By Ted Galen Carpenter, Antiwar.com, February 17, 2025.
Excerpts:
A latest instance of U.S. meddling within the inner affairs of one other democratic nation seems to have taken place within the Republic of Georgia. In accordance with Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, USAID spent $41.7 million to help its most well-liked candidates within the nation’s latest parliamentary elections. Adjusted for the dimensions of Georgia’s inhabitants, such an expenditure in america would quantity to $3.78 billion.
And:
That final result apparently was insupportable to Romania’s political institution and its supporters within the EU and america. They considered Georgescu as particularly unacceptable, since he overtly criticized NATOand opposed persevering with to assist Ukraine. The nation’s election fee nullified the voting outcomes and rescheduled the primary spherical balloting for Could 4, 2025. Commissioners charged that, look ahead to it… Russia had illegally tampered with the election. Moscow’s horrid offense was its alleged help of a TikTok marketing campaign that appeared to profit Georgescu. Tangible proof relating to Russian involvement was noticeably absent. Regardless of the shortage of proof, U.S. and EU officers denounced Russia and praised the Romanian authorities for trashing the election.
Eugene Doyle, a reporter for New Zealand’s Solidarity.com, famous the menacing significance of this episode. “To save lots of democracy, the US and the European elites seem to have discovered it essential to destroy democracy. For the primary time ever an election was overturned in an EU/NATO nation. Ever.” Doyle additionally cites proof that Russia was not even the possible perpetrator. The TikTok effort apparently originated with a botched PNL scheme to siphon off votes to Georgescu from different mainstream rivals.
by Fiona Harrigan, Cause, March 2025.
Excerpts:
In late 2021, Charlotte Bellis, an single journalist from New Zealand, discovered herself pregnant whereas working in Qatar, a rustic the place that standing carries the danger of jail time or deportation. A physician suggested her to get married or get overseas. However New Zealand, which at that time nonetheless was taking drastic measures to restrict the unfold of COVID-19, allowed its residents to come back residence provided that they secured lottery-allocated spots in a government-run quarantine program. Bellis utilized however was unsuccessful. Determined, she turned to the Taliban.
The Islamic fundamentalist group mentioned sure. Bellis made her option to Afghanistan, the place she had labored and the place her boyfriend was primarily based. “When the Taliban gives you—a pregnant, single girl—secure haven, you understand your state of affairs is tousled,” she wrote in The New Zealand Herald in January 2022.
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Journey restrictions, which the entire 194 World Well being Group (WHO) member states deployed towards COVID-19, could seem to be a smart pandemic response. It’s simple to overlook that the WHO had lengthy considered such measures as ineffective and counterproductive. Past doing little to cease contagion, journey restrictions can cease essential personnel and tools from crossing borders. Additionally they can foster secrecy. After South African scientists found the brand new, fast-spreading omicron COVID-19 variant in November 2021, many nations responded by imposing journey bans on South Africa and its neighbors. A authorities may conclude that transparency is just not well worth the financial injury of canceled flights and holidays.
by Alex Nowrasteh and Jerome Famularo, Cato at Liberty, February 18, 2025.
Excerpts:
Congress is presently debating whether or not to spend about $175 billion on deportations to keep away from future funds just like the $650 million that Congress spent on shelter and different providers for migrants final 12 months. Poorly spending $650 million final 12 months doesn’t justify spending 269 instances as a lot to keep away from equally comparatively small prices when Congress may simply resolve to not spend the cash on migrant shelter and providers within the first place.
The higher coverage would as a substitute finish noncitizen entry to welfare and entitlement advantages, which may save over $109 billion within the first 12 months.
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We discover that every one immigrants consumed 21 p.c much less welfare and entitlement advantages than native-born People on a per capita foundation in 2022, primarily based on information from the Survey of Revenue and Program Participation (SIPP). Immigrants had been 14.3 p.c of the US inhabitants and consumed simply 11.9 p.c of all means-tested welfare and entitlement advantages that 12 months.
The most important fantasy within the debate over immigrant welfare use is that noncitizens — which incorporates unlawful immigrants and people lawfully current on numerous non permanent visas and inexperienced playing cards — disproportionately devour welfare. That isn’t the case. Noncitizen immigrants consumed 54 p.c much less welfare than native-born People. Noncitizens had been 7.3 p.c of the inhabitants and consumed simply 3.5 p.c of all welfare and entitlement advantages. In complete, noncitizens consumed $109.4 billion in advantages in 2022.
Nonetheless, naturalized immigrants consumed 17 p.c extra welfare than native-born People as a result of they’re an older inhabitants—they consumed 7 instances as a lot Social Safety and 4.3 instances as a lot Medicare as noncitizens on a per capita foundation. Naturalized immigrants had been 7 p.c of the inhabitants and consumed 8.4 p.c of welfare advantages.
by Eric Boehm, Cause, February 19, 2025.
Excerpts:
Elon Musk claims that his Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) has uncovered “the most important fraud in historical past” inside the Social Safety Administration: Funds to hundreds of thousands of People who’ve possible been lifeless for a very long time.
That declare appears to be primarily based on a defective understanding of Social Safety information on Musk’s half. Extra to the purpose: Social Safety’s fiscal issues aren’t the results of fraudulent funds to people who find themselves already lifeless. It’s not advantages for the lifeless, however relatively funds to the dwelling which are driving this system towards insolvency.
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The essential query, nevertheless, is whether or not Social Safety’s lack of “demise info” about these individuals means they’re nonetheless receiving advantages.
The overwhelming majority aren’t. In accordance with the inspector common’s report, 98 p.c of them (18.4 million) “aren’t presently receiving” Social Safety funds. That’s as a result of these 18.4 million individuals “haven’t had earnings reported to SSA up to now 50 years,” the inspector common notes. “The truth that these people had been age 100 or older, had no earnings up to now 50 years, and acquired no SSA funds signifies they’re deceased.”
One other option to know that these funds aren’t being made is to easily take a look at the annual price of Social Safety. Jared Walczak, vp of state tasks on the Tax Basis, crunched a few of these figures in a put up on X. Briefly, if Social Safety was paying advantages to all these clearly deceased individuals, this system could be spending about $1 trillion extra yearly than it already is.
by W. Joseph Campbell, Media Fable Alert, July 1, 2017.
Excerpts:
The notion that Murrow’s profession hung within the steadiness in taking up the bullying senator from Wisconsin was promoted in Good Evening, and Good Luck, an overwrought cinematic account of the Murrow-McCarthy confrontation. However in actuality, the dangers to Murrow had been scant by time he took on McCarthy in 1954.
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That’s as a result of, as I write, Murrow “was very late in confronting McCarthy” and “did so solely after different journalists had challenged the senator and his ways for months, even years.”
These journalists included the syndicated columnist Drew Pearson, who referred to as out McCarthy’s exaggerations nearly as quickly because the senator started hurling accusations of communists infiltration of the State Division. That was in February 1950 — years earlier than Murrow’s program on McCarthy.