hi.
you're on a rock floating in space.
pretty cool, huh?
some of it's water.
fuck it, actually most of it's water.
i can't even get from here to there without buying a boat.
it's sad.
i'm sad.
i miss you.
how did this happen?
a long time ago, actually never, and also now, nothing is nowhere.
when?
never.
makes sense, right?
like i said, it didn't happen.
nothing was never anywhere.
that's why it's been everywhere.
it's been so everywhere you don't need a where.
you don't even need a when.
that's how every it gets.
forget this.
i wanna be something.
go somewhere.
do something.
i want things to change.
i want to invent time and space.
and i know it's possible because everything is here and it probably already happened.
i just don't know when to start.
and that's exactly where it started.
whoah, i paused it.
i think there's a universe now.
what's it made of?
quarks & stuff
ah, that's a thing.
in a place.
don't like it?
try a new place.
at a different time™.
try to stick together, because the world is gonna get bigger.
and emptier.
but it's not empty yet.
it's still very full, and about a kjghpillion degrees.
great news!
the quarks are now happily married, in groups of three called a proton or a neutron
and there's something else flying around too that wants to join in but can't cause it's still too
HOT
great news!
the protons and neutrons are now happily married to each other.
and some of them even doubled up.
great news, the electrons have now joined in
congratulations, the world is now a bunch of gas in space.
but it's getting closer together.
and it's getting closer together.
and it's getting closer toge-
it's a star
new shit just got made!
some stars burn out and die.
bigger stars burn out and die with passion, and make some brand new, way crazier shit.
space dust
which allows newer, more interesting stars to be made, and then die, and explode into
even crazier space dust
so now stars have cool stuff around them, like rocks, ice, and funny clouds, which can make some very interesting things.
like this ball of flaming rocks for example.
holy shit, we just got hit with another ball of flaming rocks.
and it kind of made a mess.
which is
now the moon
weather update:
it's raining rocks from outer space.
weather update:
those rocks might have had water inside them, and now there's hot steam in the sky.
weather update:
cooler temperatures today, and the floor is no longer lava.
weather update:
it's raining.
severe flooding alert:
the entire world is now an ocean.
volcano alert:
that's land!
there's life in the ocean
what?
something's alive in the ocean
oh cool, like a plant or an animal?
no, a microscopic speck.
it lives at the bottom of the ocean and eats chemical soup, which is being served hot and fresh, made from gnarly space ingredients left over from when it was raining rocks or whatever.
oh yeah, and it can do that.
it has secret instructions written inside itself telling it how to build another one of itself.
so that's pretty nifty, i would say.
tired of living at the bottom of the ocean?
now you can eat sunlight!
using a revolutionary technique, you can convert sunlight into food
taste the sun
side effect: now there's oxygen everywhere and the sky's blue.
then the earth might have been a snowball for a while, maybe even a couple of times.
it's a sponge.
it's a plant.
it's a worm, and some other types of weird strange water bugs and strange fish.
it's the Cambrian explosion
"wow, that's animals and stuff"
but we're still in the ocean, hey, can we go on land?
no
why?
the sun is a deadly lazer
oh okay.
not anymore, there's a blanket
now the animals can go on land.
come on, animals, let's go on land!
nope, can't walk yet.
and there's no food yet, so i don't care.
ok, will you learn to walk if there's plants up here?
maybe, said some bugs, and fish.
ok, so i can go on land, but i have to go back in the water to
have babies
learn to use an egg.
i was already doing that.
use a stronger egg.
put water in it.
have a baby, on land, in an egg.
water is in the egg.
baby, in the egg, in the water, in the egg.
works for me.
bye bye ocean
and now everything's huge.
including bugs.
wanna see a map of the land?
sure.
oh fuck, now everything's dead.
just kidding, here are the survivors.
keep your eye on this one because it's about to become the dinosaurs.
here's another map of the land.
yeah, it broke apart, don't worry about it, it does that all the time.
here comes a meteor.
and the dinosaurs are gone
it's mammal time, here come the mammals.
look at those breasts.
now they're gonna dominate the world and one of them just learned how to grab stuff.
and walk.
no, like, walk like that.
and grab stuff at the same time.
and bang rocks together to make pointed rocks.
"ouch"
and set things on fire.
"yeouch"
and make crazy sounds with their voice.
"gneurshk"
which can mean different things.
that's a human person
and now they're everywhere.
almost.
ice age
what, you can walk over here?
cool.
not anymore
well i guess we're stuck here now.
let's review.
there's people on the planet.
and they're chasing their food.
fuck it, time to plant some grass.
look at this.
i control the food now.
now everyone will want to be my friend and live near me.
let's all build houses except mine is bigger because i own the food.
this is great, i wonder if anyone else is doing this.
tired of using rocks for everything?
use metal.
it's underground.
better farming was just invented, in a sweet dank valley right in between these two rivers.
and the animals are helping.
guess what happens next
more food.
and more people who came to buy the food.
now you need people to help make the food and keep track of the sales.
and now you need houses for people to live in and people to make the houses, and now there's more people and they invent things, which makes things better and more people come and there's more farming and more people to make more things for more people and now there's business, money, writing, laws, power.
Society
coming soon to a dank river valley near you.
meanwhile, out in the middle of nowhere, the horse is probably being tamed.
why is all my metal so lame and lumpy?
tired of using lame, sad metal?
introducing
Bronze
made with special ingredient tin from the far lands of tin land.
i don't know, my dealer won't tell me where he gets it.
also, guess what?
egypt
meanwhile, out in the middle of nowhere, they figured out how to put wheels on a horse.
now we're getting somewhere.
also
china
and did i mention
indus river valley civilization
norte chico
the middle east is getting more complicated, maybe because it's in the middle of the east.
knock knock, er, clop clop.
it's the people with the horses.
and they made an empire.
and then everyone else copied their horses.
greeks
ah look, it must be the greeks, er, a beta version of the greeks.
let's check in with the indus river valley civilization.
they're gone.
guess who's not gone?
china
new arrivals in india, maybe it's those horse people i was talking about, or their cousins or something
and they wrote some hymns and mantras and stuff
you could make a religion out of this.
there's the bronze age collapse.
now the phoenicians can get down to business
also, can we switch to a metal that's a little easier to find?
thanks.
look who came back to israel, it's the twelve tribes of israel.
and they believe in God
just 1 though, he's got like a ten step program.
here's some huge heads.
must be the olmecs.
the phoenicians make some colonies.
the greeks copy their idea and make some colonies.
the phoenicians made a colony so big it makes colonies.
here comes the assyrian empire.
never mind, it's the babylonian- median-
it's the Persian Empire
"wow, that's big"
ah, the buddha was just enlightened.
who's the buddha?
this guy, who sat under a tree for so long that he figured out how to ignore the fact that we're all dying.
you could make a religion out of this.
oops, china just broke, but while it was breaking, confucius was figuring out how to have good morals.
ah, the greeks just had the idea of thinking about stuff.
and right over here, alexander just had the idea of conquering the entire persian empire.
it's a great idea.
he was great.
and now he's dead.
hopefully the rest of the gang will be able to share the empire evenly between them.
knock knock, it's chandragupta, he says get the hell out of here.
will you get the hell out of here if i give you 500 elephants?
ok thanks, bye
time to conquer all of india
or
most of india
but what about this part?
that's the tamil kings, no one conquers the tamil kings.
who are the tamil kings?
merchants, probably
and they've got spices
who would like to buy the spices?
me, said the arabians, swiftly buying it and selling it to the rest of the world.
hey, china put itself back together again, with good morals as their main philosophy.
actually, they have three main philosophies.
out here, the horse nomads run wild and free, and they would like to ransack your city.
let's check the greekification levels of the greekified kingdoms.
greekification overload!
bye, said the parthians.
bye, said the jews.
hi, said the parthians, taking over the entire place.
heyyyyyyyy, said the romans, eating the entire mediterranean for breakfast.
thanks for invading our homeland, said the jews, who were starting to get tired of people invading their homeland.
hi, everything's great, said some guy who seems to be getting very popular and is then arrested and killed for being too popular, which only makes him more popular.
you could make a religion out of this.
want silk?
now you can buy it from china.
they just made a
brand new road to the world
or you can
get there on water
sick! new trade routes! said india, accidentally spreading their religion to the entire southeast.
hmm, that's a good place for an epic trading kingdom.
there goes buddhism traveling up the silk road.
i wonder if it'll reach china before it collapses again.
remember the persian empire?
yep, said the persians, making a new one.
axum is getting so powerful they would like to build a long stick.
has anyone populated madagascar yet?
let's do it together.
china is whole again
then it broke again
still can't cross the sahara desert?
try camels.
hell yeah! now we've got business
said the ghana empire, selling lots of gold, and slaves
hi, i live in the roman empire, and i was wondering
is loving jesus legal yet?
no.
actually, ok, sure, said constantine, moving the capital way over here to be closer to his
main rival
don't worry about rome, it won't fall.
it's the golden age of india
there's the gupta empire, not chandragupta, just gupta.
first name chandra.
the first.
guess who's in rome?
barbarians
what's a barbarian?
non-romans, said the romans, being invaded by non-romans.
r.i.p., roman empire, er, actually just half of it, the other half is just fine, but it's not in rome anymore so let's give it a new name.
the mayans have figured out the stars
oh and here's a huge city, population: everyone
the göktürks have taken over the entire eurasian steppe.
great job, göktürks.
how's india?
broken.
how's china?
back together
how's those trading kingdoms?
bigger, and there's more of them
korea has 3 kingdoms.
japan has a kingdom, it's the sunrise kingdom.
deep in the arabian desert, on the top of a mountain, the real god whispers in muhammed's ear.
so he goes down to the cube where everyone worships gods and he tells them their gods are all fake.
and everyone got so mad at him that he had to leave town and go to a different town.
you could make a religion out of this.
and maybe conquer the world as well.
the roman empire is long gone, but somehow the pope is still the pope.
plus there's
new kingdoms all over europe
i wonder if there's room for moors.
here's all the wisdom.
in a house.
it's the baghdad house of wisdom.
just in time for the
islamic golden age
let's bring stuff to the coast and sell it, and become the swahili on the swahili coast, said the swahili on the swahili coast.
remember this tiny space you have to go through to get from here to there?
someone owns that now.
wanna get enlightened in the middle of nowhere?
the franks have the biggest kingdom in europe, and the pope is so proud that he invites the king over for christmas.
surprise! you're the new roman emperor, said the pope, pretending to still be part of the roman empire.
then the franks broke their kingdom into what will later be called france and not france.
but the northerners, or just norse if you don't have much time, are exploring.
they go north, from the north to the northern north.
and they find some land.
two types of land.
and they name them accordingly.
they also invade some other places, and get called many names, such as vikings.
there's the rus.
the kievan rus.
are they vikings?
i don't think so, said the kievan rus.
ok, fair enough.
the pope is ready to make some more emperors.
of the "roman empire".
the holy roman empire.
it's actually germany but don't worry about it.
new kingdoms.
christianize all the kingdoms
which brand would you like?
mine's better.
mine's better.
mine's better.
time to conquer england, said william.
it's a bird, it's a plane
it's the seljuk turks
aah! said the byzantine empire who's getting so small and almost doesn't exist anymore.
we need help!
they need help, so they call the pope.
hey pope, can you help us get rid of the seljuks?
maybe take back the holy land on the way?
come on, i know you want to take back the holy land.
yes, i do actually want to do that.
let's do a crusade.
crusade
they did many crusades, some of which almost didn't fail.
but at least the italians got some sweet trade deals.
goodbye mayans.
hello toltecs
goodbye toltecs.
hello mississippi
look at those mounds.
there's the pueblo.
i always wondered how to build a town in a cliff.
guess who's here?
khmer.
where?
here.
and pagan is there.
vietnam unconquered itself, korea just became itself, and japan is so addicted to art that the military might have to take over the government.
china just invented bombs, and typing.
and the mongols just invaded most of the universe.
nice going, Genghis!
i bet that will last a long time.
some of the islamic turks were unaffected by the mongol invasions because they were busy invading india.
is it tonga time?
i think it's tonga time.
i just found out where the swahili gets all their gold.
look at this chad.
means "lake".
there's an empire there.
right in the middle of
Africa
the king of mali is so rich he's going on tour to let everyone know.
wow, that guy's rich, everyone said.
the christians are doing a great job reconquering iberia, which will soon be called spain and not spain.
please remain christian.
we will check in later to see if you're still christian when you least expect.
whoops, half of europe just died.
ming
china's back, yay!
hey khmer, time to share.
new kingdoms here and there.
oh, look who controls all the islands.
it's the mahajapit.
majahapit.
mapajahit.
mahapajit.
mapajahit.
majapahit?
oh, italy's really rich, time for them to care a lot about art and the ancient classics.
it's kinda like a rebirth.
here's a printer.
let's make books.
so you think you can conquer the byzantine empire?
yep, said the ottoman turks.
nice job, ottoman turks.
whoops, you missed a spot.
don't forget to ban europe from the indian spice trade.
what? that's bullshit, said portugal, spiceless.
well i guess we'll have to find another way to india
wait! said christopher columbus, probably smoking crack.
if the world is round, let's go this way to india.
nah, don't worry, we already got this, said portugal.
so chris goes to spain.
hey spain, wanna hire me to find india by going around back of the world?
no.
please?
no.
please?
no.
please?
ok.
so he sails into the ocean.
and discovers more ocean.
and then discovers the indies.
and japan.
let's draw a line to decide who gets which half of the world.
the aztec and inca empires are off to a great start.
i wonder if they know that europe just discovered their continent?
the habsburgs are marrying into so many royal families they might have to start marrying each other.
move over lithuania, here comes moscow.
ivan wants to make russia great again.
move over timurids, maybe go invade india or something.
persia just made persia persian again.
let's make it the other kind of islam.
the one where we thought the first guy should have been the other guy.
hey christians!
do you sin?
now you can buy your way out of hell.
that's bullshit.
this whole thing is bullshit.
that's a scam.
fuck the church.
here's 95 reasons why, said martin luther, in his new book, which might have accidentally started the protestant reformation.
you know what would be magnificent, said suleiman, wearing an onion hat?
what if the ottoman empire was really big?
which it is now.
what if russia was big? said ivan, trying not to be terrible.
portugal had a dream that they controlled the entire indian ocean, including the spice trade.
and then that dream was real.
and spain realized that this is not india, but they pillaged it anyway.
damn, said england and france.
we gotta start pillaging some stuff.
then the dutch revolt and all the hipsters move to amsterdam.
damn, said amsterdam.
we gotta start pillaging some stuff.
question 1: can you get to india through north america?
no, but at least there's beaver.
question 2: steal the spice trade.
that's not a question, but the dutch did it anyway.
sugar
guess where all the sugar's made?
in brazil.
stolen
and the caribbean.
and it's so god damn profitable you might forget to not do slavery.
the next thing on russia's to-do list is to get bigger.
britain and france are having a friendly discussion about who should control the entire world.
more specifically, ohio.
then it escalates into a seven year discussion, giving prussia a chance to show austria who's boss.
but what about britain and france, did they figure out who's boss?
yes they did.
it's britain.
guess who's broke?
also britain.
so they start taxing the hell out of america.
fuck you, says america, declaring their independence, and fighting for it.
and france helps them win, now france is broke.
and britain'll have to send their prisoners to a different continent.
wait, if france is broke, why do the king and queen still wear such fancy dresses?
let's overthrow the palace and cut all their heads off! said robespierre, cutting everybody's head off until someone eventually got mad and cut his head off.
you could make a reli- no, don't.
haiti is staring to like the idea of a revolution.
especially the slaves, who free themselves by killing their masters.
why didn't we think of this before?
wait, who's in charge of france now?
me
said napoleon, trying to take over europe.
luckily, they banished him to an island.
but he came back
luckily, they banished him to another island.
there goes latin america, becoming independent in the latin american wars of independence.
britain just figured out how to turn steam into power.
so now they can make
many different types of machines and factories with machines in them so they can make a lot of products real fast
then they invent some trains.
and conquer india and maybe put some trains there.
hey, china! said britain.
buy stuff from us!
nah dude, we already got everything, says china.
so britain tried to get them addicted to opium.
which worked, actually.
but then china made it illegal and dumped it all into the sea.
so britain threw a hissy fit, and made them open up five cities and give them an island.
britain and russia are playing a game where they try to stop each other from conquering afghanistan.
also, the
sultan of oman lives in zanzibar now
"that's just where he lives"
india just had a revolution, and they would like to govern themselves now.
nope, said britain, governing them even harder than before.
technology is about to go crazy
the united states finally figured out whether slavery is good or bad.
it's bad, they decided.
and then they continued manifesting their destiny, which is to kill the rest of the natives and take their land and maybe kick out the mexicans too.
i know, let's rape africa, said europe, scrambling to see who could rape it the fastest.
they never got ethiopia
britain and france are still hungry.
they never got thailand
the united states ran out of destiny to manifest, so they're looking for more.
hawaii
cuba
wait, spain controls cuba.
well, blame something on them and go to war!
what should we blame on spain?
let's blame the maine on spain.
so they blame the maine on spain.
now we're in business.
to celebrate, they kick panama out of panama and make a canal, connecting the two oceans.
britain just found oil in the middle east.
it makes cars go
china is so tired of being bossed around that they delete their old government and make a new, stronger government, which is accidentally weaker and controlled by a guy from the previous government.
europe hasn't had a war since the last war.
so they start world war 1.
look at those guns.
it's gonna be a great war.
so great we won't need a second one.
after it's over, they blame germany.
russia went on strike and the workers overthrew the government.
now everyone's paycheck is the same.
communism
in the soviet union
the arabs revolt and britain helps.
now the ottoman empire's gone so we can give the
jewish people a place to live
hopefully the arabs won't mind.
let's cut the cake, said sykes and picot, carving up the remains of the not-so-ottoman-anymore empire.
except turkey, turkey makes a brand new turkey
and then the saudis conquer arabia.
it just seemed like the right thing to do.
hello?
yes, it's the 1920's calling.
let's get in the car and drive to a party and listen to jazz on the radio and go to the movies.
the economy's great and it'll probably be great forever, just kidding.
germany's back, featuring hitler, the angry mustache model.
and he's mad at the jews for existing.
japan is finally conquering the east, and they're so excited they rape nanking way too hard.
they should probably just deny it.
hitler's out of control.
so the international community tackles him and then tries to explain why killing all the jews is a bad idea.
but he kills himself before they could explain it to him.
that's world war 2
bonus round!
pacific showdown.
united states vs. japan.
fight!
finish him
let's unite all the nations and have some
world peace
seems legit.
hi, i'm gandhi, and if britain doesn't get the hell out of india, i'm gonna starve myself in public.
wow, that worked?
bonus, now there's pakistan.
actually two pakistans.
one of them can be bangladesh later.
the jews and the arabs finally figured out which one of them should live in the holy land.
me, they both said at the same time.
let's divide up the land so everyone's happy.
sike, they both get angrier
look out china, there's a new china in china.
what's on the menu?
communism!
no thanks, said the other china, escaping to an island.
i wonder which one is the real china?
there's the korean war, korea versus korea.
nobody wins, then it's on pause forever.
let's meet the sponsors.
oh, it's the two global superpowers.
they're having a friendly debate over which economic system is good, and which one is an evil virus of Satan.
and they both have atom bombs.
fight!
wait, no, that would be the end of the world.
let's just keep it cool and spy on each other instead.
and make sure we have enough atom bombs.
i'll race you to space.
now let's make some more countries fight themselves.
europe is tired of pillaging other continents, so the continents they were pillaging are tired of being pillaged.
so here's a new map, with new countries.
now you can't tell who they're being pillaged by.
the united states finally decided whether racism is good or bad.
they decided it's bad, and the world agrees.
south africa might need another minute to think about it.
let's check the world population.
whoa.
okay.
technology's better too, that might keep happening.
the soviet union decides to relax a little, and accidentally falls apart.
europe makes a union, so now they can all use the same money, except britain, because they don't feel like it.
let's check the mail.
surprise, it's on the computer.
whoops, someone just attacked america.
i bet they'll remember that.
phone call.
surprise, it's in your pocket.
wanna learn everything?
surprise, it's on the computer.
now your phone's a computer, which is in your pocket.
whoops, the economy just crashed.
don't worry, the big banks won't fail because they're not supposed to.
surprise!
flying robots.
with bombs.
wanna print a brain?
some people have no friends.
some people have no food.
the globe is warming
and the ocean is full of plastic
let's save the planet! said everybody, not knowing how.
let's invent a thing inventor, said the thing inventor inventor, after being invented by a thing inventor.
that's pretty cool.
by the way, where the hell are we?

