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Quarta-feira, 11 / 03 / 20

Just 3% of What the US Spends Destroying Countries Could End Starvation—On the Entire Planet

Just 3% of What the US Spends Destroying Countries Could End Starvation—On the Entire Planet 

By Matt Agorist,

thefreethoughtproject.com.

Posted March 10, 2020 by Edward Morgan.

 
.

 

 

It was reported this week that the Pentagon made $35 trillion — with a ‘T’ — in accounting adjustments in 2019 alone. That number is larger than the entire U.S. economy and is up from $30.7 trillion in 2018. The figure also dwarfs the Congressional approved military budget of $738 billion. Naturally, no one cares and Pentagon officials dismiss this black hole of spending as accounting errors.
“Within that $30 trillion is a lot of double, triple, and quadruple counting of the same money as it got moved between accounts,” said Todd Harrison, a Pentagon budget expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The “combined errors, shorthand, and sloppy record-keeping by DoD accountants do add up to a number nearly 1.5 times the size of the U.S. economy,” said Representative Jackie Speier, who asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate. The report shows the Pentagon “employs accounting adjustments like a contractor paints over mold. Their priority is making the situation look manageable, not solving the underlying problem,” she said.
This problem is only getting worse too. As Bloomberg reported, the Defense Department acknowledged that it failed its first-ever audit in 2018 and then again last year, when it reviewed $2.7 trillion in assets and $2.6 trillion in liabilities. Despite the shame of failing—twice—the accounting “errors” have grown.
Imagine running a company in which you accounted for spending like they do at the Pentagon. If you were the CFO, you’d be fired, if and only if the entire business didn’t already collapse. However, because these morons have an unlimited pool of tax revenue and Federal Reserve dollars from which to draw resources, they are allowed to continue down this unaccountable path toward unsustainable debt and spending.
In the meantime, Democrats and Republicans alike remain silent as questioning the military industrial complex is akin to a thought crime. The war machine must go on and continue to expand or else they’ll find themselves out of a job. The majority of Americans follow the same code of silence when it comes to military spending. Boobus Americanus sits back in his recliner as his grandchildren’s future is squandered by mass murderers dropping million dollar bombs on people living in tents on the other side of the planet — for ‘freedom’ — of course.
Despite audits and scrutiny from those paying attention, the Pentagon has only continued to lose money by the trillions since 9/11, and a report analyzing the budgets of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shows that the total is more than $21 trillion.
The report attributes the missing funds to a series of “unsupported journal voucher adjustments” made to the departments’ budgets. These adjustments are not tied to specific accounting transactions, but they are often included in account summaries to cover for balances between systems that cannot be reconciled.
As The Free Thought Project has reported, not only is it likely that the actual amount of money the DoD and HUD cannot account for is much higher than $21 trillion, due to the fact that researchers did not have access to complete data, but the practice of creating counterfeit adjustments appears to be standard procedure.
“Perhaps even more troubling than the total amount lost is the fact that fraudulent behavior from HUD and DOD seem to be the standard operating procedure. In fact, the accounting for these funds is so poor, that as Reuters notes, the Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) refers to the preparation of the Army’s year-end statements as ‘the grand plug’ — ‘plug’ is accounting jargon for the insertion of made-up numbers.
For every transaction, a so-called ‘journal voucher’ that provides serial numbers, transaction dates and the amount of the expenditure is supposed to be produced. The report specifies that the agency has done such a poor job in providing documentation of their transactions, that there is no way to actually know how $21 trillion has been spent.”
The problem is so bad, that these warmongers have ‘lost’ $58,386 per second since 9/11.
Those of us not blinded by the propaganda and false patriotism, see the inevitable results of such a propensity for supporting war. We see domestic infrastructure crumbling, a national debt increasing by record amounts each year, more conflict around the globe, and countless veterans suffering from PTSD. When will it all end? At this pace, it won’t end until the empire falls.
Luckily, there are people waging a campaign to prevent further war and subsequent deficit spending. They are paying to put up billboards showing just how much of your money the US steals to blow up brown people in foreign countries. The group is World Beyond War and their efforts are massive. For the last several years, they’ve been putting up powerful billboards all over the country. One of them can be seen below.
They back these numbers up with data on their website, pointing out that in 2008, the United Nations said that $30 billion per year could end hunger on earth, as reported in the New York TimesLos Angeles Times, and many other outlets. The Food and Agriculture Organization has not updated that figure since 2008, and has recently told us that such figures do not require much updating. In a separate report, most recently published in 2015, the same organization provides a figure of $265 billion as the cost per year for 15 years to permanently eliminate extreme poverty, which would eliminate starvation and malnutrition — a broader project than just preventing starvation one year at a time. The FAO’s spokesperson informed us in an email: “I think it would be incorrect to compare the two figures as the 265 billion has been calculated taking into consideration a number of initiatives including social protection cash transfers aimed at extracting people from extreme poverty and not just hunger.”
As of 2019, the annual Pentagon base budget, plus war budget, plus nuclear weapons in the Department of Energy, plus Homeland Security and other military spending totaled well over $1 trillion — not counting what’s “lost.”
3% of $1 trillion = $30 billion.
So, 3% of U.S. military spending could end starvation on earth.
22% of $1.2 trillion = $265 billion.
So, 22 percent of U.S. military spending for 15 years could permanently end extreme poverty globally.
With the globe spending roughly $2 trillion per year on militarism (roughly half of it by the United States), we can also say that 1.5% of GLOBAL military spending could end starvation on earth.
Are you ready to end all war yet? We are.

