary, liberation of the people potential Mustang ever had in mind.)

Canon Miles would agree with Mustang's approach, but the Miles of Sunburst Sandstorm is going to suffer a head-on collision with the hypocrisy of his position. Maybe it won't happen right away, but his daughter's involvement with these Ishvalan liberationists and her fury against him and the military would have to tear the blindfold off of his mind. It's either that, or the tragedy of her family continues to its logical end.

[sakuplumeria]

Give me my feral Albert: MI6

About Irene Adler's case, we have two very different scenes to begin with, from the anime and the manga. Both happened with Mycroft calling out to Albert, but under two very different circumstances: Albert as the head of Indian Army in the anime, and Albert as the head of MI6 in the manga.

(please read images from right to left because there will be some manga captures, just want to make it consistent)

I was crushed when I realized the anime never addressed Albert as head of MI6. No, the MI6 wasn't even there to begin with. Not until the last episode where MI6 created as part of the atonement for the Moriarty plan, just like Mycroft atone for the Holmes ancestors by being secretary of the government.

How did that change anything? Oh it changed a lot of things, but most importantly, the anime once again threw my feral Albert away. He was relentless in seizing the MI6 into his hands.

PS. Look out for reblogs, just in case there will be additions in the future~

So, we knew about the opium operation by unmasking Dudley's deeds in Durham. It escalated to the military in London and that's where Albert found out about the unestablished secret intelligence service. It piqued his interest, and what did he do next?

Albert made his way to get closer to his goal. Contacting William to come to London, and I don't know if he stated his aim in his letter but probably it was kept encrypted. What we know, when William reached London, the kidnapping happened.

Had he all the timeline in mind when he sent that letter to William? A month he asked. For William to set the plan in motion. For himself, to find out more about the secret intelligence service perhaps. To find out the personnel to talk to about it, which lead us to Secretary Holmes from the Intelligence Division, to whom he made a deal initiating a monologue with. Please, look how he brought the deal to the table. Even Mycroft was captivated on sight.

In the end, Albert got what he wants. He retired from the military and became M, head of MI6. A position stemmed from his own desire and harvested through maximizing everything he had. After that Albert, and the Moriarty household, ran a universal trade company for public facade, something we don't get from the anime as well...

Finally, we're back to the first panel of Mycroft visiting the company to hand over Irene's case. They were already on equal standing at this point in the manga. So as his status with William a little more balanced.

Once again, Albert was not that Lieutenant Colonel anymore, who did just as he was told as in the anime. Albert had become someone much more powerful than that. He was feral in hunting his prey, the power and authority that would bring the Moriarty Plan closer to succession. This is our Albert :>

.

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a little bonus

[lboogie1906]

Colonel Ruth Alice Lucas (November 28, 1920 – March 23, 2013) was the first African American woman in the Air Force to be promoted to the rank of colonel and who at the time of her retirement was the highest-ranking African American woman in the Air Force.

She was born in Stamford, Connecticut. She enlisted in the Women��s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942 and was one of the first African American women to attend what is now the Joint Forces Staff College. She transferred from the Army to the newly created Air Force in 1947.

She was a 1942 education graduate of what is now Tuskegee University. While stationed at an Air Force base in Tokyo, she taught English to Japanese schoolchildren and college students in her spare time. She received an MA in Educational Psychology from Columbia University.

She held a variety of positions, mainly in research and education, before being named a colonel in 1968. She was a general education and counseling services assistant in the office of the deputy assistant secretary of defense for education at the Pentagon. She created, organized, and implemented special literacy programs aimed at increasing the education levels of service personnel.

She retired from the Air Force in 1970. Her military decorations included the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.

After her military retirement, she became the director of urban services at the old Washington Technical Institute. She designed outreach programs to encourage high school students to pursue higher education. In 1994, she retired as the assistant to the dean of UDC’s College of Physical Science, Engineering, and Technology.

She was a past member of a Washington Urban League advisory panel on education and worked with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to improve testing techniques. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[filectory]

Pakistan Armed Services Board PASB Jobs 2023 Ministry of Defence MOD

Pakistan Armed Services Board PASB Jobs 2023 Ministry of Defence MOD latest. This Job advertisement has been published in the Express newspaper on November 5, 2023. Pakistan Armed Services Board requires the services of retired personnel on a regular basis. A 5% quota will be reserved for minorities. Candidates possessing the required qualification can apply until November 20, 2023. Only…

[beardedmrbean]

The claim: The Texas National Guard has deployed tanks to the border with Mexico

A Jan. 27 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a train carrying dozens of military vehicles through a town.

