US Congress Republicans seek $27 billion for #GoldenDome in #Trump tax bill
#Republicans in the US #Congress plan to introduce a sweeping $150B #defense package that will give an initial $27B boost to Trump's controversial Golden Dome missile defense shield, acc/to a document & a congressional aide.
The measure, which will be in addition to the approved $886B #NationalSecurity budget for 2025, would also fund building 14 warships & lift homeland security spending.
…The group has argued #tariffs would undermine efforts to boost domestic manufacturing, a goal of #Trump.
#Pharmaceutical products have long been spared from trade wars due to the potential harms, but he has repeatedly threatened a 25% tariff on pharmaceutical imports.
Last week, the Trump admin announced probes into pharmaceutical imports, citing [BS] #NationalSecurity concerns over reliance on foreign #drug production.
#politics #alt #hegseth #nationalsecurity #signal #doj #strongman
Heather Cox Richardson “The Right Kind of Strongman” 4/24/25
SignalGate: a masterclass in how not to handle national security in a digital age 
Senior U.S. officials used unsecured Signal chats to discuss sensitive military operations — a misstep with massive implications:
Unvetted comms platforms
Possible violations of the Espionage Act
Exposure to foreign surveillance
Breakdown of digital governance protocols
This isn’t just about one app — it’s about a culture of digital complacency in places that can’t afford it.
We need:
Mandatory secure comms training
Clear policy guardrails
Aggressive accountability
#SignalGate #NationalSecurity #CyberRisk #DigitalGovernance #CyberSecurity
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/real-lesson-signal-gate-pete-hegseth
A quotation from Adlai Stevenson
The whole notion of loyalty inquisitions is a natural characteristic of the police state, not of democracy. Knowing his rule rests upon compulsion rather than consent, the dictator must always assume the disloyalty, not for a few but of many, and guard against it by continual inquisition and liquidation of the unreliable. The history of Soviet Russia is a modern example of this ancient practice.
The democratic state, on the other hand, is based on the consent of its members. The vast majority of our people are intensely loyal, as they have amply demonstrated. To question, even by implication, the loyalty and devotion of a large group of citizens is to create an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust which is neither justified, healthy, nor consistent with our traditions. […] I must, in good conscience, protest against any unnecessary suppression of our ancient rights of free men. Moreover, we will win the contest of ideas that afflicts the world not by suppressing those rights, but by their triumph. We must not burn down the house to kill the rats.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Message (1951-06-26), Veto of Illinois State Senate Bill 102
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/stevenson-adlai-ewin…
Trump's "Ukraine deal is exactly what Putin wants":
https://www.channel4.com/news/us-ukraine-deal-is-exactly-what-putin-wants-ex-nato-commander
#PutinsPuppet #NationalSecurity #politics #military
The Putin administration’s approach to the Second Chechen War demonstrated a willingness to subordinate legal #FirstPrinciples to #NationalSecurity concerns.
This approach “substantially retarded the growth of a #RuleOfLaw state” as “a certain callousness toward law spread north from the Caucasus”.
The Rules of the #GoldenHorde.
#history @histodon
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/vladimir-putin-and-the-rule-law-russia
NPR Exclusive: #Trump White House looking to replace #PeteHegseth as defense secretary
The #WhiteHouse has begun the process of looking for a new leader at the #Pentagon to replace #Hegseth, according to a US official who was not authorized to speak publicly. This comes as Hegseth is AGAIN mired in controversy over sharing #military operational details in a group chat.
#NationalSecurity #OpSec #InfoSec #law
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/21/nx-s1-5371312/trump-white-house-pete-hegseth-defense-department
“A launch of an attack there is just no-way, no-how, that an American #military operation starting off is going to not be #classified for Lord's sake," retired Marine Lt. Col. Mick Wagoner said.
And #Hegseth's #defense also tacitly confirms that he shared those details w/people, like his wife, he knew were not authorized to have the information.