 



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No religious or political creed is advocated here.

Organised religion is unnecessary to spirituality.

Excellent teachings of the masters have been contaminated by the dogmatic control of these religions.

Discernment yes; judgement does not.
If you use discernment you are free to research with an open mind. 

With discernment it is possible to reach the spirit of the letter of any writing and it is also much easier to listen to the voice of the soul that comes from the heart.
Individually you can be helped to find your Truth that is different of everyone. 


Please respect all credits.

 
Discernment is recommended.
 

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publicado por achama às 18:48
Quarta-feira, 11 / 03 / 20

Shine Your Light and Activate Everyone

Shine Your Light and Activate Everyone 

THE 9D ARCTURIAN COUNCIL

CHANNELED BY DANIEL SCRANTON

March 11th, 2020.

 

shine your light & activate everyone - the 9th dimensional arcturian council - channeled by daniel scranton channeler of archangel michael yeshua ets aliens


 
Greetings. 
 
We are the Arcturian Council. We are pleased to connect with all of you.
 
We have been interested in the evolution of your consciousness as a collective because we are interested in the evolution of our consciousness. For us, the process is rather easy. There is nothing to impede the evolution of our consciousness. Nothing and no one can hold us back, not even ourselves. We just experience it, and we do so from moment to moment.
You, on the other hand, have so much to think about, so much that is worrying you, and there are impediments to the evolution of your consciousness because of the ones who benefit from the keeping you afraid, divided, and small and disempowered. And so, your journey is fascinating to beings like us who have it so easy. We also benefit from the evolution of your consciousness, as we are connected. We are all connected in this universe, and we have a very strong awareness of this truth.
We want you to be able to experience the evolution of your consciousness in a fashion that is closer to ours, because we are enjoying the ride here in the ninth dimension, and most of the time, you are not. A lot of the pain and the struggle that you experience there is due to programming that you have adopted as your beliefs, and that is something that we would like to help you with. One of the heavier beliefs that we see you all dragging around is that you are supposed to be doing something right now that you are not doing. You tend to focus on what is not happening in your lives, and have a tendency to judge yourselves very harshly for what you are not accomplishing.
When you know that you do have a goal for yourselves, that is even worse than when you just have a feeling that you are supposed to be doing that you are not. It is something that feels worse to you. It’s not inherently worse. That’s just how you experience it. We are here to help you. We are here to remind you all that the only job of the light is to shine. The only thing that you need to focus on is finding the light inside of you and shining it as brightly as you can.
Now, we can already see your minds working on that one. You will say to us, ‘But I don’t know what it is that I am supposed to be doing, so how can I shine that light?’ The truth is that shining your light is not about doing. It’s a feeling. It’s a vibration. It is something that you put out from your center, from your very core, and all you need to do in order to shine that light is to focus there. Focus within you on the truth that you are a Source Energy Being. And as an awakened soul, you can do that, and you can feel the love and light of Source flowing through you. And when you do so, others feel it. Others pick up on that truth. You then become one who activates those around you and the rest of the collective, and that is enough.
You being the light, knowing that you are the light, and then shining your light is enough to put on your agenda for any day and for this entire lifetime. Please let yourselves off the hook. This is what you came to do. Everything else is just the expression of the light that you feel, and it will come naturally to you in the moment, so don’t worry for a moment about it, what it is and whether you’re doing it.
 
We are the Arcturian Council, and we have enjoyed connecting with you.



Daniel Scranton
 
 
 
 



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No religious or political creed is advocated here.

Organised religion is unnecessary to spirituality.

Excellent teachings of the masters have been contaminated by the dogmatic control of these religions.

Discernment yes; judgement does not.
If you use discernment you are free to research with an open mind. 

With discernment it is possible to reach the spirit of the letter of any writing and it is also much easier to listen to the voice of the soul that comes from the heart.
Individually you can be helped to find your Truth that is different of everyone. 


Please respect all credits.

 
Discernment is recommended.
 

All articles are of the respective authors and/or publishers responsibility. 


 

 

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publicado por achama às 18:35
Quarta-feira, 11 / 03 / 20

You Are Almost There, Remember the Dark Can’t Defeat You.

You Are Almost There, Remember the Dark Can’t Defeat You.

Sanat Kumara.

Channeled by Erena Velazquez.

Marchh 117h, 2020 .

 
.

 

 

I am Sanat Kumara,

I am glad to be here today.

I want to give you my message to humanity. The Dark Forces had enslaved Humanity for thousand of years and kept them in fear by taking their power away from them. Their time is coming to the end, I am here today to remind you that. Their losing the battle with the Light, and all of you need to remember, who are and don’t let fear interrupt your path to Ascension.

