AI-generated image for DOGE.gov website, already taken down. (Source: Social media)
From Wired magazine:
“The fine print of a sweeping Trump executive order seemingly grants Elon Musk — the wealthiest and arguably most powerful unelected figure in the world — and his associates at the somehow-still-real Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to all unclassified data held by US government agencies.
Under the executive order, the Trump Administration didn’t create a new federal advisory committee. It instead repurposed the United States Digital Service (USDS), an existing government organization with sweeping access to vast caches of data across government agencies, including the sensitive information of US citizens, as the “United States DOGE Service” — a move that seemingly opens the door for Musk and his operatives to access a massive amount of data without much transparency oversight.”
Trump fired all three Democrats on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), bringing much of its work to a standstill. The move guts a board designed to ensure the government’s work to fight terrorism is balanced with protections for civil liberties.
The White House informed the three Democrats on the board on Thursday it was seeking their resignation, but the members were officially terminated Monday.
This stealthy move allows the Trump administration and his right-wing operatives to data mine the American people, and in essence, conduct warrantless internal surveillance. To go after political enemies like Liz Cheney or the Vindman brothers, DOGE will give Trumpf a superpower that Richard Nixon didn’t have when he ordered the IRS to conduct time-consuming audits on his enemies. Thanks to DOGE, Trump or his cronies can easily create a dossier about their enemies without a warrant in “one-stop shopping.”
More guardrails protecting the privacy and civil liberties of Americans have been eliminated. Democratic-appointed federal judges who oversee FISA warrants in the 94 US judicial districts remain. And without oversight, what is to stop white supremacist oligarch Elon Musk from selling this sensitive data about Americans to nefarious actors or corporations such as Amazon?
The Worst Person in the World
Volunteers immediately projected this on Musk’s factory in Germany, where rendering a Nazi salute is illegal.
And shame on the once reputable Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for disingenuously defending neo-Nazi Elon Musk while recklessly smearing Palestinian-Americans as antisemites.
Sources:
https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-data-us-government
https://www.wired.com/story/doge-elon-musk/
Russia Pressuring Relatives of Ukrainian POWs to Collaborate
Ukrainian prisoners after being freed. Look how happy the poor guy on the left is.
Russian intelligence services and their military are attempting to influence relatives of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) by contacting them immediately after their capture. The calls are used to pressure relatives into cooperating with Russian forces by demanding money, sensitive information, or illegal actions in exchange for promises of better treatment or inclusion in prisoner exchanges.
“This is done to shock, emotionally pressure, and force the family to cooperate,” an official from Kiev reported.
This comes as another example of Russia abusing or threatening Ukrainian captives as part of its all-out war against Ukraine. Kiev and Moscow have carried out several prisoner exchanges during the conflict, though Russia has been accused of deliberately slowing down the swaps and spreading disinformation about the process to destabilize Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities have documented widespread violations of the Geneva Conventions by Russia, including the execution of over 100 Ukrainian POWs in 2024 alone.
Reports of torture, murder, and ill-treatment of Ukrainian captives have surged in recent months, particularly in Donetsk Oblast, where intense fighting continues. On 23 Jan, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced it was investigating a case of Russian troops summarily executing six Ukrainian POWs in the region.
Whether there will be post Second World War Nuremburg-type trials for Russian war crimes after hostilities finally cease is doubtful. Russian President Vladimir Putin will remain an unarrested PIFWC, like his counterpart Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Over time, the experienced Ukrainian espionage network will seek out justice in their own way, as we have seen with other Russian war criminals.
Source:
Indonesian Forestry Minister Plans to Level 50 Million Acres for Food, Biofuels; Area 2x Size Of South Korea
Per CIA, Indonesia has a population of 281,562,465 people. GDP per capita is $13,900,
An Indonesian government plan to clear forests spanning an area twice the size of South Korea for food and biofuel crops has sparked fears of massive greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. The country’s forest ministry announced they identified forest areas spanning 20 million hectares (50 million acres) for potential conversion into “food and energy estates.”
