https://www.youtube.com/live/pCOsgfINdKg?si=iW9xEliWM0E1JbI7
EXCERPT FROMTHIS ARTICLE: Most of the press coverage has focused on the fact that the balloon had a lot of U.S. tech on board. For example, it was communicating with Beijing via Iridium satellite communications. Less attention has been paid to the fact that the balloon was carrying gliders. That means it was carrying devices that could be dropped in flight and then glide down to a safe landing on the ground.
“Sensor Drop. A high-altitude balloon can drop autonomous gliders that travel to land near targets of interest. The gliders can be outfitted with sensors to detect anything from micro vibrations (i.e. passing trucks, tanks) to radiation or chemical particles (affluents) in the air. Targets might include military, nuclear, or chemical production or storage facilities. A balloon could deploy dozens of gliders. With a conservative 10-to-1 glide ratio, a GPS guided glider released at 60,000 feet could travel over 100 miles to its target.”
We don’t know exactly what those gliders carried because they had all been dropped before the balloon came down. The container within the balloon’s payload, which held them, was empty when it was recovered. Presumably, that means those gliders are somewhere on American soil. Of course, that could be anywhere, but I’ll put my money on somewhere near the key facilities located at all those American nuclear facilities the balloon was allowed to circle by China Joe.
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14 Feb 2025
ROME — Jesuit Father James Martin has struck back at the “internet,” launching the disingenuous and counter-factual claim the Vatican “is not a walled city.”
Father Martin, a gay rights activist, was responding to critics who have pointed out the obvious irony involved in Pope Francis’ harsh criticisms against U.S. immigration policy while the Vatican itself is the only walled sovereign territory in the world.
The massive, 40-foot-high walls surrounding Vatican City State were built by Pope Leo IV, after Islamic Saracen troops sacked Old St. Peter’s Basilica in 846 AD.
The original wall encompassed the entire Vatican hill, surrounding what came to be known as the Leonine City, but was later reduced to circumscribe the 110-acre Vatican City that exists today.
The current walls span a full 2 miles in length, completely surrounding the territory. Saint Peter’s Square and Basilica are technically on Vatican territory and are open to the public but moving beyond the square or the basilica into the interior of the Vatican involves passing check points manned by armed Swiss Guards.
The extent of the Vatican walls can be grasped from this accurate visual from WorldAtlas.com:
Father Martin’s ill-advised foray into Vatican topography sought to counter a barrage of criticism aimed at the pope’s equally ill-advised letter to the American bishops on the question of U.S. immigration policy and Vice President J.D. Vance’s defense of it using the Catholic principle of ordo amoris (the order of love).
In that letter, the pontiff stated that any rightly formed conscience can see the error of identifying “the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”
PLEASE CLICK ON THE ABOVE LINK TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE
Elon Musk reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) spent $59 million last week alone – all on immigrants in New York City. Part of that was for housing, including luxury properties like The Row and The Watson, meant for tourists headed to see the marquees of Broadway. (Later the feds clawed back $80M from the city).
Open the Books previously reported that FEMA had an enormous $8 billion shortfall in its Disaster Relief Fund following the catastrophic damage of Hurricane Helene.
Well, FEMA is not the only agency that’s been spending gobs of taxpayer dollars on the immigration crisis. Programs span various agencies.
Included is the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), housed inside the Department of Health and Human Services subagency called the Administration for Children and Families.
ORR has spent over $22.6 BILLION since 2020 on grants to nonprofits providing everything from help accessing Medicaid to help building credit, help with home and auto loans, and cash assistance. Yes, cold hard cash!
While Department of Homeland Security is often thought of as the main agency in charge of migration policy and spending in the United States, ORR spends tens of billions a year setting up refugees in the United States. Programmatic activities had a focus on, but were not exclusive to, unaccompanied children.
As Open the Books previously reported, one ORR program helped participants save for car and home purchases, another gave out business and personal loans to help them build credit. Another program helped with “legal assistance,” “cultural orientation,” and “emergency housing support.”
These acted as giant magnets for those seeking to cross the border and claim asylum.
As spending from ORR exploded, Open the Books also identified instances where the agency was expanding the scope of criteria for individuals eligible for its funding. For example, in its 2023 Congressional Budget Justification, the agency suggested the following changes to expand its mandate:
Total amount of new grants awarded by ORR, from FY 2020-2024
2020: $2,682,493,224.22
2021: $2,352,120,351.54
2022: $3,378,055,499.50
2023: $10,035,487,466.68
2024: $4,207,541,746.00
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The demise of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been swift and total. But while liberals have devolved into literal tears over the dissolution of the once-obscure foreign aid agency, they should not mourn its passing if they are truly concerned about America’s “standing” in the world.