The Negative Forces always tried all of their tricks to scare and keep everyone in fear. You need to let it go, it’s just an emotion, the emotion that doesn’t mean anything. You are much stronger than that and your winning the battle with our assistance from the Galactics, Ascended Masters and everyone else. You are almost there, you just need to remember that they can’t defeat you, and they can’t keep everyone in slavery anymore like they did for so many years. Their time is almost ending, you need to not react to all of the things that are happening in world, it’s all their tricks that they had in their sleeves, which they are now putting out. They always did and they will do that to their last moment.

Fear can freeze you and make you uncertain by making you forget that you are a spiritual and a powerful being. You just need to remember that and not to be afraid of anything. All of these energies that have been sent to Earth are helping you in your process to Ascension,
and the new thing that appeared on the horizon the Coronavirus is the last trick of the Dark Forces. Please don’t listen to the news, don’t pay attention to what the media and the rest of the world is telling you, because most of it is not true. They want you to be afraid, so you would not succeed in your mission of ascending. I am here to tell you and encourage you to be strong and not react to the lies, which have been told to you for thousand of years. You are who you are and you will soon remember, who you really are. You came here to this planet to have an experience and you end up being stuck here, but this will not continue anymore. You will be able to ascend to 5th dimension and you will live long and happy lives on new Mother Earth.

Everything that we have been telling you, I and the rest of Ascended Masters it’s only the truth. We would never say anything to you to discourage you or to tell you something that’s not true. I am here to let know you that your part of us, you are a spiritual being that forgot who he or she is. Very soon the whole humanity is going to get awake, and they will remember who they are, and then the New Golden Age will start with a new life for everyone. There will be no more suffering, no more hunger and no more poverty, everyone will be equal and everyone will live magical, happy and amazing lives. I am Sanat Kumara and I am here to encourage you not give up and trust us, trust the Galactics that your not alone, and we are here to help and assist you and bring you to the New Beginning.

I am Sanat Kumara and I was happy to be here today.

Thank You

Sanat Kumara

 
Erena Velazquez
 
 



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No religious or political creed is advocated here.

Organised religion is unnecessary to spirituality.

Excellent teachings of the masters have been contaminated by the dogmatic control of these religions.

Discernment yes; judgement does not.
If you use discernment you are free to research with an open mind. 

With discernment it is possible to reach the spirit of the letter of any writing and it is also much easier to listen to the voice of the soul that comes from the heart.
Individually you can be helped to find your Truth that is different of everyone. 


Please respect all credits.

 
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publicado por achama às 18:23
Quarta-feira, 11 / 03 / 20

What Is Etheric Body and How to Clear and Strengthen It.

What Is Etheric Body and How to Clear and Strengthen It.

Becky Storey.

https://www.learning-mind.com/

March 10th, 2020

 

 
 
Being an introvert is never easy. It’s exhausting to go about your day sometimes. Communication problems plague every conversation. Every interaction brings up thoughts of self-doubt, self-consciousness and more often than not, fear of embarrassment.
 
Of course, not every introvert has social anxiety. However, even the most socially confident introverts find too much interaction to be a struggle. When you’re the type to thrive alone, conversational problems are common just for lack of practice or natural communication ability.
 
Communication Problems Introverts Have
 
Being Honest About Your Feelings
 
Most introverts also happen to be people pleasers. This means you never want to upset anyone, say “no” or let others down. This communication problem tends to be caused by a fear of rejection or the wrath of others.
 
Have you ever been to a restaurant and had the wrong meal delivered? How about booking a seat at the movies, only to find someone else sitting in it? If you’re lucky, you have a more confident friend who sorts these issues for you, so you don’t have to.
 
These are the kind of interactions introverts shy away from, for a number of reasons. Introverts don’t want to embarrass or hurt others. Introverts are very empathic, so we understand that, usually, someone has just made a mistake and we don’t want to cause them any upset. Finally, we tend to avoid conflict situations.
 
You might also suffer from an inferiority complex, leading you to feel like your place in the world isn’t as important as others. This means we avoid being honest because we don’t think we matter. There is also the deep fear that they’ll argue back, and that’s the last thing an introvert needs. Intense interactions are incredibly draining on the energy and require a lot of self-confidence that some introverts don’t have.
 
How to overcome it:
 
The best way to overcome this communication obstacle is to work on your own self-confidence and self-worth. As you learn and begin to believe that you’re worthy of having your needs met, you’ll be more willing to stand up for yourself. You’ll never let others push in line ahead of you again, once you see that you deserve to be respected and listened to.
 
Accepting Praise and Compliments
 
Introverts struggle to take compliments and enjoy praise when it’s being given out. There could be several causes behind this communication problem. At times, it can seem like you’re just being humble, but it’s a chronic issue.
 
One of the hardest things for an introvert to do is be the center of attention. All eyes on us feels terrifying. We’d rather fly under the radar, but compliments and praise bring all the attention on us alone. Then our own self-doubt creeps in and we start to wonder if they’re exaggerating, or even playing a cruel joke. The chances of them being genuine and us actually having done something well seem so low.
 