The announcement triggered an immediate backlash, as similar food estate programs in the past have failed, often leaving a legacy of environmental destruction. Indonesia has the world’s third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest, after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and such a vast amount of deforestation would deal a major blow to global efforts of limiting global warming.
A cleared area for the establishment of cassava plantation as a part of the food estate program in the Tewai Baru village, Gunung Mas district, Central Kalimantan. Image courtesy of Walhi Central Kalimantan.
The clearing of 20 million hectares of forests could release up to 22 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the annual emissions from nearly 5,300 coal-fired power plants. “This [food and energy estate plan] shows how the government doesn’t have a commitment to reforest and rehabilitate natural forests,” an environmentalist said. “In reality, we don’t have the luxury of deforesting amid the climate crisis.” Yet the plan aligns with the platform of President Prabowo Subianto, who has prioritized achieving both food and energy self-sufficiency as cornerstones of his administration. Since his election campaign, Prabowo has emphasized the need for Indonesia to achieve sovereignty in these critical sectors to bolster economic resilience and national security.
Massive arboricide is not what the world needs, but just the opposite. To reduce the carbon emissions in the atmosphere and reverse global climate change, millions of trees must be quickly grown and those alive in the Brazilian or DRC rain forest must be spared.
Source:
Warning of Possible TB Epidemic in Ecuador’s Largest Prison
The Litoral Penitentiary has capacity to house five thousand inmates, although by July 2021 it imprisoned approximately ten thousand.
Lawyers from Ecuador’s Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights warned of a possible tuberculosis epidemic in the Litoral Penitentiary, the country’s largest prison, where an estimated 500 inmates are infected.
Per CIA, Ecuador population: 18m people; $14,500 GDP per capita.
In a single pavilion there are 400 detainees with confirmed tuberculosis and in a second space of supposed containment, there are inmates with symptoms. The situation is aggravated because they live in an unhygienic condition with inadequate food.
There is no classification of prisoners, so inmates are all mixed according to their criminal gangs. The military does not generally interfere with the gangs and bloodshed is not uncommon. Hundreds of inmates have been killed since 2020.
The Armed Forces of Ecuador took control of Litoral Penitentiary on 25 Jul 2023 in Guayaquil. (Photo: Fuerzas Amadas / EFE)
Litoral Prison has been described as “Hell on Earth.”
Sources:
https://www.prensa-latina.cu/2025/01/16/advierten-de-posible-epidemia-en-mayor-prision-de-ecuador/
‘Unprecedented’ TB Outbreak in Kansas with Nearly 70 Cases
Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced 67 active outbreak cases and 79 latent infections in Kansas City, KS, since 2024. The majority of cases were declared to have broken out in Wyandotte County and Johnson County, just west and southwest of the metro area.
KDHE Deputy Secretary Ashley Goss told the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee: “Currently, Kansas has the largest outbreak that they’ve ever had in history.”
But despite this, officials stated that the outbreak had a very low risk to the general public and surrounding counties.
In addition to the growing avian flu epidemic, here is another potential health crisis for the Trump administration. His purposeful choice of quacks, unreputable experts, and mountebanks will no doubt hurt the American people as this man below already knows.
On his show, Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov shared a particularly grim prediction of what Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, and the other Trump Cabinet appointments might mean for Americans:
“What an excellent team is coming along with Trump! Not with respect to Ukraine, but as far as everything else goes. If they are allowed to get in, they will quickly dismantle America, brick by brick. They are so great!”
Sources:
https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/2242/Tuberculosis-Outbreaks
https://www.cdc.gov/tb/hcp/clinical-guidance/index.html
Trump Issues Quotas to ICE to Ramp Up Arrests
President Trumpf issued a ukase for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to aggressively ramp up the number of people they arrest, from a few hundred per day to at least 1,200 to 1,500, because the president has been disappointed with the results of his mass deportation campaign so far.
The quotas were outlined in a call with senior ICE officials, who were told that each of the agency’s field offices should make 75 arrests per day and managers would be held accountable for missing those targets.