Lost in the Sauce: Russia hacks U.S. government, congratulates Biden; Trump silent.

Welcome to Lost in the Sauce, keeping you caught up on political and legal news that often gets buried in distractions and theater… or a global health crisis.
Housekeeping:

HOW TO SUPPORT: I know we are all facing unprecedented financial hardships right now. If you are in the position to support my work, I have a patreon, venmo, and a paypal set up. No pressure though, I will keep posting these pieces publicly no matter what - paywalls suck.
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Russia

Russian government hackers breached numerous U.S. agencies, including the Treasury, Commerce, and Homeland Security Departments, in a campaign that began as early as Spring 2020. CISA and the FBI are investigating, but officials say it is “too soon to tell how damaging the attacks were and how much material was lost.”

The global campaign, investigators now believe, involved the hackers inserting their code into periodic updates of software used to manage networks by a company called SolarWinds. Its products are widely used in corporate and federal networks, and the malware was carefully minimized to avoid detection.

Though the initial intrusion occurred earlier this year, Trump has decimated the cybersecurity arm of the federal government and failed to nominate confirmable leaders of Homeland Security. Last month, Trump fired the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Christopher Krebs, for refusing to undermine the election. Around the same time, Assistant Director for Cybersecurity at DHS Bryan Ware and Deputy Director of CISA Matt Travis were also forced out.

DHS does not have a Senate-confirmed Secretary, Deputy Secretary, General Counsel, or Undersecretary for Management.
Additionally, there is no White House cybersecurity coordinator, no State Dept. cybersecurity coordinator, the National Security Agency Director is leaving on a romantic vacation in Europe, and the NSA general counsel is former Devin Nunes staffer Michael Ellis.

Finally, note that Russia has been behind hacks that knocked major U.S. hospitals offline during the pandemic and targeted vaccine makers across the world. In the lead up to the election last month, Russian hackers focused their attacks on American hospitals, often demanding a ransom to restore their systems. According to Microsoft, Russia and North Korea targeted "seven prominent companies directly involved in researching vaccines and treatments for COVID-19" around the world.
Russia’s FSB toxins team poisoned the opposition activist Alexei Navalny in August, after secretly following him on multiple previous trips. The squad shadowed him to more than 30 destinations on overlapping flights in an operation that began in 2017.

items recovered from Room 239 at the Xander Hotel were taken to Germany on the same medevac plane as Navalny. At least two subsequently tested positive for traces of Novichok, including a water bottle from the hotel room.

Appointees and nominees

The Senate voted on Wednesday to confirm three members to the Federal Election Commission, fully staffing the agency for the first time in nearly four years. It is also the first time the commission has had a voting quorum - enough to conduct business - since July, when it had four members for just 29 days.
The new commissioners are Shana Broussard (D), current FEC attorney and the first Black commissioner; Sean Cooksey (R), general counsel for GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri; and Allen Dickerson (R), legal director of the Institute for Free Speech, which opposes campaign finance restrictions.

They join Ellen Weintraub (D) and Steven Walther (I), both appointed by George W. Bush, and James Trainor III (R), appointed by Trump. The FEC is designed to contain three Democrats and three Republicans. No party is permitted to have more than three members.

Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law: "These are last-minute kind of pushes by the outgoing administration and the Republican Senate majority," he said, meant to ensure that "the commission [will] not be very effective heading into Biden's presidency… It does seem like there is likely to be gridlock and the commission is not likely to do very much that's substantive."

Michael Pack removed the acting director of Voice of America on Tuesday, installing a controversial ally in his place. Pack, CEO of parent organization U.S. Agency for Global Media, replaced VOA director Elez Biberaj with George W. Bush-era director Robert Reilly. The move immediately garnered criticism as Reilly has an extensive history of homophobic and anti-Islamic writing.

NPR: Reilly's 2014 book, "Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything," argues strongly against gay marriage. In public remarks, he said at least a murderer or a consumer of pornography ultimately regrets what he or she does, but asked, "What if you organize your life around something that is wrong?"
NYT: President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is likely to replace Mr. Pack once he assumes office, agency officials said. But Mr. Reilly may be harder to remove if language in the National Defense Authorization Act, a defense spending bill passed by the House, is signed into law that requires the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s chief executive to gain approval from an advisory board before replacing the head of a media network under their purview.

An investigation by the Veterans Affairs inspector general found that Secretary Robert Wilkie worked to discredit a congressional aide who said she was sexually assaulted in a VA hospital. According to the IG, Wilkie “obtained potentially damaging information about the veteran’s past,” leading his staff to pressure VA police to scrutinize her and try to discredit her in the media. The report (PDF) states Wilkie received this information from Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), a former Navy SEAL, who served in the same unit as the female veteran, Andrea Goldstein. Crenshaw refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Further reading on appointees:

State Department acting Inspector General Matthew Klimow found that the majority of trips by Susan Pompeo over a two-year period had taken place without written approval from the State Department, despite the fact that her trips were considered official travel and paid for by US taxpayers.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has spent at least $43,000 in taxpayer funds to host a series of intimate dinners called the “Madison Dinners.” The guest lists for about two dozen of the dinners, held between 2018 and 2020, included American business leaders and conservative political officials.
On his way out of office, Trump rewards some supporters and like-minded allies with the perks and prestige that come with serving on federal advisory boards and commissions. He has appointed Kellyanne Conway to the board of visitors of the U.S. Air Force Academy; Elaine Chao, Lynn Friess (the wife of Republican megadonor Foster Friess, and Pamella DeVos (Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ sister-in-law) as members of the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and husband of former White House Communications Director Mercedes Schlapp, to the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board.
Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor - a senior adviser at the Pentagon with a history of disparaging refugees and immigrants, spreading conspiracies, and other controversial rhetoric - was nominated by Trump for a spot on West Point's advisory board.
The Pentagon appointed China-hawk Michael Pillsbury to serve as the Chair of the Defense Policy Board, after purging members. In October, the Financial Times revealed that Pillsbury helped funnel dirt on Hunter Biden from China to the Trump administration.
The Office of Special Counsel issued a report finding that White House trade adviser Peter Navarro repeatedly violated the Hatch Act by using his official authority for campaign purposes.

Congress

The Senate approved the $740 billion bill National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with a veto-proof majority, sending it to the president’s desk on Friday. Trump has threatened to veto the bill because it doesn't include a repeal of Section 230, but there are other rebukes of Trump’s policies including provisions to limit how much money Trump can move around for his border wall and another that would require the military to rename bases that were named after figures from the Confederacy.
Crucially, the NDAA also contains provisions that require anonymous shell companies to disclose their true owners, an aspect that may make it harder for Trump and his associates to move or hide money without scrutiny. The law requires anyone registering a new company to disclose the name, address, and date of birth of the real owners, and an identification number for each owner, such as a driver’s license or passport number. The law also applies to corporations and LLCs that already exist.
Sen. Ron Johnson, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday to examine alleged election “irregularities.” The meeting, two days after electors cast their votes, will feature former independent counsel Ken Starr and attorneys in key battleground states. Johnson says the hearings will help him decide whether to join House Republicans to challenge the electoral results on the floor in January.