We also worry that we have to say something heartfelt in return, and not mess it up. Digging deep is hard to do on the spot, but we feel under pressure to give them something good in return.
 
How to overcome it:
 
To overcome the fear of compliments and praise and get over this communication problem for good is again to believe in yourself. People don’t give compliments as cruel jokes, that kind of awful behavior only happens in movies.
 
It’s okay to want to humble when accepting praise, but a gentle “thank you” will go a long way. Instead of deflecting to the age-old “oh, it was nothing”, try to enjoy the idea that someone noticed and appreciated something you did.
 
Being Heard in Large Groups
 
More often than not, an introvert doesn’t want to be heard in groups. We’re happy to sit back and watch others chat away without really being noticed. This becomes a problem when you do have something to say, but you aren’t the type to demand attention from the crowd. Speaking up in a loud, confident voice isn’t a skill most introverts have.
 
In situations like a meeting at work, or a group talking about something you really care about, being quiet doesn’t pay off. You want your views to be heard, either because it’s important or because you just want to join in.
 
How to overcome it:
 
Overcome this communication problem by standing your ground. Your voice is important and, believe it or not, others will want to listen. Just as you’re happy to listen to what your friends or co-workers have to say, they’ll do the same for you. Trust me.
 
You could try having a sort of confidant, who will open up a space for you in the conversation if you aren’t confident (our loud) enough to jump in yourself. Never give up trying to be heard, even if you have to restart a few times.
 
Handling Invasive Conversations
 
Sometimes, people who aren’t super close to us try to get too deep too soon. There’s nothing an introvert loves more than a deep, hearty conversation, but only with someone they’re very close to.
 
When unfamiliar people push those boundaries, we tend to clam up. We don’t know what to say so often we just mumble our way through and escape as fast as we can. We don’t want to seem rude or make a fuss over a subject that is sensitive to us but may seem small to others.
 
There is hope though, this communication problem is fixable. Standing up for yourself is hard as an introvert, but you deserve to feel comfortable. As long as you understand that, you’ll never have to feel uncomfortable again.
 
How to overcome it:
 
We can be a little too invasive at times, that’s who we are as nosey humans. Some people simply don’t understand what is and is not appropriate, though. Fortunately, you have every right to tell them to back off and any decent human would respect that.
 
If someone has overstepped, it is well within your rights to say that you aren’t comfortable talking about that subject. Any person who forces you to cross those boundaries isn’t worth your time. Offer an alternative and move on or find a distraction. There is no need to sacrifice your own mental state or comfort just to avoid feeling like the bad guy.
 
Being an introvert brings up so many communication problems.
 
It’s hard to navigate the world when you don’t really want to chat, and you’re not really sure how to. Each problem can be overcome though, and you aren’t alone. Build your self-confidence and believe that you deserve to be respected, listened to and given plenty of opportunities to voice your own opinions. There is nothing rude, or wrong, about speaking up for yourself.

 
References:
  1. https://www.forbes.com
  2. https://www.psychologytoday.com
 
 

 

Becky Storey
 

 




 

About the Author: Becky Storey


 
Becky Storey is a professional writer who has been passionate about the way we think and the human mind since she developed chronic anxiety many years ago. Now she loves to write and educate people on mental health and wellbeing. When Becky is not writing, you’ll find her outside with her Labrador, sitting behind a jigsaw puzzle, or baking something with too much sugar.
 
Copyright © 2012-2019 Learning Mind. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint, contact us.
 



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No religious or political creed is advocated here.

Organised religion is unnecessary to spirituality.

Excellent teachings of the masters have been contaminated by the dogmatic control of these religions.

Discernment yes; judgement does not.
If you use discernment you are free to research with an open mind. 

With discernment it is possible to reach the spirit of the letter of any writing and it is also much easier to listen to the voice of the soul that comes from the heart.
Individually you can be helped to find your Truth that is different of everyone. 


Please respect all credits.

 
Discernment is recommended.
 

All articles are of the respective authors and/or publishers responsibility. 


 

 

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publicado por achama às 09:05
Quarta-feira, 11 / 03 / 20

The Deadly Times of the Journalist.

 

The Deadly Times of the Journalist.

The Damascus Scribe (Sananda).

Is The Teacher

Through George Barnard.

Illawarra District, Australia, 

February 18, 2020.

Posted March 10, 2020

Akashic Construct - 11:11 Spirit Guardians

 
 

 
 
The Scribe: “We are entering dangerous times, my good friend. I call these times ‘dangerous’ for good reasons. We have some truly outlandish heads of government ‘out there’ and some not-so-strange leaders trying to emulate the outlandish ones. Some rules are being broken, some lies are told and overlooked by the masses, totally overlooked, and that sets a precedent in relation to what some call their first amendment.
 
“Turning you over to your midwayer friend but remaining for now. I Am the Damascus Scribe.”
 