“The Texas National Guard begins transporting armored vehicles to the border with Mexico, the post caption reads in part.

Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

A similar post spread on X, formerly Twitter, and a Spanish version of the claim was also shared on Facebook.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

Our rating: False

The Texas National Guard said it is not sending tanks to the U.S. southern border. The transportation of military equipment around Fort Cavazos in Texas, where the video was taken, is routine, according to one military expert.

The video was taken in Texas, but it’s not going to the border with Mexico

The video was taken at the intersection of College St. and 761st Tank Battalion Ave. in Killeen, Texas, close to the U.S. Army's Fort Cavazos. Street signs indicating the location are visible in the video.

But there is no evidence the train is carrying tanks from the Texas National Guard to the U.S. southern border. There are no credible news reports about such a development.

“The Texas National Guard is not sending tanks to the border,” a spokesperson for the Texas Military Department in said an email to USA TODAY.

The state of Texas is currently feuding with the federal government over how to control the southern border as it faces a surge of migrants. The state set up razor wire along the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing the border, a move the federal government sees as a step too far. The Supreme Court ruled on Jan. 22 that the federal government can cut and remove the razor wire, but the state continues to set up the wire in certain areas.

The transportation of army equipment around Fort Cavazo is a daily occurrence, according to Eric Rojo, a retired U.S. Army colonel. 

“The movement of armored equipment is constant,” Rojo said. “Fort Cavazos is one of the largest armored infantry bases in the U.S. It's the home to the First Cavalry Division, which includes mechanized infantry, using Bradley Fighting Personnel Carriers, armor units such as M-1 Abram tanks, and other combined arms units. Some of these vehicles are what we see in the video.”

Rojo also said the vehicles on the train are not tanks but Bradley Fighting Vehicles, which blend elements of a tank, an armored personnel carrier and other armored vehicles.

"Many people confuse them," Rojo said.

Fact check: False claim Putin, Russia pledged arms to Texas in dispute with US government

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

A similar claim about tanks at the Mexico-U.S. border was debunked by Factchequeado.

[realm-sweet-realm]

The Road to Alagadda

Desperate to research the threats posed by the unknowable and dangerous land of Alagadda, the SCP Foundation attempts to position their resident reality-warper and professional piece of work, Alto Clef, to be invited to Alagadda by the Ambassador. Meanwhile, the Ambassador has its own plans for Clef.

---

For years, the SCP Foundation could only watch as the Ambassador led artist after artist to abandon their lives on earth. They'd sent fleets of trained military personnel only to have them killed effortlessly by reality warpers, their remains tossed back through the doors as though to mock the researchers.

Another strategy had been tried: training researchers in the way of fine arts and positioning them to be chosen by the Ambassador, such that they might enter Alagadda as a welcome presence. Unfortunately, the results were the same for every researcher-turned-artist who had gone through this process: once they entered Alagadda, nothing could get them to leave.

"There is one more thing we could try," said one shadowy O5 council member to the board of hr fellows after yet another researcher had been lost to the strange realm. "We could send someone who is impervious to most otherworldly influences. Someone who has reality-warping powers of his own and would never choose art over the violence we let him inflict.”

Another council member, the oldest, looked across to her, eyes sharp. "Alto Clef is an important asset to the Foundation. And moreover, letting him into a realm we know nothing about given his unruly personality could have any number of consequences.”

The other O5 member shook her head. “We don’t know whether Alagadda is related to the Scarlet King,” she countered. “This could very well be the only way to stem a growing army of reality warpers.”

The eldest member sat back, steepled his hands, and thought for a moment. “Very well," then," he said finally. "We will set him up with Paraskevas Portokalis for art film mentorship, as we have with the other researchers we've sent. But if he dies, or worse, converts, you may very be terminated for it.”

The O5 councilwoman nodded. “That's a risk I'm willing to take.”

—-

Charlotte shuddered and screamed as millipedes coated in fake blood crawled from her mouth. Her writhing on the floor was a bit of overacting that Alto Clef had demanded, but the rest of her reaction was genuine. Her joke of a "director" had insisted that nothing else would do.