USAID, for all practical purposes, was running its own foreign policy. Through strategic grants, it bred dependency that allowed it to in effect take over large segments of the charity/NGO (non-governmental organization) sector around the world. To say it bestrode the world stage like a giant would not be unfair. The Pentagon’s procurement office could learn something from the manner in which USAID utilized everything from newspapers to theaters and even vaccination campaigns to advance its agenda.
Whether that agenda was in the best interests of the United States is, to say the least, doubtful.
The original mission of USAID, which President Kennedy established in 1961, was to advance American influence by advancing American values around the world. During the Cold War, when there was something of a common American culture, socially “progressive” within a civically Judeo-Christian, pro-free market mindset, there was little contradiction between advancing America’s perceived values and boosting American influence.
In a conflict against an atheistic, socialist Soviet Union, the idea that humans should be free to believe what they wished was at once both conservative and “progressive.” When the status quo across much of the world was feudalism or central planning, the idea that anyone, regardless of religion, race, or gender should be able to own property or start a business was both “progressive” and capitalist.
What changed after the 1990s was the values that USAID sought to advance.
Equality is universal. Everyone should be treated the same regardless of background. Equity and DEI, on the other hand, are divisive. These concepts define people based on immutable characteristics like race and sex. By embracing DEI, USAID ceased advancing the shared interests of the United States and the people of the world, and instead chose specific individuals and groups to favor, most notably those dedicated to LGBT or feminist causes and religious or ethnic minorities.
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HOW THE TRUMP TEAM BROKE THROUGH AND IDENTIFIED BILLIONS OF WASTED TAXPAYER MONEY
EXCERPT FROM THIS ARTICLE:
While media allies prepared hit pieces, DOGE’s algorithms exposed decades of questionable transactions.
The scale was breathtaking:
EPA climate initiatives? Not just mapped—found unauthorized programs in 47 states. Education’s DEI maze? Not just exposed—revealed coordination across 1,200 programs. Intelligence community black budgets? Not just traced—uncovered patterns hidden for 30 years.
“The administrative state runs on two things,” a senior advisor explained, watching patterns emerge across DOGE’s screens. “Control of information and money flows.” His eyes tracked new connections forming in real-time. “We’re not just exposing their networks—we’re rewriting their DNA.”
The cracks began showing in unexpected places. A career EPA director, tears streaming: “Everything we built…” A USAID veteran, hands shaking: “They’re inside all of it…” A Treasury lifer, closing his office: “They move faster than we can think.”
Across Washington, officials who had weathered every reform since Reagan began quietly updating LinkedIn profiles. A Deputy Director: “Open to opportunities.” An Agency Chief: “Exploring new challenges.” A Bureau Head: “Time for change.”
DOGE’s algorithms weren’t just programs—they were archaeology tools, excavating decades of buried networks. Each data point connected to another. Each discovery revealed new targets. Each pattern exposed larger systems.
“It’s beautiful,” one of the coders whispered, watching connections form across his screen. “Like watching a galaxy map itself.”
For the permanent bureaucracy, this wasn’t just change. It was an extinction-level event. Their power came from controlling who got paid, when they got paid, and what they got paid for. Now those controls were evaporating like dawn burning away darkness.
The pattern was devastating in its simplicity:
- Map the money flows
- Deploy aligned personnel
- Expose the networks
- Restructure the systems
By the time bureaucrats drafted objections to one breach, three more had already occurred.
INSIDE THE REVOLUTION REWIRING AMERICAN POWER
The clock struck 2 AM on Jan 21, 2025.
In Treasury’s basement, fluorescent lights hummed above four young coders. Their screens cast blue light across government-issue desks, illuminating energy drink cans and agency badges. As their algorithms crawled through decades of payment data, one number kept growing: $17 billion in redundant programs. And counting.
“We’re in,” Akash Bobba messaged the team. “All of it.”
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has lashed out at the FBI, blaming it for leaking details of an upcoming large-scale immigration sweep in Los Angeles.
“The FBI is so corrupt,” she said on social media over the weekend, responding to a news account about the looming action. “We will work with any and every agency to stop leaks and prosecute these crooked deep state agents to the fullest extent of the law.”
The Los Angeles Times last week, citing an internal document, reported on plans for a “large-scale” immigration action sometime before the end of the month. The newspaper reported that FBI agents were being “ordered” to help Homeland Security.
The paper didn’t cite the FBI as its source, but Ms. Noem left little doubt who was to While ICE has ramped up its arrests, leaks have also plagued the department. A major ICE operation to go after criminal migrant gang members in Aurora, Colorado, leaked ahead of time last week.blame in her mind.
Steve Friend, a former FBI agent-turned-whistleblower, said on social media that FBI managers “are telling agents not to assist” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the government’s deportation agency.
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