Eliminating the Opposition

The Pentagon is taking yet another step to keep Americans in the dark about what their military is doing behind closed doors. The Defense Department has now designated its press office as a classified space, meaning journalists can no longer freely enter an area where they once interacted with public affairs officials, asked questions, and gathered information on behalf of the public. Officials say the change is necessary because Pentagon speechwriters working in the office require access to classified systems. But others argue the move is really about something else entirely: “Banning journalists from the ‘press office’ in the Pentagon, where they worked professionally in previous administrations, is simply a sign that current DOD leadership fears accountability,” said Trip Gabriel, a reporter for the Times. Others are saying the move is “Orwellian.” Placing restrictions on the press isn’t something new to this administration. Last year, officials introduced a new set

Tensions in the Middle East are rapidly spiraling as U.S. officials insist the latest round of military action falls under the guise of “self-defense.” This is a blatant lie. According to reports, U.S. forces struck targets connected to Iran, including facilities on Qeshm Island and an Iranian-linked vessel near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks targeting American military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain, as well as targets in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. Has Iran finally run out of patience with the United States? It certainly appears that way. Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute, an organization dedicated to moving U.S. foreign policy away from endless wars, had this to say: “Iranian source tells me Iran has stopped playing the tit-for-tat game. Instead, it’s now striking back ‘at least 1.5x as hard’ for every attack the U.S. [carries out] against Iran.” The Pentagon’s version of

Donald Trump lost his patience with Benjamin Netanyahu and told him off. Or did he? According to Axios, Trump exploded during a private phone call with the Israeli prime minister after Israel expanded its military operations in Lebanon and reportedly considered strikes on Beirut. U.S. officials familiar with the conversation claim Trump unloaded on Netanyahu in unusually blunt terms: “You’re f** *ing crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.” If the conversation went as reported, F-bombs and all, would that be all it would take for Netanyahu to change course? It doesn’t seem likely, but according to Trump, the so-called pressure worked: “I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on

CEPI, an organization that played a major role in funding COVID-era vaccine development and which sports the slogan “Preparing for Future Pandemics,” has announced roughly $60 million in funding for Moderna and other groups to accelerate work on Ebola Bundibugyo vaccines. There are a few concerns here… As of May 16, the WHO was only able to report eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases, and 80 suspected deaths. The repeated use of the word “suspected” really stands out here. It’s also worth noting that an Ebola vaccine already exists, but authorities stated that it won’t target the new strain. How could they make that determination from only eight confirmed cases? Officials are also saying they suspect it’s an outbreak. This is odd, given the limited number of confirmed cases. On top of this, we don’t know how reliable the PCR tests are for Ebola, so the numbers could

Many people on social media were panicking over the weekend about a provision in the defense bill that would codify military cooperation between the United States and Israel. Is that true? Is it in there? It is. Buried in the House version of the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act is Section 224: “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.” “Section 224 would require the Secretary of Defense to designate an executive agent responsible for coordinating and synchronizing defense technology cooperation between the United States and Israel. That cooperation would include research, development, testing, evaluation, integration, and industrial cooperation.” Supporters say this simply formalizes and streamlines an already close military relationship. Oh really? Israel has never committed ground troops alongside any of the wars that it supported for U.S. involvement. Americans fought and died in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan. Israel did not. The U.S. does collaborate with Israel on

Why is Google asking for approval to release millions of mosquitoes into California and Florida? The project is called the Debug Project, and it was developed by Verily, Google’s life sciences division. The idea is to breed male mosquitoes carrying a naturally occurring bacteria called Wolbachia. When those males mate with wild female mosquitoes, the eggs fail to hatch, theoretically reducing populations of disease-carrying mosquitoes without spraying pesticides. The company is now seeking approval to release as many as 32 million mosquitoes over a two-year period. And what is so wrong with reducing mosquito populations? Maybe it’s not so much what is being done but who is doing it. Google emerged from university research programs that received federal funding and has long maintained close relationships with government agencies and defense contractors. So when the company says, “Trust us, we’re releasing millions of mosquitoes for your own good,”