Midwayer Chief Bzutu (ABC-22): “They are the circumstances in your various countries – trade wars and the like, geopolitical disagreements – that have us midwayers of the original Australian emergency platoon drawn away from you and for most of our time bivouacking in Germany or there abouts. One might say that, we were sent where needed or rather, put by Machiventa where next he wanted us. From a Correcting-Time viewpoint this is a critical geopolitical juncture at which we must not have any mayor disruptions. The present shemozzle around Idlib is worst than bad enough. Co-operation on COVID-19 medicine is a plus. Yes, really.
 
“So far, I have neither answered the questions fired at you from those who feel you can get at any truth by shaking it out of an assorted midwayer, nor did I answer your own uncertainties you just off-loaded onto me. Well, so far, I have just the one answer for you all and it pertains to the journalist, Julian Assange, and the slow death of the First Amendment rules, at least as it concerns non-US citizens. Should Assange be extradited and convicted for telling the truth. Beware all future journalists! The deadly times of journalism has begun with a vengeance.
 
“Should Assange be freed, and soon, Australians will quietly accept an ongoing journalistic freedom to report the truth and the US will not have begun to lose yet another friend like the Russians, long ago, and the Germans, just recently, and all those who are now economically sanctioned to this very date and (enemies) to the degree of sanctions unleashed on them till now.
 
“That’s all I am allowed to bring you, brother. Good day.”
 

George: “We thank you both."
 
 
© The 11:11 Progress Group.
We are each other at our spiritual Root Source –
ABC-22, January 1972
 
 
 
 


 

Tanks to
 
11:11 Progress Group <list@1111spiritguardians.com>
 
 
Archives:
 
 

 
No religious or political creed is advocated here.

 

Organised religion is unnecessary to spirituality.

 

Excellent teachings of the masters have been contaminated by the dogmatic control of these religions.

 

Discernment yes; judgement does not.

If you use discernment you are free to research with an open mind. 
 
With discernment it is possible to reach the spirit of the letter of any writing and it is also much easier to listen to the voice of the soul that comes from the heart.
Individually you can be helped to find your Truth that is different of everyone. 

 

 

Please respect all credits.
 
 
Discernment is recommended.
 
 
All articles are of the respective authors and/or publishers responsibility. 
 
 
 
 


 

 
 
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publicado por achama às 09:02
Quarta-feira, 11 / 03 / 20

INTEGRATING

INTEGRATING.

Kate Spreckley's Inspiration.


March 10th, 2020


 

day 1032020.

 


 
 
 
We are being pushed, prodded, challenged and driven to move beyond our past history and detach from our old patterns, beliefs and attitudes. We are being called to take responsibility for the imbalances in our life, our environment and in our world. As a result, we may be thrown out of balance momentarily so that we may realign, reconstruct and rebuild our lives in ways that are more supportive, responsible and sustainable.

While integrating the current energies you may encounter a range of different experiences, which are guaranteed to challenge you to shift and expand your awareness. As this process unfolds it may produce some uncomfortable emotional and physical symptoms such as emotional outbursts, stiffness, back and neck pain, skin rashes, digestion problems, headaches and exhaustion. As uncomfortable as these symptoms are, they are a good indication that you are awakening, realigning and rebalancing. Get the support you need to ease this process.
 

Much Love
 

Kate Spreckley

 

 


 


This article may be republished as is, with no changes made and all links active © 2019 Kate Spreckley http://www.spiritpathways.co.za

 

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Make sure to share with friends

 

 

 

About Kate Spreckley

 


 

 

As a coach, energy practitioner, speaker and facilitator Kate Spreckley allows her natural skills and abilities to guide and support those who are in search of awakening, healing, growth and transformation. Over the years Kate has allowed her inner guidance to shape the way in which she works. This enables her to now offer a creative mix of everything that she has found to be the most useful and effective..... Read more

 

 


 

 

 

Compiled by http://violetflame.biz.ly from: 

 

Spirit Pathways <kate@spiritpathways.co.za

 
 


 

 


 
No religious or political creed is advocated here.

 

Organised religion is unnecessary to spirituality.

 

Excellent teachings of the masters have been contaminated by the dogmatic control of these religions.

 

Discernment yes; judgement does not.

If you use discernment you are free to research with an open mind. 
 
With discernment it is possible to reach the spirit of the letter of any writing and it is also much easier to listen to the voice of the soul that comes from the heart.
Individually you can be helped to find your Truth that is different of everyone. 

 

 

Please respect all credits.
 
 
Discernment is recommended.
 
 
All articles are of the respective authors and/or publishers responsibility. 
 
 
 
 

 
 
Like this! please bookmark. It is updated daily
 
 
 
 
 
 
Free counters!
 
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publicado por achama às 08:59
Quarta-feira, 11 / 03 / 20

How The Military-Industrial Complex Gets Away With Murder in Contract After Contract

How The Military-Industrial Complex Gets Away With Murder in Contract After Contract.

By Mandy Smithberger.