"The election's not over," Johnson said when asked if he would run again, referring to the November election that Biden won. Asked when he would make a decision, Johnson said: "Once the election is over."

At a hearing on the pandemic last week, Sen. Ron Johnson invited a vaccine skeptic, a critic of masks, and two doctors who have promoted hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus. Democrats boycotted the hearing and numerous Republicans opted not to ask questions; only Sens. Johnson, Rand Paul, and Josh Hawley took part.

“The panelists have been selected for their political, not their medical views. And for that reason the composition of the panel creates a false and terribly harmful impression of the scientific and medical consensus,” said ranking Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, in his opening statement before leaving the hearing.

As an example of the unfounded claims presented at the hearing, Dr. Jane Orient said “Maybe instead of putting masks on everybody, we should be putting lids on the toilet or pouring Clorox into it before you flush it.” Dr. Ramin Oskoui told the committee that wearing masks, social distancing, and quarantining do not work.
Further reading on Congress:

Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) voted with Republicans against two resolutions aiming to block the Trump White House's sale of $23 billion worth of F-35s, Reaper drones, and missiles to the United Arab Emirates.
On her way out of Congress, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) joined Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to introduce an anti-transgender bill. According to the two representatives, the bill - called the “Protect Women’s Sports Act” - seeks to clarify that Title IX protections for female athletes are based on “biological sex as determined at birth by a physician.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) blocked legislation to establish a National Museum of the American Latino and American Women's History Museum as part of the Smithsonian Institution. Lee asserted the bill, which had bipartisan support, would “further divide an already divided nation with an array of segregated, separate-but-equal museums for hyphenated identity groups” (clip).
Self-dealing and stock trades: “While Kelly Loeffler Opposed New COVID Aid, Her Husband’s Firm Sought to Profit Off the Pandemic,” “How Kelly Loeffler’s Firm Facilitated an Enron-Like Scandal,” “Sen. David Perdue Sold His Home to a Finance Industry Official Whose Organization Was Lobbying the Senate,” “Perdue diverted military money to Trump's wall — while profiting from his own Pentagon bill.”

Miscellaneous

The FBI has subpoenaed Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after his senior staff reported him for alleged corruption, bribery, and abuse of office. All seven whistleblowers have since been fired by Paxton. Four sued Paxton last month in Travis County District Court, claiming they were fired in retaliation, threatened, intimidated and falsely smeared by Paxton.

Some believe that Paxton filed his failed election lawsuit as a way to gain Trump’s favor and obtain a pardon before he leaves office. Remember, Paxton was already under indictment on felony securities fraud charges before the most recent subpoena.

Former CISA Director Christopher Krebs sued the Trump campaign and one of its lawyers, Joseph diGenova, for defamation. “He should be drawn and quartered, taken out at dawn and shot,” diGenova said of Krebs.
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit (two Trump appointees and an Obama appointee) denied the appeal of whistleblower Reality Winner, ruling she will remain in federal prison despite having pre-existing medical conditions and contracting Covid-19.
Other court cases: “Supreme Court Says Muslim Men Can Sue FBI Agents In No-Fly List Case,” NPR. “A Michigan judge rules companies don't have to serve gay customers. The attorney general says she'll appeal,” CNN. “Abortion medication restrictions remain blocked during pandemic, judge rules,” WaPo.
Two whistle-blowers have accused contractors building Trump’s border wall of smuggling armed Mexican security teams into the United States to guard construction sites. The complaint also states that the company submitted fraudulent invoices to the federal government, including for diesel fuel and overstating their costs.
U.S. border officials have expelled at least 66 unaccompanied migrant children without a court hearing or asylum interview since a federal judge ordered them to stop the practice.
Federal regulators and West Virginia agencies are rewriting environmental rules again to pave the way for construction of a major natural gas pipeline across Appalachia, even after an appeals court blocked the pipeline for the second time.
The Trump administration finalized a rule that could make it more difficult to enact public health protections, by changing the way the Environmental Protection Agency calculates the costs and benefits of new limits on air pollution.
World: “Trump administration helped GOP donors get Syria oil deal” and “The Israel-Morocco peace deal Donald Trump has brokered is risky: His recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara could lead to war.”

We’re jacking into the MTRX

A Timeline of CIA Atrocities

by Steve Kangas from SteveKangas Website
The following timeline describes just a few of the hundreds of atrocities and crimes committed by the CIA. (1)
CIA operations follow the same recurring script. First, American business interests abroad are threatened by a popular or democratically elected leader. The people support their leader because he intends to conduct land reform, strengthen unions, redistribute wealth, nationalize foreign-owned industry, and regulate business to protect workers, consumers and the environment.
So, on behalf of American business, and often with their help, the CIA mobilizes the opposition.
First it identifies right-wing groups within the country (usually the military), and offers them a deal:

"We'll put you in power if you maintain a favorable business climate for us."

