Facebook Admits Platform Used to "Incite Offline Violence" in Myanmar Genocide, Implements No Systemic Changes

Facebook publicly admits that its platform was used to “foment division and incite offline violence” in Myanmar’s genocide against Rohingya Muslims, acknowledging the UN’s determination that Facebook played a “determining role” in violence that killed thousands …

Northrop Grumman Pays $31.65 Million for Fraudulent Overbilling of Air Force Contracts

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation agreed to pay $31.65 million to settle civil and criminal charges for systematically defrauding the U.S. Air Force by overbilling labor hours on battlefield communications contracts between January 2011 and October 2013. The settlement included $27.45 million for …

Lion Air Flight 610 Crashes Due to Boeing 737 MAX MCAS System Malfunction

A fatal aviation disaster revealing critical design flaws in Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft. The crash of Lion Air Flight 610 exposed systemic issues in aircraft design, maintenance, and pilot training, resulting from a malfunctioning Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). …

Trump Calls Saudi Khashoggi Explanation "Worst Cover-Up Ever" But Signals He Won't Hold MBS Accountable

On October 23, 2018, three weeks after Jamal Khashoggi’s murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, President Trump publicly acknowledges the killing was orchestrated by Saudi Arabia but makes clear he will not hold Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman accountable. Despite calling Saudi …

China Approves 16 Trademarks for Ivanka Trump During Trade War

Chinese government approved 16 trademarks for Ivanka Trump’s fashion business in October 2018 while she served as White House senior advisor during U.S.-China trade negotiations. Approvals included rare categories like voting machines. Earlier in April 2017, China approved 3 trademarks the …

Trump Vows to Continue Raytheon, Lockheed Arms Sales Despite Khashoggi Murder and Yemen Atrocities

On October 11, 2018, just nine days after Saudi agents murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, President Trump declared on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that he would not cancel arms sales to Saudi Arabia despite the killing and mounting evidence of Saudi war …

Senate Confirms Kavanaugh 50-48 Despite Sexual Assault Allegations and Severely Limited FBI Investigation

On October 6, 2018, the Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court by a vote of 50-48, making him the first justice in modern history confirmed with credible sexual assault allegations pending and despite obvious temperament problems that raised serious questions about his fitness for the …

Saudi Crown Prince's Entourage Books Trump Hotel During Khashoggi Crisis

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s entourage booked approximately 500 rooms at Trump International Hotel in New York during his U.S. visit, generating significant revenue at a time when the hotel was experiencing declining bookings. The stay occurred just days before the October 2, 2018 murder …

Jamal Khashoggi Murdered Inside Saudi Consulate in Istanbul by 15-Member Hit Squad Sent by Crown Prince MBS

On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a 59-year-old Saudi dissident journalist living in Virginia and writing for the Washington Post, is murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Khashoggi enters the consulate at approximately 1:14 PM to obtain official documents for his upcoming …

Amazon Raises Minimum Wage to $15 But Eliminates Bonuses and Stock Options

Amazon Raises Minimum Wage to $15 But Eliminates Bonuses and Stock Options

On October 2, 2018, one month after Bernie Sanders introduced the “Stop BEZOS Act,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced the company would raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour for all U.S. employees, effective …

Operation Faithful Patriot deploys 5,200 active-duty troops to border

Trump ordered 5,200 active-duty troops to border with additional 7,000 on 24-hour deployment notice. Politically charged name dropped after two weeks, reverting to “border support” after criticism. Deployment occurred just before midterm elections, with potential scale of up to 15,000 …

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp Refuses to Recuse From Overseeing His Own Governor Election

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp refuses to recuse himself from overseeing the 2018 gubernatorial election despite being the Republican candidate, creating an extraordinary conflict of interest. While running against Democrat Stacey Abrams, Kemp maintains control over voter registration, ballot …

Christine Blasey Ford Delivers Credible, Emotional Testimony Alleging Kavanaugh Sexual Assault, He Responds with Partisan Rant