“Cut!” Clef yelled, prompting the poor actress to roll over onto her hands and knees and spit out the bugs. “Someone get me a lemon drop French martini," Clef ordered. "We start filming again in seventeen and a half minutes. I want twenty more takes of this by the time the day’s out.”

The actress spat out one last grub and looked at Clef in absolute disdain. “What,” she demanded, “is the point of having six bug-vomiting scenes in a film about children’s drawings?”

Clef lounged back in his director’s chair and smiled ghoulishly at her. “It’s about how human expression is painful, or something. I don’t know. It’s fun for me.”

Charlotte looked over to the renowned but retired art film director, Paraskevas Portokalis, who was sat next to his spoiled little protégé in a similar chair. Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, he seemed perfectly at peace with things. The man loved watching the creative process of "young and blossoming artists" the way some liked watching the bizarre films he'd spent decades of his life creating. It's why he'd chosen to spend his retirement mentoring anyone who wanted to be mentored.

"A film does need to be enjoyed, eh, Alto?" the old director said. "No meaning will be absorbed without pleasure, surely. But you have to consider what the audience will like, too, no? Don't become too wrapped up in your own preferences."

"Yeah. Sure. I'll think about it," Clef said. He surely would not think about it. He didn't give a damn about children's drawings. Not like his kid could make him any that wouldn't disintegrate in a day from merely being in her radius. No hand-drawn Father's Day cards for him, just the flowers that sprouted from the wreckage of her containment cell whenever it went too long without replacement.

As Clef returned home to the base that night and did his one-hour off-key ukele solo in the dormitory halls, he thought to himself, "This is the life." He thought he had it made on the base tormenting SCPs and his coworkers all day, but this. He had a whole year where his "job" was basically to boss people around and make them do whatever he wanted.

Yes, as Clef settled down for the night, he was absolutely certain that no one could make him an artist and he'd never go to Alagadda. This would be a fun year, and then he'd go back to his old life. He fell asleep peacefully, blissfully unaware that he was being watched.

That night, Clef dreamt. He was standing in a dark void, and then an explosion occurred, sending fractals of light and particles in every direction. From there, there were images of things Clef would never have been able to describe.

Clef watched as an alien-looking, water-dwelling squid creature taught a smaller creature of its species- its young, perhaps- to forge ornate glass vases using the heat of hydrothermal vents. After a while, Clef was torn away from their cozy home. He saw its beautiful glass exterior, and then, as he continued to be pulled away, he saw a city of similar ones, unique and sparkling. He was pulled further and saw more cities, then pulled from the ocean and into the sky, where he saw alien plant life and beautiful cities of stone on the planet's landmasses. And then he saw a tiny blip in the water- the rainbow-coloured corpse of the parental squid. But the cities, the art, the legacy remained.

Clef's alarm went off the next morning at six sharp. He rushed through his usual workout regimen feeling especially amped, adrenaline pushing him through more chin-ups than he'd ever accomplished as his mind raced. He had to get back on set. He had to do what those jellyfish were doing.

When Clef arrived on set, he was surprised at first to find that everyone there aside from Portokalis looked bored and annoyed with him. But of course they did- he'd been treating this privilege as a joke. "Everyone but Portokalis, take the day off," Clef announced. "I need to make some changes to the script. You'll be paid in full."

The actress turned away in annoyance and began walking away, no doubt wondering what fresh torture Clef was cooking up for her.

Clef had no time to worry about that. He took to the side of the old director, who had already been seated beside the director's chair. "Alright. We have to make some changes," he started, putting his chair opposite the director's and sitting to face him. "First, I want the protagonist to be vomiting coloured paint, not bugs. We'll use some kind of practical effects to make the colours cover the whole room to show what art does to the world. The windows should become coloured glass. And I want her to survive it. Second, I want this movie to actually be good. You'll have to teach me how to do that."

Portokalis smiled enthusiastically and stood up with all the energy his old bones could muster. "I knew you'd find your inner artist," he drawled, "All my protégés do in time."

They began to walk to the desk on which Clef would plan his masterpiece.

"Though, then they tend to disappear..."

---

Weeks passed. Every night, Clef dreamt of art being created by aliens, proto-humans, and even by what seemed like biblical angels. Every day, he woke up and worked on the film, incorporating what he saw or what he'd learned from it. Everyone but Portokalis was furious with the constant change, but Clef didn't care. He had eight months left to create his masterpiece. The film wouldn't be publishable by the end of the year, and Portokalis would make limited copies of the film and move on to his next protégé, but that was fine. Clef accepted it. He'd keep his copy, share his art with anyone he could, carry the skills into smaller, hobbyist projects afterward, and let that be enough. He'd even started trying to play his ukele well.