The Agency then hires, trains and works with them to overthrow the existing government (usually a democracy).
It uses every trick in the book: propaganda, stuffed ballot boxes, purchased elections, extortion, blackmail, sexual intrigue, false stories about opponents in the local media, infiltration and disruption of opposing political parties, kidnapping, beating, torture, intimidation, economic sabotage, death squads and even assassination.
These efforts culminate in a military coup, which installs a right-wing dictator.
The CIA trains the dictator's security apparatus to crack down on the traditional enemies of big business, using interrogation, torture and murder. The victims are said to be "communists," but almost always they are just peasants, liberals, moderates, labor union leaders, political opponents and advocates of free speech and democracy. Widespread human rights abuses follow.
This scenario has been repeated so many times that the CIA actually teaches it in a special school, the notorious "School of the Americas." (It opened in Panama but later moved to Fort Benning, Georgia.)
Critics have nicknamed it the "School of the Dictators" and "School of the Assassins." Here, the CIA trains Latin American military officers how to conduct coups, including the use of interrogation, torture and murder.
The Association for Responsible Dissent estimates that by 1987, 6 million people had died as a result of CIA covert operations. (2) Former State Department official William Blum correctly calls this an "American Holocaust."
The CIA justifies these actions as part of its war against communism. But most coups do not involve a communist threat. Unlucky nations are targeted for a wide variety of reasons: not only threats to American business interests abroad, but also liberal or even moderate social reforms, political instability, the unwillingness of a leader to carry out Washington's dictates, and declarations of neutrality in the Cold War. Indeed, nothing has infuriated CIA Directors quite like a nation's desire to stay out of the Cold War.
The ironic thing about all this intervention is that it frequently fails to achieve American objectives.
Often the newly installed dictator grows comfortable with the security apparatus the CIA has built for him. He becomes an expert at running a police state. And because the dictator knows he cannot be overthrown, he becomes independent and defiant of Washington's will.
The CIA then finds it cannot overthrow him, because the police and military are under the dictator's control, afraid to cooperate with American spies for fear of torture and execution. The only two options for the U.S at this point are impotence or war. Examples of this "boomerang effect" include the Shah of Iran, General Noriega and Saddam Hussein.
The boomerang effect also explains why the CIA has proven highly successful at overthrowing democracies, but a wretched failure at overthrowing dictatorships.
The following timeline should confirm that the CIA as we know it should be abolished and replaced by a true information-gathering and analysis organization.
The CIA cannot be reformed - it is institutionally and culturally corrupt:
1929 The culture we lost - Secretary of State Henry Stimson refuses to endorse a code-breaking operation, saying, "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail."
1941 COI created - In preparation for World War II, President Roosevelt creates the Office of Coordinator of Information (COI). General William "Wild Bill" Donovan heads the new intelligence service.
1942 OSS created - Roosevelt restructures COI into something more suitable for covert action, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Donovan recruits so many of the nation's rich and powerful that eventually people joke that "OSS" stands for "Oh, so social!" or "Oh, such snobs!"
1943 Italy - Donovan recruits the Catholic Church in Rome to be the center of Anglo-American spy operations in Fascist Italy. This would prove to be one of America's most enduring intelligence alliances in the Cold War.
1945 OSS is abolished - The remaining American information agencies cease covert actions and return to harmless information gathering and analysis. Operation PAPERCLIP - While other American agencies are hunting down Nazi war criminals for arrest, the U.S. intelligence community is smuggling them into America, unpunished, for their use against the Soviets. The most important of these is Reinhard Gehlen, Hitler's master spy who had built up an intelligence network in the Soviet Union.
With full U.S. blessing, he creates the "Gehlen Organization," a band of refugee Nazi spies who reactivate their networks in Russia. These include SS intelligence officers Alfred Six and Emil Augsburg (who massacred Jews in the Holocaust), Klaus Barbie (the "Butcher of Lyon"), Otto von Bolschwing (the Holocaust mastermind who worked with Eichmann) and SS Colonel Otto Skorzeny (a personal friend of Hitler's).
The Gehlen Organization supplies the U.S. with its only intelligence on the Soviet Union for the next ten years, serving as a bridge between the abolishment of the OSS and the creation of the CIA. However, much of the "intelligence" the former Nazis provide is bogus.
Gehlen inflates Soviet military capabilities at a time when Russia is still rebuilding its devastated society, in order to inflate his own importance to the Americans (who might otherwise punish him). In 1948, Gehlen almost convinces the Americans that war is imminent, and the West should make a preemptive strike. In the 50s he produces a fictitious "missile gap."
To make matters worse, the Russians have thoroughly penetrated the Gehlen Organization with double agents, undermining the very American security that Gehlen was supposed to protect.
1947 Greece - President Truman requests military aid to Greece to support right-wing forces fighting communist rebels. For the rest of the Cold War, Washington and the CIA will back notorious Greek leaders with deplorable human rights records. CIA created - President Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947, creating the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Council. The CIA is accountable to the president through the NSC - there is no democratic or congressional oversight. Its charter allows the CIA to "perform such other functions and duties… as the National Security Council may from time to time direct."
This loophole opens the door to covert action and dirty tricks.
1948 Covert-action wing created - The CIA recreates a covert action wing, innocuously called the Office of Policy Coordination, led by Wall Street lawyer Frank Wisner.
According to its secret charter, its responsibilities include "propaganda, economic warfare, preventive direct action, including sabotage, antisabotage, demolition and evacuation procedures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance groups, and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in threatened countries of the free world." Italy - The CIA corrupts democratic elections in Italy, where Italian communists threaten to win the elections. The CIA buys votes, broadcasts propaganda, threatens and beats up opposition leaders, and infiltrates and disrupts their organizations. It works -- the communists are defeated.
1949 Radio Free Europe - The CIA creates its first major propaganda outlet, Radio Free Europe. Over the next several decades, its broadcasts are so blatantly false that for a time it is considered illegal to publish transcripts of them in the U.S.
Late 40s Operation MOCKINGBIRD - The CIA begins recruiting American news organizations and journalists to become spies and disseminators of propaganda. The effort is headed by Frank Wisner, Allan Dulles, Richard Helms and Philip Graham. Graham is publisher of The Washington Post, which becomes a major CIA player.
Eventually, the CIA's media assets will include ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Copley News Service and more. By the CIA's own admission, at least 25 organizations and 400 journalists will become CIA assets.
1953 Iran - CIA overthrows the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh in a military coup, after he threatened to nationalize British oil. The CIA replaces him with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret police, SAVAK, is as brutal as the Gestapo. Operation MK-ULTRA - Inspired by North Korea's brainwashing program, the CIA begins experiments on mind control.
The most notorious part of this project involves giving LSD and other drugs to American subjects without their knowledge or against their will, causing several to commit suicide.
However, the operation involves far more than this. Funded in part by the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, research includes propaganda, brainwashing, public relations, advertising, hypnosis, and other forms of suggestion.
1954 Guatemala - CIA overthrows the democratically elected Jacob Arbenz in a military coup.
Arbenz has threatened to nationalize the Rockefeller-owned United Fruit Company, in which CIA Director Allen Dulles also owns stock. Arbenz is replaced with a series of right-wing dictators whose bloodthirsty policies will kill over 100,000 Guatemalans in the next 40 years.
1954-1958 North Vietnam - CIA officer Edward Lansdale spends four years trying to overthrow the communist government of North Vietnam, using all the usual dirty tricks. The CIA also attempts to legitimize a tyrannical puppet regime in South Vietnam, headed by Ngo Dinh Diem.
These efforts fail to win the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese because the Diem government is opposed to true democracy, land reform and poverty reduction measures. The CIA's continuing failure results in escalating American intervention, culminating in the Vietnam War.
1956 Hungary - Radio Free Europe incites Hungary to revolt by broadcasting Khruschev's Secret Speech, in which he denounced Stalin. It also hints that American aid will help the Hungarians fight.
This aid fails to materialize as Hungarians launch a doomed armed revolt, which only invites a major Soviet invasion. The conflict kills 7,000 Soviets and 30,000 Hungarians.
1957-1973 Laos - The CIA carries out approximately one coup per year trying to nullify Laos' democratic elections.
The problem is the Pathet Lao, a leftist group with enough popular support to be a member of any coalition government. In the late 50s, the CIA even creates an "Armee Clandestine" of Asian mercenaries to attack the Pathet Lao.
After the CIA's army suffers numerous defeats, the U.S. starts bombing, dropping more bombs on Laos than all the U.S. bombs dropped in World War II. A quarter of all Laotians will eventually become refugees, many living in caves.
1959 Haiti - The U.S. military helps "Papa Doc" Duvalier become dictator of Haiti.
He creates his own private police force, the "Tonton Macoutes," who terrorize the population with machetes. They will kill over 100,000 during the Duvalier family reign. The U.S. does not protest their dismal human rights record.
1961 The Bay of Pigs - The CIA sends 1,500 Cuban exiles to invade Castro's Cuba. But "Operation Mongoose" fails, due to poor planning, security and backing.
The planners had imagined that the invasion will spark a popular uprising against Castro -– which never happens. A promised American air strike also never occurs. This is the CIA's first public setback, causing President Kennedy to fire CIA Director Allen Dulles. Dominican Republic - The CIA assassinates Rafael Trujillo, a murderous dictator Washington has supported since 1930. Trujillo's business interests have grown so large (about 60 percent of the economy) that they have begun competing with American business interests. Ecuador - The CIA-backed military forces the democratically elected President Jose Velasco to resign. Vice President Carlos Arosemana replaces him; the CIA fills the now vacant vice presidency with its own man. Congo (Zaire) - The CIA assassinates the democratically elected Patrice Lumumba. However, public support for Lumumba's politics runs so high that the CIA cannot clearly install his opponents in power. Four years of political turmoil follow.
1963 Dominican Republic - The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Juan Bosch in a military coup. The CIA installs a repressive, right-wing junta. Ecuador - A CIA-backed military coup overthrows President Arosemana, whose independent (not socialist) policies have become unacceptable to Washington. A military junta assumes command, cancels the 1964 elections, and begins abusing human rights.
1964 Brazil - A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the democratically elected government of Joao Goulart.
The junta that replaces it will, in the next two decades, become one of the most bloodthirsty in history. General Castelo Branco will create Latin America's first death squads, or bands of secret police who hunt down "communists" for torture, interrogation and murder.
Often these "communists" are no more than Branco's political opponents. Later it is revealed that the CIA trains the death squads.
1965 Indonesia - The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Sukarno with a military coup.
The CIA has been trying to eliminate Sukarno since 1957, using everything from attempted assassination to sexual intrigue, for nothing more than his declaring neutrality in the Cold War. His successor, General Suharto, will massacre between 500,000 to 1 million civilians accused of being "communist."
The CIA supplies the names of countless suspects. Dominican Republic - A popular rebellion breaks out, promising to reinstall Juan Bosch as the country's elected leader. The revolution is crushed when U.S. Marines land to uphold the military regime by force. The CIA directs everything behind the scenes. Greece - With the CIA's backing, the king removes George Papandreous as prime minister. Papandreous has failed to vigorously support U.S. interests in Greece. Congo (Zaire) - A CIA-backed military coup installs Mobutu Sese Seko as dictator. The hated and repressive Mobutu exploits his desperately poor country for billions.
1966 The Ramparts Affair - The radical magazine Ramparts begins a series of unprecedented anti-CIA articles.
Among their scoops: the CIA has paid the University of Michigan $25 million dollars to hire "professors" to train South Vietnamese students in covert police methods. MIT and other universities have received similar payments. Ramparts also reveals that the National Students' Association is a CIA front. Students are sometimes recruited through blackmail and bribery, including draft deferments.
1967 Greece - A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the government two days before the elections.
The favorite to win was George Papandreous, the liberal candidate. During the next six years, the "reign of the colonels" - backed by the CIA - will usher in the widespread use of torture and murder against political opponents.
When a Greek ambassador objects to President Johnson about U.S. plans for Cypress, Johnson tells him: "Fuck your parliament and your constitution." Operation PHEONIX - The CIA helps South Vietnamese agents identify and then murder alleged Viet Cong leaders operating in South Vietnamese villages. According to a 1971 congressional report, this operation killed about 20,000 "Viet Cong."
1968 Operation CHAOS - The CIA has been illegally spying on American citizens since 1959, but with Operation CHAOS, President Johnson dramatically boosts the effort.
CIA agents go undercover as student radicals to spy on and disrupt campus organizations protesting the Vietnam War. They are searching for Russian instigators, which they never find. CHAOS will eventually spy on 7,000 individuals and 1,000 organizations. Bolivia - A CIA-organized military operation captures legendary guerilla Che Guevara. The CIA wants to keep him alive for interrogation, but the Bolivian government executes him to prevent worldwide calls for clemency.
1969 Uruguay - The notorious CIA torturer Dan Mitrione arrives in Uruguay, a country torn with political strife. Whereas right-wing forces previously used torture only as a last resort, Mitrione convinces them to use it as a routine, widespread practice.
"The precise pain, in the precise place, in the precise amount, for the desired effect," is his motto.
The torture techniques he teaches to the death squads rival the Nazis'. He eventually becomes so feared that revolutionaries will kidnap and murder him a year later.
1970 Cambodia - The CIA overthrows Prince Sahounek, who is highly popular among Cambodians for keeping them out of the Vietnam War. He is replaced by CIA puppet Lon Nol, who immediately throws Cambodian troops into battle.
This unpopular move strengthens once minor opposition parties like the Khmer Rouge, which achieves power in 1975 and massacres millions of its own people.
1971 Bolivia - After half a decade of CIA-inspired political turmoil, a CIA-backed military coup overthrows the leftist President Juan Torres. In the next two years, dictator Hugo Banzer will have over 2,000 political opponents arrested without trial, then tortured, raped and executed. Haiti - "Papa Doc" Duvalier dies, leaving his 19-year old son "Baby Doc" Duvalier the dictator of Haiti. His son continues his bloody reign with full knowledge of the CIA.
1972 The Case-Zablocki Act - Congress passes an act requiring congressional review of executive agreements. In theory, this should make CIA operations more accountable. In fact, it is only marginally effective. Cambodia - Congress votes to cut off CIA funds for its secret war in Cambodia. Wagergate Break-in - President Nixon sends in a team of burglars to wiretap Democratic offices at Watergate. The team members have extensive CIA histories, including James McCord, E. Howard Hunt and five of the Cuban burglars.
They work for the Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP), which does dirty work like disrupting Democratic campaigns and laundering Nixon's illegal campaign contributions. CREEP's activities are funded and organized by another CIA front, the Mullen Company.
1973 Chile - The CIA overthrows and assassinates Salvador Allende, Latin America's first democratically elected socialist leader. The problems begin when Allende nationalizes American-owned firms in Chile. ITT offers the CIA $1 million for a coup (reportedly refused).
The CIA replaces Allende with General Augusto Pinochet, who will torture and murder thousands of his own countrymen in a crackdown on labor leaders and the political left. CIA begins internal investigations - William Colby, the Deputy Director for Operations, orders all CIA personnel to report any and all illegal activities they know about. This information is later reported to Congress. Watergate Scandal - The CIA's main collaborating newspaper in America, The Washington Post, reports Nixon's crimes long before any other newspaper takes up the subject.
The two reporters, Woodward and Bernstein, make almost no mention of the CIA's many fingerprints all over the scandal. It is later revealed that Woodward was a Naval intelligence briefer to the White House, and knows many important intelligence figures, including General Alexander Haig. His main source, "Deep Throat," is probably one of those. CIA Director Helms Fired - President Nixon fires CIA Director Richard Helms for failing to help cover up the Watergate scandal. Helms and Nixon have always disliked each other. The new CIA director is William Colby, who is relatively more open to CIA reform.
1974 CHAOS exposed - Pulitzer prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh publishes a story about Operation CHAOS, the domestic surveillance and infiltration of anti-war and civil rights groups in the U.S. The story sparks national outrage. Angleton fired - Congress holds hearings on the illegal domestic spying efforts of James Jesus Angleton, the CIA's chief of counterintelligence. His efforts included mail-opening campaigns and secret surveillance of war protesters. The hearings result in his dismissal from the CIA. House clears CIA in Watergate - The House of Representatives clears the CIA of any complicity in Nixon's Watergate break-in. The Hughes Ryan Act - Congress passes an amendment requiring the president to report nonintelligence CIA operations to the relevant congressional committees in a timely fashion.
1975 Australia - The CIA helps topple the democratically elected, left-leaning government of Prime Minister Edward Whitlam.
The CIA does this by giving an ultimatum to its Governor-General, John Kerr. Kerr, a longtime CIA collaborator, exercises his constitutional right to dissolve the Whitlam government. The Governor-General is a largely ceremonial position appointed by the Queen; the Prime Minister is democratically elected. The use of this archaic and never-used law stuns the nation. Angola - Eager to demonstrate American military resolve after its defeat in Vietnam, Henry Kissinger launches a CIA-backed war in Angola. Contrary to Kissinger's assertions, Angola is a country of little strategic importance and not seriously threatened by communism.
The CIA backs the brutal leader of UNITAS, Jonas Savimbi. This polarizes Angolan politics and drives his opponents into the arms of Cuba and the Soviet Union for survival. Congress will cut off funds in 1976, but the CIA is able to run the war off the books until 1984, when funding is legalized again.
This entirely pointless war kills over 300,000 Angolans. "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" - Victor Marchetti and John Marks publish this whistle-blowing history of CIA crimes and abuses. Marchetti has spent 14 years in the CIA, eventually becoming an executive assistant to the Deputy Director of Intelligence. Marks has spent five years as an intelligence official in the State Department. "Inside the Company" - Philip Agee publishes a diary of his life inside the CIA. Agee has worked in covert operations in Latin America during the 60s, and details the crimes in which he took part. Congress investigates CIA wrong-doing - Public outrage compels Congress to hold hearings on CIA crimes. Senator Frank Church heads the Senate investigation ("The Church Committee"), and Representative Otis Pike heads the House investigation. (Despite a 98 percent incumbency reelection rate, both Church and Pike are defeated in the next elections.)
The investigations lead to a number of reforms intended to increase the CIA's accountability to Congress, including the creation of a standing Senate committee on intelligence. However, the reforms prove ineffective, as the Iran/Contra scandal will show. It turns out the CIA can control, deal with or sidestep Congress with ease. The Rockefeller Commission - In an attempt to reduce the damage done by the Church Committee, President Ford creates the "Rockefeller Commission" to whitewash CIA history and propose toothless reforms. The commission's namesake, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, is himself a major CIA figure.
Five of the commission's eight members are also members of the Council on Foreign Relations, a CIA-dominated organization.
1979 Iran - The CIA fails to predict the fall of the Shah of Iran, a longtime CIA puppet, and the rise of Muslim fundamentalists who are furious at the CIA's backing of SAVAK, the Shah's bloodthirsty secret police. In revenge, the Muslims take 52 Americans hostage in the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Afghanistan - The Soviets invade Afghanistan. The CIA immediately begins supplying arms to any faction willing to fight the occupying Soviets. Such indiscriminate arming means that when the Soviets leave Afghanistan, civil war will erupt. Also, fanatical Muslim extremists now possess state-of-the-art weaponry. One of these is Sheik Abdel Rahman, who will become involved in the World Trade Center bombing in New York. El Salvador - An idealistic group of young military officers, repulsed by the massacre of the poor, overthrows the right-wing government. However, the U.S. compels the inexperienced officers to include many of the old guard in key positions in their new government. Soon, things are back to "normal" - the military government is repressing and killing poor civilian protesters.
Many of the young military and civilian reformers, finding themselves powerless, resign in disgust. Nicaragua - Anastasio Somoza II, the CIA-backed dictator, falls. The Marxist Sandinistas take over government, and they are initially popular because of their commitment to land and anti-poverty reform. Samoza had a murderous and hated personal army called the National Guard.
Remnants of the Guard will become the Contras, who fight a CIA-backed guerilla war against the Sandinista government throughout the 1980s.
1980 El Salvador - The Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, pleads with President Carter "Christian to Christian" to stop aiding the military government slaughtering his people.
Carter refuses. Shortly afterwards, right-wing leader Roberto D'Aubuisson has Romero shot through the heart while saying Mass. The country soon dissolves into civil war, with the peasants in the hills fighting against the military government.
The CIA and U.S. Armed Forces supply the government with overwhelming military and intelligence superiority. CIA-trained death squads roam the countryside, committing atrocities like that of El Mazote in 1982, where they massacre between 700 and 1000 men, women and children.
By 1992, some 63,000 Salvadorans will be killed.
1981 Iran/Contra Begins - The CIA begins selling arms to Iran at high prices, using the profits to arm the Contras fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. President Reagan vows that the Sandinistas will be "pressured" until "they say ‘uncle.'"
The CIA's Freedom Fighter's Manual disbursed to the Contras includes instruction on economic sabotage, propaganda, extortion, bribery, blackmail, interrogation, torture, murder and political assassination.
1983 Honduras - The CIA gives Honduran military officers the Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual - 1983, which teaches how to torture people.
Honduras' notorious "Battalion 316" then uses these techniques, with the CIA's full knowledge, on thousands of leftist dissidents. At least 184 are murdered.
1984 The Boland Amendment - The last of a series of Boland Amendments is passed. These amendments have reduced CIA aid to the Contras; the last one cuts it off completely.
However, CIA Director William Casey is already prepared to "hand off" the operation to Colonel Oliver North, who illegally continues supplying the Contras through the CIA's informal, secret, and self-financing network.
This includes "humanitarian aid" donated by Adolph Coors and William Simon, and military aid funded by Iranian arms sales.
1986 Eugene Hasenfus - Nicaragua shoots down a C-123 transport plane carrying military supplies to the Contras.
The lone survivor, Eugene Hasenfus, turns out to be a CIA employee, as are the two dead pilots. The airplane belongs to Southern Air Transport, a CIA front. The incident makes a mockery of President Reagan's claims that the CIA is not illegally arming the Contras. Iran/Contra Scandal - Although the details have long been known, the Iran/Contra scandal finally captures the media's attention in 1986. Congress holds hearings, and several key figures (like Oliver North) lie under oath to protect the intelligence community. CIA Director William Casey dies of brain cancer before Congress can question him. All reforms enacted by Congress after the scandal are purely cosmetic. Haiti - Rising popular revolt in Haiti means that "Baby Doc" Duvalier will remain "President for Life" only if he has a short one. The U.S., which hates instability in a puppet country, flies the despotic Duvalier to the South of France for a comfortable retirement.
The CIA then rigs the upcoming elections in favor of another right-wing military strongman. However, violence keeps the country in political turmoil for another four years.
The CIA tries to strengthen the military by creating the National Intelligence Service (SIN), which suppresses popular revolt through torture and assassination.
1989 Panama - The U.S. invades Panama to overthrow a dictator of its own making, General Manuel Noriega.
Noriega has been on the CIA's payroll since 1966, and has been transporting drugs with the CIA's knowledge since 1972. By the late 80s, Noriega's growing independence and intransigence have angered Washington… so out he goes.
1990 Haiti - Competing against 10 comparatively wealthy candidates, leftist priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide captures 68 percent of the vote.
After only eight months in power, however, the CIA-backed military deposes him. More military dictators brutalize the country, as thousands of Haitian refugees escape the turmoil in barely seaworthy boats.
As popular opinion calls for Aristide's return, the CIA begins a disinformation campaign painting the courageous priest as mentally unstable.
1991 The Gulf War - The U.S. liberates Kuwait from Iraq.
But Iraq's dictator, Saddam Hussein, is another creature of the CIA. With U.S. encouragement, Hussein invaded Iran in 1980. During this costly eight-year war, the CIA built up Hussein's forces with sophisticated arms, intelligence, training and financial backing.
This cemented Hussein's power at home, allowing him to crush the many internal rebellions that erupted from time to time, sometimes with poison gas. It also gave him all the military might he needed to conduct further adventurism - in Kuwait, for example. The Fall of the Soviet Union - The CIA fails to predict this most important event of the Cold War. This suggests that it has been so busy undermining governments that it hasn't been doing its primary job: gathering and analyzing information.
The fall of the Soviet Union also robs the CIA of its reason for existence: fighting communism. This leads some to accuse the CIA of intentionally failing to predict the downfall of the Soviet Union.
Curiously, the intelligence community's budget is not significantly reduced after the demise of communism.
1992 Economic Espionage - In the years following the end of the Cold War, the CIA is increasingly used for economic espionage. This involves stealing the technological secrets of competing foreign companies and giving them to American ones.
Given the CIA's clear preference for dirty tricks over mere information gathering, the possibility of serious criminal behavior is very great indeed.
1993 Haiti - The chaos in Haiti grows so bad that President Clinton has no choice but to remove the Haitian military dictator, Raoul Cedras, on threat of U.S. invasion.
The U.S. occupiers do not arrest Haiti's military leaders for crimes against humanity, but instead ensure their safety and rich retirements.
Aristide is returned to power only after being forced to accept an agenda favorable to the country's ruling class.
EPILOGUE
In a speech before the CIA celebrating its 50th anniversary, President Clinton said:

"By necessity, the American people will never know the full story of your courage."

Clinton's is a common defense of the CIA:

namely, the American people should stop criticizing the CIA because they don't know what it really does.

This, of course, is the heart of the problem in the first place.
An agency that is above criticism is also above moral behavior and reform. Its secrecy and lack of accountability allows its corruption to grow unchecked.
Furthermore, Clinton's statement is simply untrue. The history of the agency is growing painfully clear, especially with the declassification of historical CIA documents. We may not know the details of specific operations, but we do know, quite well, the general behavior of the CIA. These facts began emerging nearly two decades ago at an ever-quickening pace.
Today we have a remarkably accurate and consistent picture, repeated in country after country, and verified from countless different directions.
The CIA's response to this growing knowledge and criticism follows a typical historical pattern. (Indeed, there are remarkable parallels to the Medieval Church's fight against the Scientific Revolution.)
The first journalists and writers to reveal the CIA's criminal behavior were harassed and censored if they were American writers, and tortured and murdered if they were foreigners. (See Philip Agee's On the Run for an example of early harassment.)
However, over the last two decades the tide of evidence has become overwhelming, and the CIA has found that it does not have enough fingers to plug every hole in the dike. This is especially true in the age of the Internet, where information flows freely among millions of people. Since censorship is impossible, the Agency must now defend itself with apologetics.
Clinton's "Americans will never know" defense is a prime example.
Another common apologetic is that,

"the world is filled with unsavory characters, and we must deal with them if we are to protect American interests at all."

There are two things wrong with this.

First, it ignores the fact that the CIA has regularly spurned alliances with defenders of democracy, free speech and human rights, preferring the company of military dictators and tyrants. The CIA had moral options available to them, but did not take them. Second, this argument begs several questions. The first is: "Which American interests?" The CIA has courted right-wing dictators because they allow wealthy Americans to exploit the country's cheap labor and resources.

But poor and middle-class Americans pay the price whenever they fight the wars that stem from CIA actions, from Vietnam to the Gulf War to Panama.
The second begged question is: "Why should American interests come at the expense of other peoples' human rights?"
The CIA should be abolished, its leadership dismissed and its relevant members tried for crimes against humanity.
Our intelligence community should be rebuilt from the ground up, with the goal of collecting and analyzing information. As for covert action, there are two moral options. The first one is to eliminate covert action completely. But this gives jitters to people worried about the Adolf Hitlers of the world.
So a second option is that we can place covert action under extensive and true democratic oversight. For example, a bipartisan Congressional Committee of 40 members could review and veto all aspects of CIA operations upon a majority or super-majority vote.
Which of these two options is best may be the subject of debate, but one thing is clear: like dictatorship, like monarchy, unaccountable covert operations should die like the dinosaurs they are.
Endnotes

All history concerning CIA intervention in foreign countries is summarized from William Blum's encyclopedic work, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1995). Sources for domestic CIA operations come from Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen's The 60 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time (Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1997).

Coleman McCarthy, "The Consequences of Covert Tactics" Washington Post, December 13, 1987.

NL-ELECTS the House Speaker, 117th Congress, Pelosi v. McCarthy

1st Congress: Madison wins with 57.95 percent of the vote.
2nd Congress: Trumbull Jr. wins with 61.76 percent of the vote
This one has been released way earlier because the House elected its Speaker today, and so should we.
Now,
Nancy Patricia Pelosi
Pelosi is a Democrat who represents California's 12th Congressional district, which spans most of the City and County of San Francisco, in the House.
Pelosi has previously served as the House Speaker from 2007 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2021.
Her political positions:

Pelosi was a founding member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
The American Civil Liberties Union’s Congressional Scorecard has given Pelosi a lifetime rating of 92% for her voting record on civil liberties.
In 2001, she voted in favor of the USA Patriot Act, but voted against reauthorization of certain provisions in 2005.
She voted against a Constitutional amendment banning flag-burning.
Pelosi voted against the Secure Fence Act of 2006.
Pelosi has long supported LGBT rights. In 1996, she voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. In 2004 and 2006, she voted against the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, which would've amended the US Constitution to define marriage federally as being between one man and one woman.
The LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign gave Pelosi a 100% rating in 2006 for her voting record in the 107th through 109th congresses (2001–2006), indicating that she voted favorably on legislation supported by the organization on every occasion.
Pelosi supports the Equality Act, a bill that would expand the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Pelosi also opposes Trump's transgender military ban.
Pelosi supports reform in marijuana laws, she also supports use of medical marijuana.
Pelosi supports the Bush/Obama NSA surveillance program PRISM.
Pelosi voted against the 1995 Balanced Budget Proposed Constitutional Amendment
She also spearheaded the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 as part of the 100-Hour Plan. The Act raises the minimum wage in the United States and the territories of the Northern Marianas Islands and American Samoa.
Pelosi opposed the welfare reform proposed by President Bush as well as reforms proposed and passed under President Clinton. She also opposed the tax reform signed by President Trump in December 2017.
In 1999, Pelosi voted against displaying the Ten Commandments in public buildings, including schools. Pelosi voted for the No Child Left Behind Act, which instituted testing to track students' progress and authorized an increase in overall education spending.
Pelosi has supported the development of new technologies to reduce U.S. dependence upon foreign oil and remediate the adverse environmental effects of burning fossil fuels.
Pelosi has blocked efforts to revive offshore oil drilling in protected areas.
Pelosi was instrumental in passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.
She does not endorse Senator Bernie Sanders' bill for single-payer healthcare.
Pelosi voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 and earlier attempts at similar bans.
She has voted in favor of lifting the ban on privately funded abortions at overseas U.S. military facilities.
Pelosi stands in favor of increased background checks for potential gun owners, as well as the banning of assault weapons.
Pelosi opposes reinstating the military draft.

Pelosi's foreign policy

In 2008, after a meeting with the Dalai Lama and officials in the Tibetan government-in-exile, Pelosi criticized the People's Republic of China for its handling of the unrest in Tibet; addressing a crowd of thousands of Tibetans in Dharamsala, India, Pelosi called on "freedom-loving people" worldwide to denounce China for its human rights abuses in Tibet.
Pelosi criticized the imprisonment of Hong Kong democracy activists in August 2017.
Before the Trump administration took concrete measures against China in late March 2018, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders pressed Trump to focus more on China and impose real punishments, such as fulfill his own campaign commitments to label China a currency manipulator and stop China from pressuring U.S. tech companies into giving up intellectual property rights.
In September 2019, Pelosi met with Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong on Capitol Hill.
Pelosi publicly scolded Colombian president Álvaro Uribe during Uribe's May 2007 state visit to America.
Pelosi supports normalization of relations with Cuba.
Pelosi opposed U.S. intervention in the 1991 Gulf War.
In 2016, Pelosi opposed two bills that if enacted would block Iran's access to the dollar and impose sanctions for its ballistic missile program.
She supports the Iran nuclear deal.
In 2002, Pelosi opposed the Iraq Resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to use military force against Iraq.
Pelosi's voting record shows consistent support for Israel.
Pelosi supported Israel in the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.
Nancy Pelosi is one of the few members of Congress to have traveled to North Korea. She has expressed concern about the danger of nuclear proliferation from the North Korean regime, and the ongoing problems of hunger and oppression imposed by that country's leadership.
Pelosi has generally taken a hard stance against Putin and Russia.
Pelosi supports the Syria Accountability Act and Iran Freedom and Support Act.
Pelosi supported the NATO-led military intervention in Libya in 2011. She also favored arming Syria's rebel fighters.
In mid-October 2007, after the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution to label the 1915 killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide, Pelosi pledged to bring the measure to a vote. (The resolution was actually passed during her second term as Speaker in 2019.)

Kevin Owen McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy is a Republican who represents California's 23rd Congressional district which includes parts of the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Tehachapi Mountains and southern Sierra Nevada, and the northwestern Mojave Desert. It comprises most of Kern County and portions of Los Angeles and Tulare counties. Cities in the district include Porterville, Ridgecrest, most of Bakersfield, and part of Lancaster.
He previously served as House Majority Whip from January 3, 2011 to August 1, 2014 and House Majority Leader from August 1, 2014 to January 3, 2019.
His political positions:

McCarthy is a supporter of the Hyde Amendment, and in 2011 co-sponsored a bill, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" (NTFAA), to make the Hyde Amendment permanent.
McCarthy received a 100% rating from the National Right to Life Committee, and a 0% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America.
On September 17, 2020, McCarthy voted against House Resolution 908 to condemn racism against Asian-Americans related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
McCarthy was an early supporter of Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries.
In October 2019, McCarthy said "there's nothing that the president did wrong" in regards to President Trump requesting that the Ukrainian President start an investigation into 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
McCarthy has been frequently at odds with environmental groups; the League of Conservation Voters has given him a lifetime score of 3%.
McCarthy does not accept the scientific consensus on climate change, that is to say, he's a climate change denier.
In 2011, McCarthy was the primary author of the "Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act" (H.R. 1581), legislation that would strip 60 million acres of public lands of protected status.
McCarthy received campaign donations from Saudi Arabia's lobbyists.
McCarthy voiced support for Hong Kong protesters.
McCarthy supported killing Soleimani.
McCarthy said he supported Israel's planned annexation of the West Bank.
As House majority leader, McCarthy led efforts to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare).
McCarthy opposed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, which added perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disabilities as protected classes under existing federal hate crimes law. He has voted against the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007.
Throughout 2018, McCarthy opposed efforts to codify the legal status of DREAMers after Trump suspended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which provided temporary stay for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as minors.
McCarthy supports the ICE and co-authored a resolution in support of it in 2018.
McCarthy was a supporter of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which barred federal recognition of same-sex marriage and banned same-sex couples from receiving federal spousal benefits.
McCarthy has a "D-" rating from National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws regarding his voting record on cannabis-related matters.
In August 2018, McCarthy co-signed a letter spearheaded by John Garamendi, Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson, calling for Trump to "send more federal aid to fight" the wildfires across the state of California.
McCarthy introduced the FORWARD Act in 2018, which "would provide $95 million in research funding for valley fever and other fungal diseases". The bill provides $5 million for a "blockchain pilot program", facilitating sharing data between doctors and scientists researching such diseases. It would also fund $8 million in matching grant money to be awarded every year for five years to local groups applying for research grants, as well as $10 million each year for five years to CARB-X, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services public-private partnership.
On October 23, 2018, McCarthy tweeted that George Soros, Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg, were trying to “buy” the upcoming midterm election.
McCarthy claims that social media platforms, such as Twitter, are actively censoring conservative politicians and their supporters.

VOTE HERE!

Photo of Pelosi marching for LGBTQ+ rights in 1987, during the Reagan Administration
NO PROTEST VOTES!

Iran's Nuclear Program: Return of the Shah, a DIY guide to Uranium Enrichment, and More Problems For Joe Biden

First we got the bomb and that was good,'Cause we love peace and motherhood. Then Russia got the bomb, but that's O.K.,'Cause the balance of power's maintained that way! Who's next?
France got the bomb, but don't you grieve,'Cause they're on our side, I believe. China got the bomb, but have no fears; They can't wipe us out for at least five years! Who's next?
Then Indonesia claimed that they Were gonna get one any day. South Africa wants two, that's right: One for the black and one for the white! Who's next?
Egypt's gonna get one, too,Just to use on you know who. So Israel's getting tense, Wants one in self defense."The Lord's our shepherd, " says the psalm, But just in case, we better get a bomb! Who's next?
Luxembourg is next to go And, who knows, maybe Monaco. We'll try to stay serene and calm When Alabama gets the bomb! Who's next, who's next, who's next? Who's next?
Tom Lehrer, "Who's Next?"