On September 27, 2018, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her at a house party in 1982 when she was 15 and he was 17. Ford delivered four hours of credible, detailed, emotionally raw testimony …

Amazon's Anti-Union Training Video Leaked - Exposes Systematic Union Suppression Program

Amazon’s Anti-Union Training Video Leaked - Exposes Systematic Union Suppression Program

On September 26, 2018, Gizmodo published a leaked 45-minute union-busting training video that Amazon had distributed to Whole Foods team leaders, exposing the company’s systematic program to identify …

CMS Administrator Seema Verma Spent $5 Million in Taxpayer Funds on GOP Consultants to Boost Personal Profile

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma spent more than $5 million in taxpayer funds on Republican-connected communications consultants to boost her personal profile, according to a July 2020 HHS Inspector General report. The 15-month investigation concluded that …

Bernie Sanders Introduces "Stop BEZOS Act" Targeting Amazon Wages

Bernie Sanders Introduces “Stop BEZOS Act” Targeting Amazon Wages

On September 5, 2018, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the “Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act”—the “Stop BEZOS Act”—legislation designed to force large corporations like Amazon …

Rep. Duncan Hunter and Wife Indicted for $250,000 Campaign Finance Fraud

U.S. Representative Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA) and his wife Margaret E. Hunter were indicted by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of California on 60 counts including wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations, and conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States. …

Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty to Campaign Finance Violations, Implicates Trump as "Individual-1"

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney and fixer, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to eight felony counts, including campaign finance violations that he stated were committed “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal …

Peter Thiel's Founders Fund Invests $15M in Carbyne, Connecting Epstein-Barak Surveillance Network to Erik Prince Operations

Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund led a $15 million Series B investment in Carbyne (formerly Reporty Homeland Security), the Israeli surveillance technology company founded by Unit 8200 intelligence veterans and previously funded by Jeffrey Epstein and Ehud Barak. The investment directly connected …

US-Made Bomb Kills 40 Children on School Bus in Yemen, Triggering International Outrage

On August 9, 2018, shortly before 8:30 AM, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a school bus traveling through a crowded market in Dahyan, Saada governorate, Yemen, killing 40 children and 11 adults and wounding 79 others, including 56 children. The boys, aged 6 to 15, were on a summer school …

Rep. Chris Collins Indicted for Insider Trading Scheme at White House Picnic

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), President Trump’s first congressional supporter, was indicted for an insider trading scheme involving Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotechnology company where he served on the board. On June 22, 2017, while attending a Congressional Picnic at the White …

Rep. Chris Collins Indicted for Insider Trading

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), President Trump’s first congressional supporter, was charged with insider trading related to his position on the board of Australian biotechnology company Innate Immunotherapeutics. On June 22, 2017, while attending a Congressional Picnic at the White House, …

Qatar-Linked Brookfield Bails Out Kushner's 666 Fifth Avenue for $1.28 Billion

Brookfield Asset Management, with Qatar Investment Authority as second-largest investor, paid $1.28 billion for 99-year lease on Kushner’s troubled 666 Fifth Avenue property. Deal came after Charles Kushner’s April 2017 request for Qatari financing was rejected, followed by Jared …

Kushner Receives $1.28B Qatar Bailout After Blockade Reversal

Jared Kushner’s underwater 666 Fifth Avenue property received a $1.28 billion bailout from Brookfield Property Partners, where Qatar Investment Authority held a 7-9% stake, just months after Trump reversed U.S. support for the Saudi-led Qatar blockade. The Kushners had desperately sought …

Brookfield takes 99‑year lease on Kushner's 666 Fifth Ave; role of Qatar-linked funds disputed

Brookfield acquired a 99‑year leasehold on the office portion of 666 Fifth Avenue from Kushner Companies, resolving a distressed financing situation. Public records and press accounts note that Qatar’s sovereign fund (QIA) was a major investor in Brookfield Property Partners, while Brookfield …