That was, until the night of September 28th. On that night, Clef dreamt again of the alien squids creating blown glass. This time it was a master artist creating a great glass structure as many others followed suit, waving their tentacles around in rows of hydrothermal vents like a university classroom attempting to emulate an esteemed professor.

And then the earth began to shake and rumble, and every glass structure shattered as the squids panicked. Once again, Clef began to zoom out of the scene, first from the ocean and then from their atmosphere, backing away just in time to see an asteroid reduce their planet to flaming shards of rock.

Shards of rock. They must have been miles in length, but from Clef's perspective, they were like particles of glass. Clef's scientific knowledge told him that every last shard of actual glass from the planet must have been melted now.

Gone.

Clef was hyperventilating. Once he would have enjoyed such destruction. But now...

The particles of the planet dispersed and stars in the sky exploded, one by one, until Clef was left in a blank void. What looked like a biblical angel floated a few feet from his face, and Clef thought that surely it couldn't die. Surely it wouldn't be destroyed by time as well. But it, too, exploded in a flower of blood and viscera.

And then, Clef heard music. He turned, and he saw a beautiful city with strange geometries, painted in red, white, yellow and black and decorated in all forms of art, most of which Clef had never seen even in his dreams. He even spotted a palace made of coloured glass, grander than the ones he'd seen underwater but undeniably the same style. Clef came towards the city, and as he stepped into its streets, he began to feel safe again. This place wouldn't crumble. It would outlast the very universe and then the universe after it.

Then, Clef's alarm went off. He turned it off, cold with sweat and heart racing.

Clef arrived at the film studio, still feeling and no doubt looking haunted. By now, the studio was filled with strange and abandoned props- things that Clef had integrated into his film in a flurry of inspiration and discarded in favor of alternative desires just as quickly. And amongst them were a crew of frustrated actors and a smiling Paraskevas Portokalis.

"We need to start all over," Clef said.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Charlotte shouted. "For what? So you can keep overloading this movie with weird shit that no one is going to understand?"

As recently as yesterday, Clef would have snarked at her in response. Today, all that escaped his lips were the words, "I don't know."

How could he make something that mattered? He needed his work to be seen, worshipped, its message known. But even if it was, it would all disappear in the end. He looked over to Portokalis, whose face had fallen. "I don't know," he repeated, hoping that his mentor would have the answer.

"Shall we leave the actors to their acting and try to do some writing?" the mad director asked, putting a hand around Clef's back and guiding him to a breakout room. Clef followed his lead into the room and fell down heavily in a chair. Portokalis brought him some paper and pencils.

"Alright, now leave me alone," Clef ordered. "And have someone bring me a martini. My usual order."

"Very well," Portokalis said, turning to leave.

Clef faced the paper, his mind empty. Minutes passed, and he tried writing the easiest story he could think of, a simple torture-and-murder type thing that he'd fantasized about on his coffee breaks in the Foundation. He didn't have the words even for that.

Clef's lack of inspiration continued for several days, and the dreams had stopped entirely. Filming continued as Clef directed, his eyes glazed over and the wheels of his mind spinning as he tried to fix his film. The actors were glad for the lack of changes, which annoyed Clef. Why hadn't he taken the time to enjoy their misery before? He couldn't enjoy it now. The halls of the foundation had grown quiet from the lack of Clef's ukele solos.

Weeks later, Clef finally had a dream again. No imagery, just a single voice, deep and androgunous and smooth.

Show me who you are, it said. Express yourself. Show me that you are worthy.

The next morning, Clef came into filming, loaded his arms with all the art supplies he could carry, and hurried back home. Frenzied, he ran through his dorm unit, coating everything with red and black. That wasn't enough. Home wasn't where he was most himself and he knew it. He took his cans of red and black, with white and yellow, too, for good measure, and stumbled into the SCP research center. He threw a bucket of yellow paint on the ground and began spreading it before he realized that this wasn't enough, either. No. He knew what he must do.