Posted March 9, 2020 by Edward Morgan


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Call it a colossal victory for a Pentagon that hasn’t won a war in this century, but not for the rest of us. Congress only recently passed and the president approved one of the largest Pentagon budgets ever. It will surpass spending at the peaks of both the Korean and Vietnam wars. As last year ended, as if to highlight the strangeness of all this, the Washington Post broke a story about a “confidential trove of government documents”—interviews with key figures involved in the Afghan War by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction—revealing the degree to which senior Pentagon leaders and military commanders understood that the war was failing. Yet, year after year, they provided “rosy pronouncements they knew to be false,” while “hiding unmistakable evidence that the war had become unwinnable.”
 
However, as the latest Pentagon budget shows, no matter the revelations, there will be no reckoning when it comes to this country’s endless wars or its military establishment—not at a moment when President Donald Trump is sending yet more U.S. military personnel into the Middle East and has picked a new fight with Iran. No less troubling: how few in either party in Congress are willing to hold the president and the Pentagon accountable for runaway defense spending or the poor performance that has gone with it.
 
Given the way the Pentagon has sunk taxpayer dollars into those endless wars, in a more reasonable world that institution would be overdue for a comprehensive audit of all its programs and a reevaluation of its expenditures. (It has, by the way, never actually passed an audit.) According to Brown University’s Costs of War Project, Washington has already spent at least $2 trillion on its war in Afghanistan alone and, as the Post made clear, the corruption, waste, and failure associated with those expenditures was (or at least should have been) mindboggling.
 
Of course, little of this was news to people who had read the damning reports released by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction in previous years. They included evidence, for instance, that somewhere between $10 million and $43 million had been spent constructing a single gas station in the middle of nowhere, that $150 million had gone into luxury private villas for Americans who were supposed to be helping strengthen Afghanistan’s economy, and that tens of millions more were wasted on failed programs to improve Afghan industries focused on extracting more of the country’s minerals, oil, and natural gas reserves.
 
In the face of all this, rather than curtailing Pentagon spending, Congress continued to increase its budget, while also supporting a Department of Defense slush fund for war spending to keep the efforts going. Still, the special inspector general’s reports did manage to rankle American military commanders (unable to find successful combat strategies in Afghanistan) enough to launch what, in effect, would be a public-relations war to try to undermine that watchdog’s findings.
 
All of this, in turn, reflected the “unwarranted influence” of the military-industrial complex that President (and former five-star General) Dwight Eisenhower warned Americans about in his memorable 1961 farewell address. That complex only continues to thrive and grow almost six decades later, as contractor profits are endlessly prioritized over what might be considered the national security interests of the citizenry.
 
The infamous “revolving door” that regularly ushers senior Pentagon officials into defense-industry posts and senior defense-industry figures into key positions at the Pentagon (and in the rest of the national security state) just adds to the endless public-relations offensives that accompany this country’s forever wars. After all, the retired generals and other officials the media regularly looks to for expertise are often essentially paid shills for the defense industry. The lack of public disclosure and media discussion about such obvious conflicts of interest only further corrupts public debate on both the wars and the funding of the military, while giving the arms industry the biggest seat at the table when decisions are made on how much to spend on war and preparations for the same.
 
Media Analysis Brought to You by the Arms Industry
 
That lack of disclosure regarding potential conflicts of interest recently came into fresh relief as industry boosters beat the media drums for war with Iran. Unfortunately, it’s a story we’ve seen many times before. Back in 2008, for instance, in a Pulitzer Prize-winning series, the New York Times revealed that the Pentagon had launched a program to cultivate a coterie of retired-military-officers-turned-pundits in support of its already disastrous war in Iraq. Seeing such figures on TV or reading their comments in the press, the public may have assumed that they were just speaking their minds. However, the Times investigation showed that, while widely cited in the media and regularly featured on the TV news, they never disclosed that they received special Pentagon access and that, collectively, they had financial ties to more than 150 Pentagon contractors.
 
Given such financial interests, it was nearly impossible for them to be “objective” when it came to this country’s failing war in Iraq. After all, they needed to secure more contracts for their defense-industry employers. A subsequent analysis by the Government Accountability Office found that the Pentagon’s program raised “legitimate questions” about how its public propaganda efforts were tied to the weaponry it bought, highlighting “the possibility of compromised procurements resulting from potential competitive advantages” for those who helped them.
 
While the program was discontinued that same year, a similar effort was revealed in 2013 during a debate over whether the U.S. should attack Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime. You probably won’t be surprised to discover that most of the former military figures and officials used as analysts at the time supported action against Syria. A review of their commentary by the Public Accountability Initiative found a number of them also had undisclosed ties to the arms industry. In fact, of 111 appearances in major media outlets by 22 commentators, only 13 of them disclosed any aspect of their potential conflicts of interest that might lead them to promote war.
 
The same pattern is now being repeated in the debate over the Trump administration’s decision to assassinate by drone Iranian Major General Qassem Suleimani and other Iran-related issues. While Suleimani clearly opposed the United States and many of its national security interests, his killing risked pushing Washington into another endless war in the Middle East. And in a distinctly recognizable pattern, the Intercept has already found that the air waves were subsequently flooded by defense-industry pundits praising the strike. Unsurprisingly, news of a potential war also promptly boosted defense industry stocks. Northrop Grumman’s, Raytheon’s, and Lockheed Martin’s all started 2020 with an uptick.
 