The orders significantly increase the chance that officers will engage in more indiscriminate enforcement tactics or face accusations of civil rights violations as they strain to meet quotas. At least 15 indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico have reported being stopped at their homes and workplaces, questioned or detained by federal law enforcement and asked to produce proof of citizenship during immigration raids, according to Navajo Nation officials. Farmers have complained that harvests weren’t picked because migrant laborers were too terrified to come to work, wasting millions of dollars of crops that rotted.
Newly sworn in puppy-killing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem rides along on an immigration enforcement operation in New York City, 28 Jan 2025. (Photo: DHS)
White House “border czar” Tom Homan has said for weeks that ICE would not conduct mass roundups and its officers would prioritize immigrants with criminal records and who are gang members. But the quotas issued this weekend would place ICE officers under more pressure to seize a wider range of potential deportees to avoid reprimand, including immigrants who have not committed crimes.
During the Second World War, Supreme Commander Allied Forces in Europe General Dwight D. Eisenhower saw firsthand how millions of people could be relocated efficiently.
Jewish forced labor during WWII.
Victims of Operation Wetback in 1954. (Photo: US Border Patrol Museum)
As President, Eisenhower’s 1954 Operation Wetback deported 1.1 million vulnerable people en masse.
US immigration enforcement actions (returns and removals), 1940–1960
Republicans are full of friendship, charity, and benevolence aren’t they? And like “Ike,” the current President enjoys golfing. After telling a reporter he wouldn’t be playing on Monday (after playing on Sunday), Trumpf was photographed playing golf at his Doral club on Monday.
“It’s good to be the King!”
Sources:
Trump officials issue quotas to ICE officers to ramp up arrests – The Washington Post
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joins immigration enforcement operations in NYC – ABC News
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback
Iran: 80 Female University Students Poisoned After Consuming Canned Tuna
Pishva Varamin University
80 students at Pishva Varamin University were afflicted with food poisoning. 22 of the affected students were treated on-site and discharged, while the rest were taken to the hospital for further care. Over the past year, multiple incidents of food poisoning involving students at various Iranian universities have been reported.
Per CIA, Iran has a population of 88m people and GDP per capita is $15,900
In Dec 2024, Iranian media reported that 40 students from Shushtar Medical Sciences University experienced symptoms of food poisoning after having dinner at their dormitory, requiring hospitalization.
Food poisoning incidents in Iran are not limited to universities. Students and workers have also been affected, with some cases resulting in fatalities.
In Nov 2024, 42 students from a boys’ school in Kashmar, Khorasan Razavi Province, were hospitalized after consuming breakfast prepared at their school.
The recurring food poisoning incidents in Iran highlight systemic issues in food safety and hygiene standards in educational institutions and workplaces, raising concerns among the public. Addressing these concerns requires immediate action from authorities, including stricter regulations and monitoring of food preparation and distribution to ensure the health and safety of students and workers across the country.
A protester holds a photo of Mahsa Amini outside the UN on 21 Sep 2022 in NYC. Protests were held around the world after the 22-year-old Iranian woman died following her arrest for allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code. (Photo: Stephanie Keith / Getty Images)
Activists allege that the food poisoning attacks against female students are reprisals for defying the Islamic Republic of Iran’s strict mores about dress, conduct, or alcohol consumption. particularly wearing the hijab. The number of food poisoning incidents without any arrests have drawn the suspicion of covert state involvement. Tehran does not like to publicly admit that they are like the Taliban in Afghanistan so they are using intimidation tactics like this.
There are two theories behind these food poisoning incidents. In the “guns versus butter” debate, Tehran’s budget may be prioritizing defense over social services and US-led sanctions are not helping Iran. The other theory is covert state involvement to intimidate female students. Perhaps this is a combination of both, with nefarious members of the religious police taking advantage of an already poor food situation.
With the Islamophobic Trumpf regime now in power, expect no let up on sanctions and future dust-ups with Iran as Israel will continue attacking Shia Houthis in Yemen who are undergoing their own food insecurity issues. With less allies in the world, Iran will continue supplying Russia with drones in their mutually beneficial relationship as a fellow BRICS country (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates). Please watch for an imminent post about Iranian espionage.
Sources:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/iran-schoolgirl-poison-attacks-1.6764821
Elephants Have Great Sense of Humor
Coriolanus 