Clef made his way over to SCP 682's containment cell, opened it with his keycard, and threw black paint into the vat of acid containing the anomaly. In its subdued and tortured state, the creature did not react. Once at a safe distance and out of the creature's eyesight, Clef pushed the button to collapse the tank of acid and watched as the reptile thrashed about, roaring and spilling paint everywhere as it made its way out of the cell door. Soon, the blood of some unfortunate personnel would join the black.

Yes. This was him. He was pure chaos and destruction. This was the self-expression the voice had commanded of him. He could feel it. A bit longer and he'd be done.

At some point during Clef's artistic rampage, in which six more SCPs were released and he faced a strange lack of interference, something was said over the intercom. Clef scarcely registered it. At some point, cameras, microphones, and a harness were put on his body by other members of the SCP personnel. He didn't notice. At the end of twenty minutes, the SCPs were once again contained and Clef found himself painting a door of white on a wall painted black. When he was finished, he stepped through the door.

From the control room, several researchers were gathered to watch through Clef's cameras. Through it, they saw a world of four colours: red, black, yellow, and white- though Clef was, for the first time, seeing it in every colour he knew of and some he didn't. The realm's citizens, all clad in masquerade masks, were strange and alien. Some even floated as though through water. The world's structures and geometries were downright bizarre. The camera on Clef's chest heaved as he took several sighs of relief. And then he noticed the equipment that had been attached to him.

"Ha, you thought you'd try to pull me back if I went local, huh? Well, I'm not going to be held back by a stupid leash."

"Okay, let's reel him back," the head researcher ordered through a walkie-talkie. On the Foundation's side of the door, three Mobile Task Force members began to heave the cord that connected Clef to the real world. Clef fell backward, but then he used his reality-warping powers to undo the harness. The three guards, suddenly pulling at an empty leash instead of against a man, fell backward.

"What do we do?" asked a scientist from the control room.

"We learn what we can learn from the cameras," said the lead scientist, "and if need be, use our last resort."

Clef strolled through the city, stopping occasionally to gawk at bizarre art or to chat with a strange beings in an unrecognizable tongue and be spoken back to in English. About ten minutes into his sightseeing, a fifteen-foot-tall being cloaked in robes and wrapped in chains melted out of the cobblestone road and appeared before him.

Alto Clef, the being said. Its voice was androgynous and otherworldly and threatening. Clef remembered it as the voice from his dreams. Welcome. I'm glad that you've accepted my invitation. You are not any ordinary guest here. We know of your powers. And we know of your love for violence. We have a special role for you here.

The being stomped the ground, and a portal leading to swirling cosmos opened up beneath it. You see, for people to crave legacy, immortality, and all else that our world depends on for its new members, they must fear death and destruction. We will make sure you have time to create, but we would also like to instruct you in the ways of using your powers for destruction. You'll have a role here in destroying worlds and causing calamities to keep living beings aware of their fragility. Do you agree to this arrangement?

Clef took a moment to absorb what he was hearing. Then he smiled and laughed so hard he could barely collect himself. "Yes," he said. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" His trepidations towards violence were gone- he was no longer one of mortal creation, so why should their destruction frighten him?

"Clef," came the voice of a female researcher through the speaker attached to his chest. "This being might be tricking you. You have a pleasant life at the foundation. Come back. We'll even re-negotiate your contract if you want, we-"

"Shove it!"

"Very well. We'll have to turn to other measures, then," came the transmission as Clef threw it on the ground and stepped on it until it broke.

The ambassador guided Clef along a cobblestone road. About five minutes into their walk, they heard the sound of stampeding footsteps. Clef looked back and saw easily a hundred Mobile Task Force soldiers running in, guns at the ready, but the ambassador stepped forward and, with a flick of his wrist, caused them all to fall down dead.

"Ha. I guess that's the best they got," Clef said, turning back to follow the ambassador.

"Dad," came a female voice from behind Clef. He audibly gasped when he saw where it had come from. Standing amongst the corpses was a blonde teenage girl with furry goat legs and horns- his daughter. And she looked ready to cry. "Dad. Please come back. If you don't come back, I'll stay here."

Clef's mouth hung open as he took in the implications of that. "Honey... you have to leave. You destroy everything man-made, and this place is only made of man-made materials. There's nothing natural under it! You'd make this place fall apart. We'd all die."

The girl clenched her jaw as tears ran down her face. "If I go back without you, the foundation will kill me," she said.

"I have to protect this world," said the ambassador. "Will her powers still affect this place if she's dead?"