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA) have offered legislation that could shut down that revolving door between the major weapons makers and Washington for good, but it has met concerted resistance from Pentagon officials and others still in Congress who stand to benefit from preserving the system as is. Even if that revolving door wasn’t shut down, transparency about just who was going through it would help the public better understand what former officials and military commanders are really advocating for when they speak positively of the necessity for yet another war in the Middle East.
 
 
Costly Weapons (and Well-Paid Lobbyists)
 
Here’s what we already know about how it all now works: weapon systems produced by the big defense firms with all those retired generals, former administration officials, and one-time congressional representatives on their boards (or lobbying for or consulting for them behind the scenes) regularly come in overpriced, are often delivered behind schedule, and repeatedly fail to have the capabilities advertised. Take, for instance, the new Ford class aircraft carriers, produced by Huntington Ingalls Industries, the sort of ships that have traditionally been used to show strength globally. In this case, however, the program’s development has been stifled by problems with its weapons elevators and the systems used to launch and recover its aircraft. Those problems have been costly enough to send the price for the first of those carriers soaring to $13.1 billion. Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 jet fighter, the most expensive weapons system in Pentagon history, has an abysmal rate of combat readiness and currently comes in at more than $100 million per aircraft.
 
And yet, somehow, no one ever seems to be responsible for such programmatic failures and prices—certainly not the companies that make them (or all those retired military commanders sitting on their boards or working for them). One crucial reason for this lack of accountability is that key members of Congress serving on committees that should be overseeing such spending are often the top recipients of campaign contributions from the big weapons makers and their allies. And just as at the Pentagon, members of those committees or their staff often later become lobbyists for those very federal contractors.
 
With this in mind, the big defense firms carefully spread their contracts for weapons production across as many congressional districts as possible. This practice of “political engineering,” a term promoted by former Department of Defense analyst and military reformer Chuck Spinney, helps those contractors and the Pentagon buy off members of Congress from both parties. Take, for example, the Littoral Combat Ship, a vessel meant to operate close to shore. Costs for the program tripled over initial estimates and, according to Defense News, the Navy is already considering decommissioning four of the new ships next year as a cost-saving measure. It’s not the first time that program has been threatened with the budget axe. In the past, however, pork-barrel politics spearheaded by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Richard Shelby (R-AL), in whose states those boats were being built, kept the program afloat.
 
The Air Force’s new bomber, the B-21, being built by Northrup Grumman, has been on a similar trajectory. Despite significant pressure from then-Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the Air Force refused in 2017 to make public or agree upon a contract price for the program. (It was a “cost-plus,” not a “fixed price” contract, after all.) It did, however, release the names of the companies providing components to the program, ensuring that relevant congressional representatives would support it, no matter the predictably spiraling costs to come.
 
Recent polling indicates that such pork-barrel politics isn’t backed by the public, even when they might benefit from it. Asked whether congressional representatives should use the Pentagon’s budget to generate jobs in their districts, 77% of respondents rejected the notion. Two-thirds favored shifting such funds to sectors like healthcare, infrastructure, and clean energy that would, in fact, create significantly more jobs.
 
And keep in mind that, in this big-time system of profiteering, hardware costs, however staggering, are just a modest part of the equation. The Pentagon spends about as much on what it calls “services” as it does on the weaponry itself and those service contracts are another major source of profits. For example, it’s estimated that the F-35 program will cost $1.5 trillion over the lifetime of the plane, but a trillion dollars of those costs will be for support and maintenance of the aircraft.
 
Increasingly, this means contractors are able to hold the Pentagon hostage over a weapon’s lifetime, which means overcharges of just about every imaginable sort, including for labor. The Project On Government Oversight (where I work) has, for instance, been uncovering overcharges in spare parts since our founding, including an infamous $435 hammer back in 1983. I’m sad to report that what, in the 1980s, was a seemingly outrageous $640 plastic toilet-seat cover for military airplanes now costs an eye-popping $10,000. A number of factors help explain such otherwise unimaginable prices, including the way contractors often retain intellectual property rights to many of the systems taxpayers funded to develop, legal loopholes that make it difficult for the government to challenge wild charges, and a system largely beholden to the interests of defense companies.
 
The most recent and notorious case may be TransDigm, a company that has purchased other companies with a monopoly on providing spare parts for a number of weapon systems. That, in turn, gave it power to increase the prices of parts with little fear of losing business—once, receiving 9,400% in excess profits for a single half-inch metal pin. An investigation by the House Oversight and Reform Committee found that TransDigm’s employees had been coached to resist providing cost or pricing information to the government, lest such overcharges be challenged.
 
In one case, for instance, a subsidiary of TransDigm resisted providing such information until the government, desperate for parts for weapons to be used in Iraq and Afghanistan, was forced to capitulate or risk putting troops’ lives on the line. TransDigm did later repay the government $16 million for certain overcharges, but only after the House Oversight and Reform Committee held a hearing on the subject that shamed the company. As it happens, TransDigm’s behavior isn’t an outlier. It’s typical of many defense-related companies doing business with the government—about 20 major industry players, according to a former Pentagon pricing czar.
 