SEC Drops ExxonMobil Climate Investigation Under Trump Administration

On August 2, 2018, the Trump administration’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped its two-year investigation into how ExxonMobil factors climate change regulations into its calculations of asset values. The SEC informed the energy giant in a letter dated Thursday that it would …

Guo Wengui Begins Funding Steve Bannon Operations

Chinese exile billionaire Guo Wengui (Miles Guo) began a $1 million contract with Steve Bannon for media consulting, marking the start of a complex political influence operation targeting Chinese Communist Party leadership. Bannon was hired to introduce Guo Media to political personalities and help …

ACLU test reveals Amazon Rekognition misidentified 28 Congress members as criminals, showing racial bias

On July 26, 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released results of an independently verified test demonstrating that Amazon’s Rekognition facial recognition software incorrectly matched 28 members of Congress with mugshots from a database of arrest photos. The test, which cost …

Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak Charged in 1MDB Scandal

Malaysian authorities charged former Prime Minister Najib Razak with criminal breach of trust, corruption, and money laundering related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign wealth fund scandal. On July 4th, 2018, Najib appeared in the Kuala Lumpur High Court, pleading not guilty to …

Senate Votes 98-0 to Reject Putin's Request to Interrogate U.S. Officials in Bipartisan Rebuke of Trump

In a rare moment of unanimous Senate action, lawmakers voted 98-0 to approve a resolution rejecting Vladimir Putin’s proposal to interrogate U.S. officials—a direct and powerful rebuke of President Trump’s consideration of the Russian offer during the Helsinki summit. The vote …

EU Fines Google Record €4.34B for Android Monopoly Abuse Through Bundling

On July 18, 2018, the European Commission imposed a record €4.34 billion ($5 billion) fine on Google for breaching EU antitrust rules through three separate illegal practices involving its Android mobile operating system. The penalty was the largest antitrust fine ever imposed globally, exceeding …

Trump Claims He Misspoke "Would" Instead of "Wouldn't" in Implausible Helsinki Walkback Attempt

One day after facing fierce bipartisan condemnation for siding with Vladimir Putin over U.S. intelligence agencies, President Donald Trump attempted damage control with an implausible claim that he had simply misspoken a single word during the Helsinki press conference. The walkback was widely …

Trump Sides with Putin Over U.S. Intelligence at Helsinki Summit, Attacks Own Agencies

In one of the most shocking moments in modern American presidential history, President Donald Trump publicly sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence agencies during a joint press conference in Helsinki, Finland. Standing next to Putin before a global audience, Trump …

FBI Arrests Maria Butina for Conspiring to Act as Russian Agent to Infiltrate Conservative Organizations

The FBI arrested Maria Butina in Washington, D.C. on July 15, 2018, charging her with acting in the United States as an agent of the Russian government without prior notification to the Attorney General, and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. The arrest came after an 18-month …

Mueller Indicts 12 GRU Officers for Hacking DNC and Democratic Campaign Infrastructure

Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted twelve officers of the Russian Federation’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) for hacking the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Clinton presidential campaign during the 2016 election. The 29-page …

Tech Workers Coalition: Establishing Digital Resistance Infrastructure

In 2018, the Tech Workers Coalition (TWC) dramatically expanded its global presence, establishing 21 international chapters to create a systematic framework for technological resistance. This expansion built upon key organizing efforts from previous years, including the influential Google Walkouts …

Coal Lobbyist Andrew Wheeler Becomes Acting EPA Administrator After Pruitt Resignation

On July 9, 2018, Donald Trump named Andrew Wheeler as Acting EPA Administrator following Scott Pruitt’s resignation amid 14 federal corruption investigations. Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist who had represented Murray Energy—one of America’s largest coal companies—embodied …

EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Resigns Amid 14 Federal Investigations

