Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Biden playing four dimensional chess.

a close up of a statue of yoda from star wars holding a sword .

ALT: a close up of a statue of yoda from star wars holding a sword .

media.tenor.com

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Tangential but interesting

The Taliban's Deobandi Islam Comes From India, Not Afghanistan

www.npr.org/2021/09/08/1...

The Taliban's Ideology Has Surprising Roots In British-Ruled India

The Taliban's ideology has distant links to India. Scholars say Afghanistan's new leaders might listen to clerics in the birthplace of Deobandi Islam, though the clerics deny ties with the Taliban.

www.npr.org

Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/202...

India to reopen embassy in Kabul after 4-year hiatus amid new Taliban ties

India reopens embassy in Kabul, marking its first diplomatic engagement with the Taliban since their 2021 takeover.

www.aljazeera.com

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

bsky.app/profile/opte...

Chris - Tortured Systems Engineer™️ @optesterchris.bsky.social · 1d

Within every NDAA, there is language like this. It’s the authority to move amounts of money to different areas provided that Congress is notified.

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Standard operating procedure.

Instead of firing someone appoint them to be an ambassador, and dual hat their replacement who retains their previous position.

Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks Chris !

Do you think there will be significant negative second order effects?

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Sending best wishes for a quick recovery and a decent Sunday after the medical appt !

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

lol - postponing my Afghan vacation after the Paks killed two senior TTP dudes with a drone strike in Kabul four days ago.

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Bottom line is that Islamabad is fed up with the AFG Taliban’s support of the TTP & is targeting TTP leadership in Kabul & TTP fighters on the Afghan side of the AFG/PAK border

AFG is responding by firing on PAK security outposts

Increased engagement between AFG and India is also making 🇵🇰 nervous

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Pakistan claims (correctly) that the Afghan Taliban has provided sanctuary and support for the Pakistani Taliban (TTP).

On 9 October a Pak drone strike targeting the TTP leader killed two senior TTP members in Kabul followed later by an air strike in Paktika Province. www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-t...

In ‘Dangerous’ Escalation, Pakistani Drone Strikes Kill Two Senior TTP Members In Kabul

Two senior members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) extremist group have been killed in Pakistani drone strikes in the Afghan capital, sources told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal.

www.rferl.org

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Afghanistan and Pakistan trading fire in Paktika Province and Pakistan conducting air strikes inside Afghanistan.

The AfghanTaliban providing sanctuary to the Pakistani Taliban TTP (as well as the BLA) is the primary issue.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Afghan Taliban confirm 'retaliatory' border attacks on Pakistan - BBC News

The escalation comes days after Pakistan was accused of bombing a market inside Afghanistan.

www.bbc.com

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Series of posts on this today from OP which provided additional information. bsky.app/profile/mike...

Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 1d

RDT&E is what's known as two year money, as Congress appropriates it alowing for two fiscal years for it to be obligated

so yes there is almost certainly $8B in RDT&E from FY25 appropriations that can still legally be obligated in FY26

Task & Purpose @taskandpurpose.com · 1d

Pentagon moves $8 billion from research to pay troops trib.al/G0HMywT

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Reposted by Mike

Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 1d

Negative

For starters as a logical matter there is no universe in which this meets the intended purpose of reprogramming language

But as a legal matter you've got to have a valid appropriation to transfer the monies into

Congress appropriates some things on a multi-year basis and others annual

eric gonzalez juenke @egojunk.bsky.social · 1d

The DoD is allowed to transfer this money per statute apparently (though this is outside of my area). The CR in March upped it to 8 billion.

Of course it has. It always does. Sec 8005 of DOD Appropriations, for starters…

That one provision now allows for $8b in transfers, per March’s full year CR:

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Good point. Not sure how many DFAS employees were deemed essential workers and how many, if any, have been furloughed.

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Exactly.

Not sure how DFAS will be staffed on Columbus Day but reallocating eight billion to payroll which will then be disbursed via electronic funds transfer to 1.3 million service members within two working days is a heavy lift

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

If eight billion can be reallocated that should cover a two week pay period. Based on FY 2025 allocation of 15.2 billion a month in monthly payroll for uniformed service members.

Also won’t cover the Coast
guard unless the Department of Homeland Security can reallocate funds.

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Reposted by Mike

Charlie Thomas @cthomasjamh.bsky.social · 1d

So for those wondering about the mechanics of paying the troops and why “just use other money!”
might go wrong, here’s a good explainer.

Distinguished Herbert West Fellow, Miskatonic Institute Gigan @gigansprogress.bsky.social · 1d

Because of how complex defense accounting is and how the money crosses different years and programs, DFAS is set up specifically to draw at those dates from those programs. You can't just create $15b dollars, you need to allocate it across a bunch of different areas and subsequently pull from/

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

Should this go unchallenged by Congress, likely a fait accompli, it will set a precedent for the WH to use impoundment and rescission to deny and/or reallocate funding appropriated by Congress going forward.

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 1d

As @mikeblack114.bsky.social pointed out, reallocating funds without congressional approval would violate the Anti-Deficiency Act.

Would be interested in the over / under of this happening in three days with Monday being a federal holiday (Columbus Day).

Charlie Thomas @cthomasjamh.bsky.social · 1d

apnews.com/article/trum... OMB says the money for the troops is going to be covered by R&D but we’re back at how does DFAS color that money (like legally how does it use that pot) and distribute it properly over a holiday weekend to meet a Wednesday suspense.

Trump directs the Pentagon to use 'all available funds' to ensure troops are paid despite shutdown

President Donald Trump says he's directed the Defense Department to use “all available funds” to ensure that U.S. troops are paid on Wednesday despite the government shutdown.

apnews.com

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Reposted by Mike

܀𓂃 Kaori Fujisawa ‎𓈒𓏸𑁍 @layla1988.bsky.social · 2d

China made it clear that they will not accept any meeting with any tariff in place.

They didn’t meet when it was 50% tariff. Why would they meet now that it’s 150%?

Trump doesn’t know China and he definitely doesn’t know the rules of the stupid games he’s losing.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Hours after posting that "there seems to be no reason" to meet with President Xi, Trump now says "I would assume we might have" a meeting after all

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Reposted by Mike

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 2d

What he not saying is that his friends and cronies invested a fortune in Argentina since their guy Milei won, they stand to lose a big chunk of those fortunes the way things are going, and Argentina’s elections are in two weeks and we are tampering in them to bail Milei out.

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Reposted by Mike

VoteVets @votevets.org · 2d

Step 1. Extend health insurance subsidies
Step 2. Open the government
Step 3. Pay troops on time

It's not rocket science. Trump and the GOP just do not want to do it. So troops likely won't get paid on time - if at all.

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 2d

Finally…

Institute for the Study of War @thestudyofwar.bsky.social · 2d

3/ The US Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act on Oct. 10, which included a bipartisan amendment to repeal two laws authorizing the use of military force (AUMF) in Iraq in 1991 & 2002. The House has already passed it and now President Trump must sign the bill before it becomes law.

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 2d

One of the first things I learned in the Army is to always wake people up by shaking their feet. Some people always wake up swinging 🤣

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Mike @mcgwh.bsky.social · 3d

hat tip to the author @bcfinucane.bsky.social

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