"If you remember…I said no one is texting war plans," #Hegseth said on FauxNews. "What was shared over #Signal then [during the first leak, which surfaced last month] & now was informal, unclassified coordinations for media coordination [&] other things."
But the details he shared, 2hrs before airstrikes hit in Yemen, almost certainly were #classified, acc/to ret Marine Lt Col Mick Wagoner, who was a #military lawyer for 17 years & deployed to 4 war zones.
Why #Hegseth’s 2nd #Signal chat may be worse than the 1st
Embattled Secy of #Defense #PeteHegseth pushed back Tues on the latest revelations that he shared #military attack plans on his #PrivatePhone w/his wife, brother & personal lawyer.
#NationalSecurity #OpSec #InfoSec #law #Trump
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/nx-s1-5372348/signal-pete-hegseth-defense-department
So just to recap: #Republicans have largely stood back & stood by in recent weeks as the #Pentagon has been thrown into #chaos & as #Trump’s #tariffs have thrown the #economy into disarray.
If anything reinforces Trump’s dominion over the #GOP, it’s that. The economy & #NationalSecurity are issues lawmakers tend to regard as among their most sacred & important, but even they apparently don’t rise to the level of doing something.
It’s not just that #GOP lawmakers are not calling for #PeteHegseth’s ouster (with one notable exception); it’s that they don’t even seem interested in getting to the bottom of the readily apparent discord in the #Pentagon.
And perhaps most tellingly, #Republican elected officials have again shown almost no interest in asserting themselves even as the situation entails one of the gravest issues under their purview, #NationalSecurity.
Sen #RogerWicker (R-MS) rebuked #Hegseth for telegraphing concessions #Ukraine would need to make to end the war. He even suggestively said that #PeteHegseth “wasn’t my choice for the job,” despite voting to confirm him.…
Just >2 months later, though, Hegseth’s mistakes just keep piling up. Yet a Republican congressional contingent that has shown precious little interest in oversight of #Trump & his admin has shown almost no interest in asserting itself in this matter.
Even on the gravest of issues, #GOP can’t summon the will to question #Trump
Just weeks after #Republicans stood by as Trump’s #tariffs threw the #economy into #chaos, they’re doing the same w/ #PeteHegseth & #NationalSecurity.
It took Pete Hegseth just 3 weeks as #defense secy to make what the powerful Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Cmte called a “rookie mistake” that left the senator “disturbed.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/22/hegseth-national-security-concerns/
#Rubio accused the bureau for population, #refugees & #migration of sending millions of taxpayer dollars to nongovernment groups that had promoted mass migration, including “the invasion on our southern border.” The language echoed #Trump’s, & Rubio did not provide evidence for any of his assertions.
On a new #State Department account on Substack on Tuesday, #MarcoRubio wrote that the bureau for #democracy, #HumanRights & #labor had become a “platform for left-wing activists to wage vendettas” against conservative leaders — including those in Poland, Hungary & Brazil — & to try to promote an arms embargo against Israel.
The New York Times reported on Sunday on a draft document labeled an “executive order” that outlined plans for a drastic restructuring of the #State department, including cutting the entire office of the under secretary for #civilian #security, #democracy & #HumanRights & many other parts of the agency.
#Trump #NationalSecurity #law #ConspiracyTheories #USpol #TrumpPurge #TrumpCoup
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/us/politics/trump-state-department-overhaul.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=A2810FE2-C5BE-44FF-BD1A-DF09F1C597DE
The State department released an internal fact sheet that provided more details on Mr. Rubio’s plan, including reducing the agency’s total number of offices from 734 to 602, or by 17%. It also said that Mr. Rubio had instructed senior officials to deliver plans soon to reduce the number of U.S.-based employees by 15%.
Some elements of that office, including a bureau for #democracy & #HumanRights & one for #refugees, would be cut & *folded into* an office for foreign assistance & #humanitarian aid [the same one they folded #USAID into] acc/to the reorganization chart posted on the #State Department website.