Well, since I've spent way too long reading detailed accounts of the Iranian nuclear program, how to build a nuclear bomb, the weirdness of Saddam's nuclear program [which has largely fallen into the cracks of history], and general things nuclear and Middle East.... and Iran is [kind of rightfully] back in the news lately...

Welcome to my explanation of "what's up with Iran's nuclear program", "what's up with Iran", "how do i make nuke", and other things of such nature. It involves a lot of history and explanations of industrial manufacturing processes, and actually fairly little recent stuff because... not much has actually changed, in many ways, and Iran's modern history is quite interesting on its own--it was a struggle not to write more, I'm afraid. Hopefully, even if I don't think it's my best written or most concise work, it proves enlightening.

1. America's Shah

Our first character here is the last of his kind. Shah Mohammed Raza Pahlavi, or, as everyone called him in America and I'll call him here, just "the Shah".

The Shah is a most curious character in history. Born at the end of the First World War, he was raised as Iran became the world's most important oil producer [only eclipsed by Saudi Arabia several decades later]. He was installed by the British and Soviets when they invaded Iran in a little-known episode of the Second World War--Iran would ultimately serve as a significant logistics route and oil source during the war, and housed hundreds of thousands of Polish refugees in an odd quirk of history. Some descendants of Poles actually remain in Iran to this day.

However, Iran, despite boasting some of the world's largest oil reserves, largely remained a backwater. A large reason for this was that Iran had an exceptionally terrible oil deal with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company [later to be known as British Petroleum], which gave Iran only 16% of the revenues and even that only in name since there was little accountability to Iran in the bargain. This situation was unacceptable to the general Iranian public, in which feelings turned nationalistic rapidly, and, in the early 1950s, Prime Minister Mosaddegh [who largely controlled the show, despite the Shah being nominally in charge] nationalized the oil, to the general applause of Iran.

What happened next remains mired in deep political controversy across the globe. Britain is almost certainly mostly to blame for what happened; as they instituted a general embargo on Iran, and managed to convince the Americans to support an effort to launch a coup [counter-coup?] in Iran to restore the Shah [who had fled the country] to power. Even more confusingly for historians, it seems that there was legitimate factions within Iran pushing for the return and installation of the Shah, and Mosaddegh began to become increasingly desperate, dissolving parliament and placing himself as de facto dictator [and it should also be noted that Mosaddegh was not legally the prime minister at this point since the Shah nominally had the power to dismiss him and did so]. In any case, the events of the early 1950s ended with the Shah back on the throne as absolute monarch, unchallenged by any parliament, advisor, or landed noble. Ultimately, the oil was not nationalized, but a better [though still not exceptionally great] deal was made with a consortium of American and British oil companies.

And so things remained, until the early 1960s. The Shah was nothing if not ambitious, and his plans never lacked for grandeur, so, with much public aclaim, he launched a program of reforms he dubbed the "White Revolution" on account of it being bloodless [in theory, anyway]. These reforms led to the rapid growth, urbanization, and development of the Iranian economy, but they carried with them the seeds of their own destruction. While they did avert the rise of an effective communist movement in Iran, they created another revolution. These reforms created a new class of urban poor, of dissatisfied farmers, and particularly enraged the Shia clergy [largely because they deprived them of their traditional rural economic and power base].

However, it is not economics that really interests us here, but the Shah's true passion: World domination. Or at least close to it. Beginning with the massive surge in oil prices in the early 1970s [some of which were in fact instigated by the Shah himself with OPEC], the Shah finally had the financial resources to pursue what he always loved: Building an oversized, incredibly well-armed, and well-trained military. The Shah ordered billions of dollars in military equipment, almost all from the United States, to the point where Congress began agitating to restrict sales--to little effect as the executive branch, at least until the arrival of Jimmy Carter in 1976, was of little mind to control arms sales. Iran got its hands on everything from highly advanced electronic intelligence equipment [in the form of a collaboration with the CIA] to F-14s. The orders that were never delivered included 300 F-16s, 300 F-18s, squadrons of E-3 AWACs, and 4 guided-missile destroyers, the largest and most capable ever built at the time, among other miscellaneous sundries. To the Shah's credit, unlike almost every third-world tinpot dictator, and especially unlike his immediate neighbors and rivals--Iraq and Saudi Arabia--his military was, by all accounts, one of the world's best trained as well as best equipped. In particular, the Shah--a trained pilot himself--loved his air force, to the point that the Islamic Republic is still suspicious of it to this very day. Their feats during the coming war, while sadly never winning widespread recognition abroad, were some of the most incredible ever achieved in the skies. The Shah also engaged in aggressive diplomacy, developing a close relationship with Israel and a very close relationship with the United States, which eventually resulted in the US being closely associated with the Shah's rule to the point where he was sometimes called "America's Shah"--though those who study him closely learn that he also cultivated increasingly developed relationships with the Soviet Union, China, and other world powers, always striving to be more than America's outpost in the Middle East.

It is around this point when Iran first began getting funny ideas about nuclear weapons [though those likely started some time before, when Iran received its first nuclear reactor in 1957 through the "Atoms for Peace" program]. It's no real surprise, knowing the Shah's character. In fact, the Shah once, saying what most of those close to him and many within American intelligence already knew aloud, stated that he wanted the bomb.

in February 1974, following a Franco-Iranian agreement to cooperate on uranium enrichment, the shah told Le Monde that one day "sooner than is believed," Iran would be "in possession of a nuclear bomb." The shah’s surprising comment was at least partially in response to the 1974 Indian test of a nuclear weapon.
Realizing the repercussions of his comment, the shah ordered the Iranian Embassy in France to issue a statement declaring that stories about his plan to develop a bomb were "totally invented and without any basis whatsoever."

[Foreign Policy, The Shah's Atomic Dreams]

This was no idle threat, either. Iran had already, unbeknownst to most, been conducting experiments with plutonium reprocessing using its research reactor. And the Shah had plans to run Iran almost entirely on the clean power of the atom, building 23,000MW of nuclear capacity. The plutonium reprocessed from these plants could allow Iran to build up to 600-700 nuclear warheads every year. Around this point, Iran began demanding what it called "total control over the nuclear fuel cycle", which involved it being able to reprocess its spent fuel and enrich uranium. The US government, probably about the only country that actually cared about non-proliferation [well, the USSR might have as well] was quite nervous about these ideas and refused to export Iran sensitive nuclear technologies without extensive restrictions on what could be done with spent fuel. France and Germany, however, had absolutely zero qualms about selling the Shah [and later Saddam Hussein] nuclear technology, and several plants with very few restrictions on them were lined up for construction in Iran. America ultimately caved when it saw that Iran was just going to get uncontrolled reactors anyway from Europe and figured it might as well be the one building the power plants, so American companies got some contracts to build some of the 23,000MW of capacity too.

However, the Shah's love of his army would ultimately lead to his downfall. Inflation spiked as Iran kept importing weapons with increasingly scare dollars as oil prices receded from their highs in the mid-1970s, and the Shah saw no reason to take austerity measures. The Shah's economic reforms were also showing problems [though as an interesting side note, the Shah planned to nationalize the oil in 1979]. The intelligentsia, which had always hated the Shah, joined forces with the general populace and, for the first time, the Shia clergy, to expel the Shah. This would later prove to be a huge mistake.

2. Revolution and War

Ultimately, it was inevitable once he returned that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini would come to power in Iran. He was the Shah's most vocal critic abroad and was beloved by the religious population, and he and the other Shia clerics even pretended to play at politics. That was until they were able to seize power, at which point they promptly discarded, imprisoned, and later executed the other factions involved--such as the intelligentsia and liberals, whom were responsible for the revolution that brought him back in the first place. The new Supreme Leader instituted a theocracy, turning back the clock of social progress decades. And he promptly began to dismantle everything the Shah had built, including the nuclear program, the entire military, and the expensive arms and nuclear purchases.

In a sense he had help on that matter, though. After early assurances and outreach, when the US welcomed the Shah for medical treatment, students [with the tacit support of the Supreme Leader] stormed the American embassy, taking the personnel there hostage. This resulted in a split between Iran--angry, nationalistic, upset at the US because it was associated with the hated Shah--and the United States, furious at the new upstart who had taken the embassy personnel hostage. A military rescue attempt failed disastrously, spelling doom for the Carter presidency and for the American relationship with Iran. Eventually, the hostages were recovered.

Iran's neighbors, however, would not remain quiet for long. Iran under the Shah had many enemies--the Soviet Union overshadowing it to the north, Iraq a danger to the west, Saudi Arabia an irritant to the south and Pakistan an uncertain factor to the east. Iran's many enemies were a large reason why the Shah had spent so much on weaponry and done so much to strengthen Iran's relationship with states on the periphery, from Oman to Israel. While the Shah was still around, none dared openly work against him. But with the Shah gone, and his mighty army in shambles, Iraq, now under the rule of Saddam Hussein, decided it was time to invade--this time actually for Iran's oil, which largely lies in the southwestern Arab marshlands bordering on Iraq.

Citing essentially made-up pretenses, the Iraqi Air Force launched a devastating surprise strike on the Iranian Air Force while the Iraqi Army rolled into the southwestern region of Iran, a marshy swamp populated by Arabs that held almost all of Iran's oil reserves. Or at least that was what was supposed to happen. The Iraqi Air Force was so hilariously bad at launching a first strike that the Iranian Air Force was able to launch a retaliatory strike the very next day that crippled the Iraqi Air Force for several years. The Iraqi invasion was able to penetrate a short distance into the region, but was fairly quickly halted, with Iraq doing incredibly dumb stuff like making unsupported armor assaults into urban terrain. It turned out that even as a shadow of its former self, the Iranian military was surprisingly good at its job.

What followed was eight years of one of the 20th century's bloodiest and least-well-known conflicts, far too long to describe here. Iraq tried repeatedly to invade Iran, with little success. Iran pushed Iraq out and took regions in southern Iraq. Iraq started frantically buying French and Soviet weapons, Iran was able to find some American hardware via Iran-Contra, and various black market sources--and, strangely enough, Israel, which actually had a team of advisors in Iran through much of the war. Iran used human wave tactics, often utilizing child soldiers, to make up for their equipment disadvantages, while Iraq turned to chemical weapons [largely supplied by European companies, with some help from... the United States] in an unsuccessful attempt to turn the deadlock. It was like the First World War, if fought with 1980s technology, but also worse somehow. Iran instigated revolts in the Kurdish regions of Iraq [which was basically what Iran had done for decades already] and Saddam responded by just gassing entire Kurdish villages. The French, the Gulf monarchies, and the Soviets backed Iraq [and at times even the United States got involved, though seldom very directly]. All the Iranians had were the Chinese and North Koreans.

In the end, the war resolved in a restoration to sine quo antebellum. Literally nothing changed. Iran was devastated from the war, which in its ending stages involved ballistic missile attacks on civilian areas.

These ballistic missile strikes, initially launched by Iraq against Iran, led to the development of an indigenous Iraqi ballistic missile program [with the support of, strangely, Argentina] along with the development of an Iranian ballistic missile program with support from the North Koreans and Chinese, along with some residual support from Israel which had been collaboratively developing long-range missiles with Iran under the Shah. That ballistic program would be one of the war's many legacies, and since then Iran has developed one of the world's most sophisticated ballistic missile arsenals, moving on from crude scud clones to highly advanced, precision-guided tactical missiles that can reliably hit within a few meters of their target. This would almost certainly be the vehicle Iran deployed any nukes it got on, and it could do so with good reliability, range, and protection.

Iraq, whom had suffered from Iranian ballistic missile strikes and air raids, but mostly from borrowing a whole lot of money from the Gulf States to finance the whole war, was also devestated. Iraq decided its solution was to just kill the creditors, in this case Kuwait, which proved to be a terrible idea as literally the entire world united against Iraq to remove it. Thus, the entire Western world, which up until a year or two before this had been loaning money and selling weapons and advanced technology to Saddam Hussein, ended up ganging up on Iraq and obliterating its army. Then it turned out that Iraq had a nuclear weapons program--largely fueled by Western technology. But to understand what they and Iran are doing, we need to learn some physics. Well, mostly engineering.

3. How to build The Bomb, a DIY Guide

Okay, I finally have gotten to the nuclear bomb part. So how do you build a nuclear bomb?

Well, what you need for the most simple sort of weapon--a pure fission weapon, a meagre few tens of kilotons of TNT-equivalent, the technology that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki--seems tantalizingly simple. A trivial amount of plutonium-240 or uranium-235 will do the job for you--around 15 kilograms, varying on how good you are at physics and how big you want the boom to be. Add that in a package with certain other components, none of which are especially hard to make--mostly having to do with precision explosives--and you have the bomb. It's essentially just an engineering and implementation problem [the H-bomb is a bit different, but we'll ignore it for our purposes].

Of course, that's easier said than done. Plutonium-240 and Uranium-235 of sufficient quality [around ~90% purity] are actually pretty hard to get, and while there are alternative routes--you can use reactor grade plutonium if treated right, according to Anglo-American research, or lower-enriched uranium [though in much greater quantities], or even unconventional routes like the uranium hydride bomb--these are really the two things that you need in quantity.

There are a number of ways to get Uranium-235. Uranium-235 carries with it one substantial advantage: You can just dig it up out of the ground. That's where the advantages stop. Enriching uranium from its natural levels of around 0.7% U-235 to 90% is pretty difficult, as it turns out. There are several approaches.

The first one tried is the "Calutron" which uses particle accelerators to separate out the isotopes, and turned out to be horrendously inefficient, never being used after the Manhattan Project [which really did believe in throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks] until some were discovered in Iraq in the mid-1990s when UN inspectors were allowed in. Called "Baghdadtrons", Iraq had developed them because the technology was subject to essentially no export controls [and nobody asked why the Iraqis were suddenly interested in magnets and particle accelerators] and was quite simple to master. Fortunately, they didn't produce that much uranium, but if they had gone on for just a few more years, Iraq would have ended up with a bomb.