"Yes!" Clef screamed. "It'll make them go haywire! She'd destroy everything in a minute if you kill her, so don't even think about it!" It was a lie. Clef didn't know what would happen if his daughter died.

Grass was growing at his daughter's feet, disturbing the cobblestones. That was Clef's final straw. He ran, grabbing his daughter's hand and sprinting for the door he'd opened and thankfully not painted shut. They were through the door before Clef dared to look back.

The ambassador was not in a rush. It stepped slowly toward the door, and once it got there, pulled a paint bucket and brush out of thin air and painted the portal closed.

It made sense, Clef supposed. He was a threat to Alagadda's existence. There'd been no need to stop him from leaving.

With information on Alagadda acquired, there was no need for Clef to learn about the art of film. His mentorship was ended and he returned to his post at the Foundation. The very day he was repositioned, Clef bought himself a set of paints. He'd make something to earn his way back to the unending world of Alagadda, and this time the Foundation wouldn't interfere.

[mightyflamethrower]

U.S. Army Sgt. Quandarius Davon Stanley, 23, died last week from injuries he sustained while working on the pier built by the Biden-Harris administration for the purpose of delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

As Breitbart News reported, the pier was a core promise of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Biden assured Americans that there would be no “boots on the ground” — though, as Breitbart News pointed out, there would have to be U.S. personnel at sea, and at risk. The cost of building the floating pier was $230 million.

As Breitbart News’ Kristina Wong noted, the pier regularly broke apart due to storms and high waves in the Mediterranean. Wong also obtained exclusive video of the pier rising and falling dangerously in the surf.

Sources also complained to Wong that lives were being endangered for a “photo-op.” The administration itself admitted that there were other, more efficient ways of bringing aid to Gaza, principally over land and via truck, even if aid was stolen. Aid offloaded on the pier had to be trucked into Gaza anyway, rendering the sea route superfluous.

The pier opened in mid-May and was closed by mid-July, having only been operational for a total of 20 days. During the course of its operations, three U.S. soldiers were injured. Two returned to work; Stanley was disabled, then died.

Stanley was recently medically retired by his unit because his injuries meant he would be unable to continue military service, a defense official said. He died on October 31. “Stanley was injured while supporting the mission that delivered humanitarian aid to Gaza in May 2024 and was receiving treatment in long-term care medical center,” Capt. Shkeila Milford-Glover, a spokesman for the 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, said Monday. … It’s unclear how exactly Stanley was injured, though officials have emphasized that it was not combat related. Stanley’s injury — as well as the minor injuries of the two other troops — were first confirmed by Vice Adm. Bradley Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, who told reporters in May one individual was “undergoing care at an Israeli local hospital. He was injured out on a ship at sea.”

Israeli sources also reported that Palestinians no longer wanted aid from the pier after Israeli helicopters rescuing Noa Argamani and three other hostages from Hamas were filmed touching down in Israel on the beach near the pier

[darkmaga-returns]

By Fabio Giuseppe Carlo Carisio

VERSIONE IN ITALIANO

«A primary objective of DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office (BTO) is to better ensure the health, and thereby the force readiness, of the country’s military service community. The COVID-19 pandemic, which rapidly spread worldwide from an initial outbreak in China at the end of 2019, highlights one of the most perilous vulnerabilities to deployed military personnel and civilians: lack of protection and medical countermeasures (MCMs) against endemic and emerging biothreats. DARPA’s investments in this space led. directly, with the biotechnology firm Moderna as a contracted performer on the program, to a first-ever human clinical trial with an RNA vaccine in 2019».

DARPA’s ADEPT Project on SARS Viruses

The project is called ADEPT (subtitle Advancing National Security Through Fundamental Research), it is signed by DARPA, that is, the very powerful military agency of the Pentagon: the Department of Defense of the United States of America.

DARPA is the acronym for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It is one of the most powerful and secret military research centers in the world that controls various biological laboratories at Fort Detrick, the best-equipped bacteriological weapons development center in the world.

In the short one-page ADEPT dossier, discovered by our skilled Italian computer researcher who worked at IBM, there is in just a few lines the meaning of the story of the Covid-19 pandemic, caused by a SARS-Cov-2 built in a laboratory as denounced not only by the late biologist Luc Montagnier but also by the retired US Army colonel Lawrence Sellin, someone who worked in the maximum security Bsl-4 biolaboratories at Fort Detrick.