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned facing at least 14 federal investigations into corruption, ethics violations, and misuse of taxpayer funds. Scandals included: spending $43,000 on a soundproof phone booth, first-class travel costing over $100,000, using staff for personal errands like finding …

IRS Launches Virtual Currency Compliance Campaign Using Chainalysis

The Internal Revenue Service announces a Virtual Currency Compliance Campaign to address tax noncompliance related to cryptocurrency use, heavily relying on Chainalysis blockchain surveillance software. The IRS Cyber Crimes Unit (CCU), a five-year-old division of IRS Criminal Investigation, deploys …

Peter Thiel Receives First Putin Meeting Invitation Through Russian Diplomat

At a lavish birthday celebration in Vienna, Russian diplomat Daniil Bisslinger, an attaché from the Kremlin’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, invited Peter Thiel to a private meeting with Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The invitation, later reported to the FBI, …

Trump Signs Executive Order "Ending" Family Separation After International Outcry

After weeks of international condemnation and bipartisan criticism, President Trump signed an executive order on June 20, 2018 ostensibly ending the family separation policy his administration had deliberately implemented. The order came after intense public pressure, including from many …

Northrop Grumman Wins $217 Million Cyber Warfare Contract for Unified Platform

Northrop Grumman received a contract as part of a potential $217 million five-year U.S. military cyber warfare program called Unified Platform, which aims to develop a coordinated cyber weapons infrastructure enabling U.S. Cyber Command to conduct offensive and defensive cyber operations independent …

Amazon aggressively pitches Rekognition facial recognition to ICE during family separation crisis

In June 2018, at the height of the Trump administration’s family separation crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, Amazon Web Services officials met with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) representatives in Redwood City, California to pitch Rekognition facial recognition technology for …

New York AG Sues Trump Foundation for "Persistent Illegal Conduct" and Coordinating with Campaign

New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood filed a comprehensive lawsuit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, Donald Trump, and his three eldest children (Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka) alleging “persistently illegal conduct” spanning more than a decade. The lawsuit documented a …

Supreme Court Upholds Ohio's Aggressive "Use It Or Lose It" Voter Purge System

The Supreme Court rules 5-4 to uphold Ohio’s aggressive voter purge system—the most severe in the nation—that removes voters from registration rolls if they fail to vote in a single federal election and don’t return a mailed confirmation notice. Justice Samuel Alito’s majority …

Net Neutrality Repeal Officially Takes Effect, Permitting ISPs to Throttle, Block, and Prioritize Content for Payment

The FCC’s “Restoring Internet Freedom” order officially takes effect, eliminating the Title II net neutrality protections that had prohibited internet service providers from blocking, throttling, or creating paid “fast lanes” for content delivery. Nearly six months …

Northrop Grumman Acquires Orbital ATK for $9.2 Billion, Creating Solid Rocket Motor Monopoly

Northrop Grumman completed its $9.2 billion acquisition of Orbital ATK on June 6, 2018, gaining control of the premier supplier of solid rocket motors essential for missile systems and creating anticompetitive market dominance that the Federal Trade Commission warned would “reduce competition …

Trump Family Separation Policy Detains 5,500 Children in Cages

The Trump administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ family separation policy forcibly removed over 5,500 children from their parents at the border, detaining them in cages at facilities described as ‘concentration camps’ by historians. Children as young as 4 months were taken, …

European Court Finds Romania and Lithuania Hosted CIA Torture Sites, Orders Damages

The European Court of Human Rights issues rulings finding that Romania and Lithuania violated the European Convention on Human Rights by hosting CIA secret prisons where terrorism suspects were tortured. The court conclusively determines that Romania operated a CIA black site from September 2003 to …

China grants waves of Ivanka Trump trademarks as she serves in White House; ethics watchdogs flag conflicts

China’s trademark office granted final approval for 13 Ivanka Trump trademarks over three months in early 2018, and later provisionally approved 16 more in October 2018, according to AP reviews of official records. The brand said filings were routine defensive registrations; ethics groups …