The second major method relies on gaseous diffusion, a process requiring massive structures that could handle uranium hexafluoride, and proved quite difficult to develop. The big nuclear states all had these facilities, along with other commercial interests--the French consortium that enriches uranium actually had a 10% interest purchased in it by the Shah. However, they were never that practical for the small, aspiring weapons state--too big and too complicated, and very obvious. The only state which developed its first bomb through gaseous diffusion is, to my knowledge, China.

The third, however, and the one that has gained the most attention now, is the centrifuge. This technology, via which virtually all uranium enrichment these days occurs, relies on just spinning a centrifuge at ultra-high speeds to separate the isotopes--like you might have done in biology, but on a much larger scale. These centrifuges are rather difficult to build and rely on advanced, hard-to-manufacture materials like carbon fiber and maraging steel. Unfortunately, though, thanks to the work of Pakistani nuclear scientist A. Q. Khan, and the efforts of a number of German and French corporations, the knowledge of how to build advanced centrifuges is out there if you know the right people--like Iraq did. They were building a centrifuge using training and technology from European companies, though they never got it up to scale. Libya also got this information, and Iran and North Korea as well. Turns out the Axis of Evil is real, but it's mostly just Pakistan and European nuclear companies.

Oh, and as a minor note, there's a fourth process that's been collecting a lot of concern that relies on lasers to enrich uranium, which has actually been commercialized in Australia. There's a good deal of fear that the technology is so compact that it'll enable virtually any state to enrich uranium in secret. Also, it should be noted that enriched uranium does have other uses than to make bombs--it fuels certain classes of nuclear reactors, for instance. However, the primary reason for enrichment is usually to make bombs.

Plutonium-240, though, comes pretty much one way: Out of nuclear waste. You take raw nuclear waste--there are some specifics if you want to optimize generation of plutonium, but you can do it to pretty much any nuclear waste--then you do some fancy and extremely toxic and dangerous chemistry on it, and, if you've done everything right, out comes plutonium of weapons grade, along with some uranium. This can be reused as fuel for nuclear reactors, and often is--Japan, for instance, has literal tons of plutonium reprocessed from its fleet of nuclear power stations. However, it also produces weapons-grade plutonium [or reactor-grade plutonium, which can be turned into a crude device anyhow]. The only problem with this is that generally people are quite touchy about nuclear reactors, especially the kind good at making high-quality plutonium, and IAEA supervision and controls are required in non-nuclear states. They're also very easy targets for airstrikes, as Syria and Iraq both discovered.

Most countries historically opted for the plutonium route--they could operate nuclear reactors on their own and nobody nearby could stop them. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, the Soviet Union, and North Korea all opted for plutonium. Only China, Pakistan, and South Africa have opted for enriched uranium--though the option seems to be rising in popularity.

4. Iran [maybe] builds a bomb

Well, since Iraq isn't the focus of this and Saddam is very much dead.. back to Iran.

Iran's bomb program is thought to have begun in 1973, when the Shah summoned a nuclear physicist named Akbar Etemad, told him he wanted to launch a nuclear program, and asked him to develop a plan. And, just like that, Iran was off on the road to a bomb. An Atomic Energy Agency was formed, its employees being the best paid in the entire Iranian government. Students were dispatched to a special nuclear engineering program set up with MIT. Huge quantities of money were dumped into nuclear energy, the development of uranium mines, and, of course, the bomb program. This is when the aforementioned activities of the Shah took place.

And since then, it's never really died. It probably would win an award for longest continually operating nuclear program that hasn't built a bomb. The Islamic Revolution was a serious setback as most of the Shah's atomic scientists were purged or fled the country, and so was the Iran-Iraq War, which represented a massive drain on Iranian resources. It continued working at the bomb, but, without those people--and more importantly without the cooperation of Europe, whom were not fans of the revolutionary regime--they stood no chance at building it anytime soon. Still, they worked away--largely knowing that Saddam was pursuing nukes as well, and that he would use them against Iran if he got them first.

In the 1990s, Iran largely focused on reconstruction and development from the catastrophic war. The nuclear program kept whirring away in the background, though. With the help of new technology, new friends--including Russia, no longer committed to non-proliferation as it once was, and soon-to-be nuclear state North Korea--and with a new generation of experts, Iran kept on developing the bomb right up until 2003, when... it stopped. There were probably many reasons for that--Saddam was gone, the United States was acting aggressive, international pressure was up--but they also likely had most or all of the needed information to build a weapon--just not the materials.

However, they kept up another angle--using the very same nationalist rhetoric as the Shah did, years ago, they asserted their right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty [whether one exists is debatable] to enrich uranium and possibly reprocess plutonium in pursuit of a domestic nuclear power program. This program would both fuel Iran's energy needs [which, surprisingly, it has quite a lot of] by producing fuel for Russian-built nuclear reactors, and also provide them with the same materials required to build a nuclear bomb--making them a nuclear-latent state, just like Japan or South Korea. That's when Iran's program really began attracting concern. Along with attention from Israel and the United States, who engaged in assassinations, sabotage, or expatriation of Iranian nuclear scientists [stealing them from nuclear conferences, rescuing their family from Iran, and bringing them to the US] in order to slow the program, with mixed results--while they did serious damage, it still continued. So efforts turned to negotiation.

5. JCPOA, or, how to successfully punt the can

Negotiations began in the late 2000s to attempt to halt the progress of Iran's nuclear program, which was rapidly developing and showed breakout potential to build a bomb by about 2010. While initially they bore little fruit, in 2013, an interim agreement was signed, followed by a full agreement in 2015. The agreement, concluded by the P5+1 [USA, Russia, UK, France, China and Germany] lifted most sanctions on Iran through a phased period, including sanctions on arms exports and an embargo on selling arms to Iran, and in return Iran would subscribe to certain limits on its nuclear program.

It would limit the enrichment of uranium to a low percentage and how much it possessed at any one instance, it renounced certain activities involved in fuel reprocessing and bomb design, it had to export its heavy water [as a side effect Iran is now one of the world's largest heavy-water exporters], and numerous other restrictions were installed. However, the most stringent of them began expiring in the early 2020s, with virtually all restrictions gone by around 2030. This fact has attracted a great deal of attention--in essence, JCPOA is punting the can a little over a decade. Still, alternatives weren't great. JCPOA increased the time that Iran would have to take to get a bomb from around three months to a bit more than that, six months. It also diminished the likelihood Iran would seek a bomb--as long as it could get most of the benefits by remaining on the threshold without actually crossing it, it seemed unlikely that Iran would actually do so when it brought on so many risks--not just sanctions but preemptive military strikes and proliferation throughout the region via Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It wasn't a perfect deal by any means, but it was a deal, and it worked about as well as one might have hoped. That was, until Trump unilaterally pulled out of it.

6. Where We're At Now

When Trump pulled out of JCPOA, reinstating sanctions on Iran, the response began tepidly. But within a year, Iran systematically began breaching the limits of JCPOA. Initially, Iran hoped that other international partners would save it--Europe built a special financial instrument to trade with Iran without sanctions, and Iran turned to East Asia for economic support. However, neither of these really panned out--corporations were scared of American retaliation and Europe found itself unable to do much about the problem. So, Iran ended its good behavior and began slowly, systematically breaching the limits placed on it under JCPOA. It began raising enrichment percentages, and breached its uranium stockpile limits. Iran also became increasingly aggressive in other areas, engaging in mining and seizure of ships--most recently a South Korean tanker--and using its numerous proxy militias to target American interests. In the meantime, Iran's economy has entered freefall--it was never well-managed in the first place, especially with Islamic foundations and the Revolutionary Guard controlling much of the economy, and the sanctions and collapsing oil prices have sent it into a recession. Covid also hit Iran particularly hard, adding to its woes.

At the time I'm writing this, Iran has activated its Fordow facility--which was banned under JCPOA--and has begun to enrich uranium to 20% U-235 levels. This might not sound like a lot, but it's actually much easier to enrich 20% to 90% than 4% to 20%. In essence, with these latest breeches, Iran's breakout time has begun rapidly shrinking--probably back to three months now, or even worse.

7. Going Forward

If Iran wants the bomb, there's not that much that can be done to stop it. Diplomacy will be difficult considering what we did last time, and military strikes are risky on the part of the United States--which could face backlash via proxy attacks across the Middle East--and impossible for Israel, which does not have weapons large enough to destroy Iran's more heavily fortified facilities aside from any bunker-busting nuclear warheads it possibly possesses. Sabotage and assassination will only delay the inevitable. Iran's nuclear program, it seems, will be one of President Biden's first major challenges--vying for attention with all the other ones--and it remains to be seen what he will do about it. I myself have pretty much no clue how to handle the situation.

Other lessons that can be learned here [or at least I learned here] are:

Never collaborate with violent extremists because they just kill you when the revolution is over
Be careful about promoting nuclear technology and selling it to other countries because there very much are proliferation risks
Don't sell stuff to Saddam Hussein [big one]
We can blame Europe for nuclear proliferation [guess where AQ Khan got his first designs from, along with Pakistan... oh, and India got theirs from Canada]
There really isn't much that can be done to stop most countries from getting the bomb if they want one, despite what some suggest. Nuclear weapons... find a way.

8. Citations

Iraq's Programs to Make Highly Enriched Uranium and Plutonium for Nuclear Weapons Prior to the Gulf War, David Albright
The origin of Iraq's Nuclear Weapons Program, Suren Erkman, Andre Gsponer, Jean-Pierre Hurni, and Stephan Klement
The Shah's Atomic Dreams, Abbas Milani
Enrichment Supply And Technology Outside The United States, S. A. Levin and S. Blumkin
Just Because No One Does It Anymore Doesn't Mean It Doesn't Work, Chris Camp
U.S. Finds Iran Halted Its Nuclear Arms Effort in 2003, Mark Mazzetti
Atomic Ayatollahs, David Segal
Timeline of Nuclear Diplomacy With Iran
Iran starts 20% uranium enrichment, seizes South Korean ship
And of course others I haven't noted here in minor capacities.

How to profit off Global Warming: HVAC Market Research with Due Dilligence on 5 Air-Conditioner brands.

If you find this interesting please follow my account for more DD.

I'm also working on an Excel file which will provide all fundamental data about a stock, more info about that on my account. TLDR at bottom!

Introduction
With the change and progressing to extremer climates, global warming is coming our way. It has been shown world governments are incapable of properly taking action against this threat. Since it seems like global warming won’t be stopped, we will have to start adapting to the new extreme climates. One way of ensuring a comfortable living/working space in this grim future is by making use of HVAC (Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning). And that’s what got me thinking. My family has been hell bent on NOT getting air-conditioning. But with the summer temperatures ever more frequently reaching +40c with a humidity of +70%(Hup Holland Hup) it’s becoming unbearable. Sleepless nights, overheated pets, fainting, old people dying and just losing your will to live. These are all issues more people around the world are starting to face. Every place on earth is getting more extreme. Every place on earth is getting more need for Climate control. And every company is looking to profit of that! This is why my next play is in the HVAC industry.
Finding our compatible companies.
I only want to invest in the best companies. Living in The Netherlands I personally don’t know the best brands, luckily, I’ve got great internet. So, after spitting through some review sites these are the 5 public companies that came out best when looking for “Best HVAC/Air-conditioning companies/brands”. (Not ranked)

Carrier (Day&Night, Bryant, Toshiba & 15 more)
Trane (American Standard, Thermo King & 7 more).
Daikin (Goodman, Amana).
Lennox (Service Experts, Allies Air Enterprises).
Johnson Controls (Hitachi, York)

Understanding the HVAC market.
Before we continue to further analyze the companies, we first need to understand the HVAC market.
Some facts:

The HVAC business has been valued at $91.30B in 2020 and is expected to reach $173B by 2024 and $367B by 2030. That’s a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of +/-15%.
The most popular countries for Air Conditioning (AC) per household are: Japan 91%, USA 90%, Korea 86%, Saudi Arabia 53%, China 60%.
Global stock of AC is expected to grow to 5.6B by 2050, up from 1.6B in 2018. (This is 1 AC sold every second for the next 30 years).
Less than a third of the global households own an AC.
8% of the 2.8B people living in the hottest parts of the world own an AC (Brazil, Indonesia, India, African countries).
AC demand is increasing every year going from 97,60M in 2012, up 111M in 2018.

