https://youtu.be/sNCvJmvmlDA?si=ksAkgjD-BLyo38nJ

#FakeWar #Trimp2.0 #BlackMastodon

@GottaLaff

This report raises the obvious question: Did the reverse happen with trump’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites — did trump seek permission to bomb them.

Observers blamed trump’s blabbermouth for Iran’s ability to remove its 60% enriched uranium from danger, but maybe HE asked Iran “Mother, May I” first!

In fact we should consider the distinct possibility this was ALL a sham — starting with Israel’s sudden attack on Iran weeks ago.
#war #FakeWar

The more things change, the more they stay the same apparently. Back when I had a little less gray in my hair, one of the many horrifying scandals to come out of the Bush Administration during the War on Terror/9-11/Iraq War era, involved the suppression of intelligence and intelligence officials who refused to support the Bush-Cheney administration's position that Iraq had, or was on the verge of acquiring, weapons of mass destruction. This mattered because although the Bush government employed a "throw a plate of spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks" method of manufacturing consent to invade Iraq, the central portion of their legal and diplomatic argument, revolved around the admin's repeated assertion that US Intelligence had actionable information that Saddam Hussein had WMD's or was about to finish building them. Of course, the entire thing turned out to be a lie; Iraq didn't have WMDs, the intelligence supporting the lie was nonexistent, and warmongers who supported the war crafted a narrative that "bad intelligence" had lead Bush-Cheney to ruin. The fact that even that was a lie, wouldn't come out until later; as it turns out US Intelligence had actively told the White House that they *didn't* think Iraq had or was capable of producing WMDs, and the administration had ignored, sidelined, and removed anyone in the intel community who told them so. That story was of course small potatoes compared to the original story about "bad intelligence" and to this day many informed observers still believe the spies told lies and the White House was "duped."

I mention this now of course because Trump's Director of National Intelligence, noted fake peacenik, Islamophobe, and cult member Tulsi Gabbard, just fired two high ranking intelligence officials, and moved the National Intelligence Council under her direct supervision. Why? Well it sure does look like it's because a FOIA request turned up a NIC memo confirming that US intelligence disagreed with Trump's fascist propaganda arguing that the gang Tren de Aragua were working for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro; a central pillar of the Trump regime's argument that they have a right to deploy the Alien Enemies Act to do fascist mass deportations and a bunch of other authoritarian buillshit.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/tulsi-gabbard-trump

Gabbard Fires Intel Officials After Memo Counters Trump Lies About Migrants Sent to El Salvador Prison

"While an ODNI spokesperson told The Hill that "the director is working alongside President Trump to end the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community," critics framed the firings as "the DEFINITION of politicizing intelligence."

"I am concerned about the apparent removal of senior leadership at the National Intelligence Council without any explanation except vague accusations made in the media," Congressman Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, told The Washington Post. "Absent evidence to justify the firings, the workforce can only conclude that their jobs are contingent on producing analysis that is aligned with the president's agenda, rather than truthful and apolitical."

The NIC leaders were fired after last week's release of an NIC memo confirming that U.S. intelligence agencies never agreed with Trump's claim that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro controls the criminal gang Tren de Aragua. The April 7 document states that "while Venezuela's permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States."

Look, I'm not going to ask readers to offer up sympathy for creepy American spymasters; this is a country that engages in offensive espionage, political and social subversion, and activities we would call terrorism if someone we didn't like were doing them, so there are no good guys in this story. With that having been said however, we're looking at clear evidence that the Trump regime itself absolutely knows their fascist "invasion" arguments, on which much of their paper-thin legal justification for doing a host of blatantly unconstitutional activities, are complete bullshit; and they're prepared to politically punish Trump's own intelligence agencies for not agreeing to lie for them. This is, or should be, a major scandal on par with Bush's Iraq War lies; and yet curiously the focus in the media seems to be how bad it is to train your intelligence agencies to not tell you bad news the president doesn't want to hear.

Obviously, I knew Trump's invasion was a lie, and you knew Trump's invasion was a lie. But now the whole world knows Trump's invasion is a lie and we have the documents and statements to prove it; so why is anyone pretending this isn't just fascism?

#Fascism #TulsiGabbard #Trump #DNI #USIntelligence #CIA #TrenDeAragua #Invasion #FakeWar #AlienEnemiesAct #Bush #IraqWar #Propaganda #ConspiracyTheories #IdeologicalPolicing

Speaking of the important legal principle that is "because I said so," Trump's Border Czar and noted Fury Road villain Tom Homan recently responded to questions about who determines if a person targeted for deportation is in a gang and how do they do so, with almost literally - "just trust us bro."

https://truthout.org/articles/trump-border-czar-ices-word-is-enough-to-prove-someones-a-gang-member/

Trump Border Czar: ICE’s Word Is Enough to Prove Someone’s a Gang Member

"Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s so-called “border czar,” has said that nothing more than the word of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent is needed to prove that a noncitizen living in the U.S. is a gang member, and thus subject to deportation.

Trump signed an executive order earlier this year asserting his right to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport immigrants living in the U.S. if they are deemed by the administration to be violent gang members. Hundreds of migrants have been deported on that basis, even though an analysis by CBS News found that nearly three-quarters of the people sent to a prison in El Salvador had no criminal record at all.

Those who have been deported have largely been denied their due process rights, which would have allowed them to argue against being indiscriminately labeled as a gang member by the administration.

In an interview with Axios that was published on Tuesday, Homan appeared to dismiss those concerns, claiming, without evidence, that even those with no criminal history are members of violent gangs."

My favorite Trump regime stories are the ones where you can tell the government is lying, but even if they weren't their excuses wouldn't matter anyway.

Homan wants us to believe that ICE is doing "deep dive" investigative work into whether or not migrants targeted as part of a human trafficking scheme to ship people to a slave labor prison in El Salvador, are members of a gang; which would be pretty implausible if you looked at how fast they're finding and deporting people, but becomes almost laughable when the regime is openly admitting it just deported an innocent man who had a judge's order protecting him from deportation a little over a week ago. I'm sure there were a crack squads of Gestapo investigators working around the clock on making sure these were gang members when they deported *checks notes* the soccer player with a Real Madrid tattoo, and the guy with an autistic brother and an autism acceptance movement tattoo as well; gimme a break. The entire line of argument was also rendered irrelevant however when Homan admitted, in the same interview, that it's just vibes:

"But ultimately, he said, if an ICE agent suspected someone of being in a gang, that was all the evidence needed.

“ICE is the principal arbiter” in making these determinations, Homan said."

Of course, all of this ignores that no matter how objectionable we may find gangs in our society, it's not actually illegal to be in a gang - which will be news to racist police officers all over the country, but isn't to the District Attorneys who prosecute actual crimes. Furthermore, let us remember that these human trafficking flights (people are being kidnapped, transported to a slave labor prison, and money is changing hands) are themselves being justified by a wholly made up invasion, by a gang with reportedly less than a thousand people in the United States, that is sekretly a terrorist arm of the Venezuelan government pretty much entirely because Trump said so in an executive order; nothing about this fascist shitshow is based on facts, evidence, or reality.

#Fascism #TomHoman #Trump #ElSalvador #HumanTrafficking #ICE #DHS #AlienEnemiesAct #FakeWar #TrenDeAragua #CECOT #MassDeportations #AbregoGarcia #JerceReyesBarrios #BorderCzar #NeriJoséAlvaradoBorges #Gestapo