A Recipe for Disaster
 
For too long Congress has largely abdicated its responsibilities when it comes to holding the Pentagon accountable. You won’t be surprised to learn that most of the “acquisition reforms” it’s passed in recent years, which affect how the Department of Defense buys goods and services, have placed just about all real negotiating power in the hands of the big defense contractors. To add insult to injury, both parties of Congress continue to vote in near unanimity for increases in the Pentagon budget, despite 18-plus years of losing wars, the never-ending gross mismanagement of weapons programs, and a continued failure to pass a basic audit. If any other federal agency (or the contractors it dealt with) had a similar track record, you can only begin to imagine the hubbub that would ensue. But not the Pentagon. Never the Pentagon.
 
A significantly reduced budget would undoubtedly increase that institution’s effectiveness by curbing its urge to throw ever more money at problems. Instead, an often bought-and-paid-for Congress continues to enable bad decision-making about what to buy and how to buy it. And let’s face it, a Congress that allows endless wars, terrible spending practices, and multiplying conflicts of interest is, as the history of the twenty-first century has shown us, a recipe for disaster.

Mandy Smithberger

 
 
Mandy Smithberger is the director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO).
 

 



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No religious or political creed is advocated here.

Organised religion is unnecessary to spirituality.

Excellent teachings of the masters have been contaminated by the dogmatic control of these religions.

Discernment yes; judgement does not.
If you use discernment you are free to research with an open mind. 

With discernment it is possible to reach the spirit of the letter of any writing and it is also much easier to listen to the voice of the soul that comes from the heart.
Individually you can be helped to find your Truth that is different of everyone. 


Please respect all credits.

 
Discernment is recommended.
 

All articles are of the respective authors and/or publishers responsibility. 


 

 

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publicado por achama às 08:56
Quarta-feira, 11 / 03 / 20

SUPPORTED.

SUPPORTED.

The Angels want you to know...

Angel Wisdom

with Sharon Taphorn.

Posted March 10, 2020. 

 
 
.
 
 



 
You have support. 
 
You are never alone on this journey. 
 
If life feels this way for you at this moment, ask the angels to surround you in unconditional love. 
 
Once you allow yourself to be embraced in that cloak of love, you are then better able to focus your thoughts and feelings. 
 
Let them hold you in sacred space. 
 
Let the energy of love sink into your heart. 
 
Use the energy of this feeling to propel you into forward action and forward movement, grounded in love. 
 
That is powerful!”
 
 
 
Thought for today: 
You have help on your journey. 
Let go of the need to control and allow!

 

 

And so it is
You are dearly looved and supported always, the angels
 
Thank you, Mahalo, Merci, Gracias, Vielen Dank, Grazie, Спасибо, Obrigado, 谢谢, Dank, 謝謝, Chokran, Děkuji
 

Universal Copyright ©2019 by Sharon Taphorn All rights reserved.
NO DIGITAL RECORDINGS PERMITTED EXCEPT BY AUTHOR.

 
Please share as long as copyright and contact info are always included and the message is complete and credit is given to the author.

 
♥♥♥

 
Compiled by http://violetflame.biz.ly from: 
 
Archives:



No religious or political creed is advocated here.

Organised religion is unnecessary to spirituality.

Excellent teachings of the masters have been contaminated by the dogmatic control of these religions.

Discernment yes; judgement does not.
If you use discernment you are free to research with an open mind. 

With discernment it is possible to reach the spirit of the letter of any writing and it is also much easier to listen to the voice of the soul that comes from the heart.
Individually you can be helped to find your Truth that is different of everyone. 


Please respect all credits.

 
Discernment is recommended.
 

All articles are of the respective authors and/or publishers responsibility. 



 

Like this! please bookmark. It is updated daily

 


 
 
 
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publicado por achama às 08:52
Quarta-feira, 11 / 03 / 20

2020 Dark 4d Matrix and Light 5d Matrix Upgrades.

2020 Dark 4d Matrix and Light 5d Matrix Upgrades.

by Derek Knauss.

awakening5dhealing.com

March 9, 2020.

 
 
 
.
 
 
 
Everything is backwards in the upside down world. The milk of human kindness is what sets us apart from our infiltrators. The higher we raise our internal vibration the more we SEE the world around us. A world engineered in smoke and mirrors, pulsing on the beat of narcism, predator and prey, misogynistic and pedophiliac algorithms. The core processing units of the matrix are misogyny, white élite supremacy and pedophilia. The Devil’s playground indeed. The secrets the cabal hide, propagate and facilitate are organized trafficking, arms...

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publicado por achama às 08:50
A Luz está a revelar a Verdade, e esta libertar-nos-á! -Só é real o AMOR Incondicional. -Quando o Amor superar o amor pelo poder, o mundo conhecerá a Paz; Jimi Hendrix. -Somos almas a ter uma experiência humana!

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