As can been seen in the above statements the HVAC business is very well integrated in some large countries. But the most exciting prospects are those of the developing countries. In Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa and India only 16%, 16%, 9%, 6% and 5% respectively of the households have AC. This is a MASSIVE market just waiting to be exploited.
- The Indian AC market stood at $4,3B in 2017 and is expected to surpass 11B by 2023, that’s a CAGR of over 17%. This rising growth is led by rising infrastructure development, growing demand for housing and the constantly rising temperatures and consumers purchasing power.
- The Middle Eastern and African market is expected to have an CAGR of 4,9% during 2019-2024.
- The Indonesian market is currently experiencing a 2% CAGR in AC demand over 2012 till 2018.
- The US is expected to have a CAGR of 3.1% from 2020 to 2030.
- Europe is expected to have a CAGR of 6% from 2019 to 2025.
- The global HVAC market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 5.5% from 2018 till 2024.
Market share.
This was actually really really difficult to find free sources on and I can’t really make a clear picture out of it so here are the numbers:
- 2013 North America market: Carrier 17%, Daikin 15%, Trane 10%, Johnson 9%, Lennox 6%, LG 5%.
- 2013 Global AC market: Daikin 13%, Carrier 10%, Johnson 8%, Trane/LG 4%.
- 2018 Indian market share: LG 17,7%, Hitachi 7,9%, Daikin 7,4%.
- HVAC Used by construction firms in USA: Carrier 29%, Lennox 17,3%, Daikin 8,2%, Trane7,3%, LG 1,8% Johnson 1,8%.
- 2020 global “Wall-Mounted Fan Coil Units” market: Daikin 29%, Trane 26%, Carrier 12%, Johnson 7,5%
My conclusion from this and other information found online is that globally Daikin is the biggest followed by Carrier, Johnson, Trane, LG and Lennox. I accounted for all known acquisitions since 2013 in the market share.
An introduction to the Companies
Carrier
Carrier products and related services include HVAC and refrigeration systems, building controls and automation, fire and special hazard suppression systems and equipment, security monitoring and rapid response systems, provided to a diversified international customer base principally in the industrial, commercial and residential property and commercial transportation sectors.
Employees: 53,000+
Countries active: 160+
Market Cap: 25,959B
Key points:
- 85% of sales are in the USA or Europe, they are however planning to expand globally.
- 51% HVAC, 29% Fire and Security, 20% Refrigeration.
- Since April 2020 carrier has split off from Raytheon Technologies, allowing them to focus fully on the HVACR market.
- Carrier is planning on cutting 600million in costs by 2022 (4% of current COGS)
- Carrier has recently launched its “BlueEdge” platform, providing aftermarket service to customers and minimizing machinery downtime & costs. The platform will offer 3 different plans of service to customers. Currently 82% of all Carrier’s revenue comes from products, this is a clear move to increase its services revenue.
- As stated above, Carrier is planning to move more towards (digital) services.
Strengths:
- Well established brand within USA and Europe.
- Leader of the HVAC market.
- Very efficient products.
- Diversified
- 500+ patents and 115y of experience.
- Owns cheaper sub-brands.
- #1 HVAC brand for 10 consecutive years according to Builder Magazine
- Increased focus on smart systems and apps.
Weaknesses:
- Trying to enter markets with well established competitors (Johnson Controls, Daikin)
- Excessive dependence on the American market.
- No lifetime warranties
- No concrete plans for taking over the Asian market.
Trane
Trane Technologies Public Limited Company manufactures industrial equipment. The Company offers central heaters, air conditioners, electric vehicles, air cleaners, and fluid handling products. Trane Technologies serves customers worldwide.
Employees: 50,000+
Countries active: 100+
Market Cap: 28,189B
Key Points:
- Since February 2020 Trane has split from Ingersoll Rand allowing it to fully focus on its HVAC business.
- Revenue: 73% Americas, 12% Asia/Pacific, 15% EMEA.
- Revenue: 79% Climate, 21% Industrial
Strengths:
- 120y of experience.
- Known as reliable, efficient and silent.
- Major investments in reducing carbon emissions for its systems.
- Opportunity for expanding to Asia and the Middle East.
- Reduced product emissions by more than 50%
Weaknesses:
- Heavy dependency on the American market.
- No concrete plans on expansion in the Asian/Middle Eastern market.
- No strong focus on apps/smart systems.
Daikin
DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD. manufactures air conditioning equipment for household and commercial use. The Company also operates chemical, oil hydraulics, defense system, and electronics businesses.
Employees: 76,000+
Countries active: 150+
Market Cap: 53,273B
Key points:
- Japan sales rose 7% YoY
- Americas sales rose 13% YoY
- EMEA sales rose 7% YoY
- Asia/Oceania sales rose 10% YoY
- Revenue: 89,6% HVAC, 8,1% Chemicals, 1,7% Oil Hydraulics, 0,6% Defense
- Daikin creates Semiconductor-etching products. Making them well positioned for the “new” tech boom. With the sales of chemicals almost increasing 10% YoY.
- Daikin provides warheads for the Japanese military.
- Owns Goodman.
Strengths:
- Leader of the Indian AC market, creating products that can withstand the extreme conditions in the country. Being able to operate at temperatures as high as 54c, creating AC’s that do not corrode due to sulfuric acid. and also, being able to be dropped from 1m height, to withstand the rough roads.
- Grew its profit in FY2020 while all others decreased in revenue.
- Produces products used for Semiconductors.
- Has a clear plan to expand it’s influence in emerging markets such as India and the Middle East.
- Creates the full supply line for HVAC products, from refrigerants to AC-units.
- Heavy R&D expenses.
Weaknesses:
- China-Us frictions.
- Slowdown of the Japanese economy.
- Does not have trailer refrigeration.
- Outdated apps.
Lennox International
Lennox International Inc. provides climate control solutions. The Company designs, manufactures, and markets heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration equipment. Lennox markets its products worldwide.
Employees: 11,000+
Countries Active: 70+
Market Cap: 10,617B
Key Points:
- Revenue: 60% Residential, 25% Commercial, 15% Refrigeration.
- Mainly present in America.
- Increasing net profit margin.
Strengths:
- Currently has the most efficient split system.
- Launching the Better Air initiative, focused on increasing indoor air quality, a Covid play.
Weaknesses:
- No concrete plans for expanding into emerging markets.
- Not known for the best reliability.
- Stagnating revenue and negative shareholders equity.
- Unreliable apps.
Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls International plc operates as a diversified technology and multi industrial company worldwide. The company operates through Building Solutions North America, Building Solutions EMEA/LA, Building Solutions EMEA/LA, and Global Products segments. The company designs, sells, installs, and services heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems, controls systems, integrated electronic security systems, and integrated fire detection and suppression systems for commercial, industrial, retail, small business, institutional, and governmental customers
Employees: 105,000+
Countries Active: 150+
Market Cap 32,898B
Key Points:
- Launch of its open blue system. Giving customers total control over their building, temperatures, facial recognition ventilation, security, contact tracing and more all in the palm of your hand. (Seriously check the videos, really impressive). This is a clear Covid play and very well timed.
- Owner of York and a joint venture with Hitachi.
- Strong plans for Asian expansion.
Strengths:
- Very good smart systems and mobile apps.
- Launch of it’s OpenBlue system. A digital platform to connect every part of your building.
- Using Covid to their advantage in launching products and services.
- Well aware of the need to expand in China/Asia
- Build a state of the art headquarters in China.
Weaknesses:
- Many negative reviews on its Hitachi brand
Comparing the companies their financials.
TTM DATA

Million $	Carrier	Daikin	Trane	Johnson	Lennox
Share Price	34,93	18,85	129,22	44,40	288,09
Div Yield	0,94%	0,79	1,64%	2,34%	1,07%
R&D Expenses	402	652,8	237	319	69,60
Revenue	18,173	23,526	15,957	22,637	3,605
Net Income	1,812	1,351	965	802	358
Cash	2,704	3,559	1,303	2,805	37
Debt	12,029	5,316	5,573	7,219	1,354
FCF	1,982	1,877	1,182	1,459	633

TTM	Carrier	Daikin	Trane	Johnson	Lennox
P/E	26,70	30,32	25,32	42,33	31,05
EPS	2,09	4,62	4,05	1,05	9,28
Payout Ratio	15%	3,25%	52%	99%	33%
Debt/Equity	0,55	0,82	1,80	1,03	1,03
Term Cash/Debt	-	2,39	2	5,49	5,49
Current Ratio	1,33	1,88	1,28	1,36	1,36
ROE	12,5%	9,6%	13%	3,8%	3,8%
Net Margin	9,97%	5,74%	6,05%	8,39%	8,39%
R&D/Revenue	22,12%	27,74%	14,85%	14,09%	14,09%
Interest Coverage Ratio	28	23,63	7,09	2,64	2,64

Revenue	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	TTM	CAGR
Carrier	16,709	16,853	17,814	18,914	18,608		18,173	2%
Daikin	18,384	19,619	19,622	21,989	23,818	24,482	23.526	5%
Trane	13,300	13,508	14,197	15,668	16,589		15.957	2%
Johnson	17,100	20,837	22,835	23,400	23,968		22.637	7%
Lennox	3,467	3,641	3,839	3,883	3,907		3.605	5%

Net Profit	2017	2018	2019	2020	TTM
Carrier	1,227	2,734	2,116		1,812
Daikin	1,447	1,814	1,814	1,639	1,351
Trane	1,302	1,337	1,410		964
Johnson	1,611	1,128	1,076		802
Lennox	305	360	408		341

NPM	2017	2018	2019	2020	TTM
Carrier	7%	14%	11%		10%
Daikin	8%	8%	8%	7%	6%
Trane	9%	9%	9%		6%
Johnson	7%	5%	4%		4%
Lennox	8%	9%	11%		9%

Conclusion
First of all, I should start with saying that Lennox really shouldn’t have been included, they are on a completely different level than these 4 other companies. Also, Johnson had some fuckery going on in all their 10k’s so these numbers might not add up, let me know if you found something.
Looking at the company’s financials and numbers it’s a tough decision to make, all companies a pretty close to each other. There are however some things that stand out:
- Carrier has a significantly higher NPM then the competitors.
- Lennox might be in financial trouble.
- Daikin spends the most on R&D relative to its revenue, I see this as a big plus.
- Johnson their revenue is growing the fastest on a 5Y CAGR.
- Johnson their P/E is much higher than the competition.
- Johnson their Dividend is the higher % wise
- Daikin has increased sales in 2020 while other companies have seen a drop.
- Daikin’s NPM is stable at around 8% while Carrier’s NPM has grown explosively.
- Trane has a high debt/equity ratio
- Both Carrier and Daikin have a very strong Interest coverage ratio.
- Johnson's TTM would be better without an irregular expense of 602M
Now on to the less financial aspect of the data.
I really like the way Daikin presents their annual report, they have clear strategies on how to better engage the Indian market. They are also showing that they know where their market growth protentional lays and are willing to act on it. Furthermore, what really strikes me as interesting is that Daikin produces materials for semiconductor testing, this might be a goldmine in the upcoming tech revolution and Daikin has shown to be well aware of this upcoming trend. Carrier on the other hand has not properly breached the Asian/Middle eastern market yet, they have stated to expand their geographical presence but I have found no conclusive strategies in how to do so. What is impressive about carrier is their high net profit margin and willingness to act on a more digital environment, an area where Daikin is currently lacking.
To conclude this research properly, if I had to choose a company right now, I’d being going for Daikin. Their well-presented data and goals for emerging markets, combined with their semiconductor products make me believe they are most suited for rapid growth. Their geographical location also puts them in a better position for Asian dominance. And their Goodman sub brand is well known in America and a direct competitor to Carrier. Carrier is a close second, with impressive brand recognition and attractive financials. One thing carrier does well that Daikin does not is transport refrigeration. In my opinion trucking is going to play a much larger role when self-driving trucks start to appear.

does north korea have oil video

North Korea has “excellent” oil and gas exploration potential, according to an article from GeoExPro, a petroleum geoscience magazine which featured the DPRK on its cover this month.. The assessment was made by Michael Rego, an exploration consultant who once worked for Aminex, a company which in 2004 was contracted to try and develop the DPRK’s oil and gas resources. In 2018, North Korea exported a total of $291M, making it the number 167 exporter in the world. During the last five reported years the exports of North Korea have changed by -$3.03B from $3.32B in 2013 to $291M in 2018. North Korea insists there have been no coronavirus cases in the country. So why does it keep tightening restrictions, despite the heavy cost? Next time you hear of war cries in the Korean peninsula, you don't have to be anxious over oil and its price. The reason is uncomplicated: North Korea isn't a major oil-producing country. There you go- myth busted. According to EIA, total oil production in North Korea in 2012 was 90 barrels per day. North Korea: Many of us want an overview of how much energy our country consumes, where it comes from, and if we’re making progress on decarbonizing our energy mix. This page provides the data for your chosen country across all of the key metrics on this topic. They have been a core part of the “maximum pressure” the U.S. and its allies have been applying to force concessions on North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program. North Korea is expected to ... While there have been some modest attempts to explore North Korea’s onshore potential in the past, very little is currently known about the DPRK’s geology and potential oil and gas reserves. cut off all oil exports to North Korea. China supplies most of North Korea’s crude, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, but it’s hard to know exactly how much. North Korea has maintained a closed and centralized economy since the 1940s. It is a relatively industrialized country where almost 50% of the GDP is generated by the industries. The economy is mainly nationalized with the state extensively subsidizing on food and housing and offering free education and healthcare. North Korea has "Excellent" Oil and Gas Potential The Korean Peninsula at night. North Korea is almost completely dark, the bright spot is Pyongyang

does north korea have oil top

What Would Happen If North Korea Launched A ... - YouTube

Watch thousands of documentaries and get access to our new streaming service Nebula for just $19.99/year: https://curiositystream.com/polymatterSources: http... Are people in North Korea allowed to laugh, dance and marry? This documentary provides unique insights on everyday life in the East Asian country, which most... Tensions between North Korea and the United States have escalated during the Trump presidency, with threatening tweets and talk about the size of each countr... The Covid-19 coronavirus continues to spread across the world. It has infected more than 65,000 people and killed over 1,700. But there is little known about... It seems to be that in the Korean Peninsula the drums of war seem to constantly be rumbling. North Korea keeps carrying out new tests with ballistic missiles... Kim Jong Un has reportedly executed his envoy to the U.S. and 4 other officials for 'betraying' the supreme leader after his failed summit with President Tru... Top 10 Secret Photos Smuggled Out Of North KoreaSubscribe to Top 10s https://goo.gl/zvGBHeDescription:Charlie from Top 10s counts down the the top 10 Shock... Yep. This country. You've heard of it. And yes, it was still much easier than the Israel episode. By the way the awesome jacket in this video was given by LI... This video was made possible by our Patreon community! ️See new videos early, participate in exclusive Q&As, and more! ️ https://www.patreon.com/EconomicsEx... This is a film about a traveller in the strange land called North Korea or officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).Tours to the DPRK are ...

North Korea has 'excellent' oil and gas exploration ...

does north korea have oil

does north korea have oil - win

In the event of a modern Korean War would North Korea be able to field its full army? I.e. does it have the vehicles, oil, uniforms, bullets, bombs, and most importantly food to do so?

Another record achievement for Trump! The first president to EVER fight the deep state so hard he gets impeached TWICE!

The History of the Entire World, I Guess