Source: TomDispatch
by William Astore
“A few years ago, I came across an old book at an estate sale. Its title caught my eye: ‘Our New Possessions’. Its cover featured the Statue of Liberty against stylized stars and stripes. What were those ‘new possessions’? The cover made it quite clear: Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. The subtitle made it even clearer: ‘A graphic account, descriptive and historical, of the tropic islands of the sea which have fallen under our sway, their cities, peoples, and commerce, natural resources and the opportunities they offer to Americans.’ What a mouthful! I’m still impressed with the notion that ‘tropical’ peoples falling ‘under our sway’ offered real Americans amazing opportunities, as did our (whoops — I meant their) lands. Consider that Manifest Destiny at its boldest, imperialism unapologetically being celebrated as a new basis for burgeoning American greatness.” (02/17/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/greenland-canada-the-panama-canal-the-gulf-of-america-gaza/
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“‘I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,’ J.D. Vance said in 2022 as he was running for the U.S. Senate. Now the vice president, he has been dispatched to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Munich. And it just had to be Munich, didn’t it? Where better to surrender to a tyrant without a fight? Mnichovska zrada, the Czechs call it — the Betrayal at Munich. But Donald Trump is no Neville Chamberlain — Chamberlain was an intelligent, accomplished, self-made man, and a patriot, albeit one who made a terrible error in judgment. He didn’t try to stage a coup when the British people voted him out in disgust. … Vis-a-vis Moscow, the Trump administration is not even a paper tiger: A paper tiger might at least give you a papercut.” (02/17/25)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mnichovsk-zrada-141000984.html
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“A Delta Air Lines passenger jet crash landed at Toronto’s airport on Monday, the airport authority said, flipping upside down and leaving at least eight people injured, according to local media. The Endeavor Flight 4819 was landing in Canada’s biggest city from Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota when it crashed, the airline said. Public broadcaster CBC said up to eight people were injured, including three critically. One of those three was a child, it said, adding they had been taken to hospital.” (02/17/25)
https://archive.is/4cSBq
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“Breaking out of a mindset of scarcity is harder than it sounds. Paul Rosenberg makes the case that scarcity on earth has been fundamentally overcome, yet, it’s the truth we can’t accept.” (02/17/25)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-xnp8j-1805cff
Source: The Hill
by Svante Myrick
“Donald Trump was elected president in large part by promising to bring down higher prices that have made life harder for millions of Americans. But since being sworn in, Trump has basically ignored those promises. In fact, the past few weeks have made it clear that lowering prices for average Americans is the least of Trump’s concerns. How do Trump’s promises to American families line up with his demonstrated priorities? Let’s review.” (02/17/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5145879-trump-abandons-inflation-promises/
Source: Inequality.org
by Sam Pizzigati
“Americans these days don’t much like billionaires. Our ultra-rich, Americans overwhelmingly believe, aren’t paying enough in taxes. Polling earlier this month found that nearly three-quarters of the nation’s likeliest voters — 74 percent — feel billionaires are paying ‘too little’ at tax time. Just how concerned about billion-dollar fortunes have Americans become? Nearly half of us overall, Harris polling found last summer, would like to see a limit on ‘wealth accumulation’. Among Gen Z’ers, that support for limits on billionaire fortunes runs all the way up to 65 percent. ‘Billionaires’, some 58 percent of Americans agreed in that same Harris poll, ‘are becoming more like dictators.’ The share of Americans equating billionaires with dictators — given Elon Musk’s current dominant role in the new Trump White House — is most likely running even higher today.” (02/17/25)
https://inequality.org/article/a-new-plan-to-create-a-world-without-elon-musks/
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Lawrence W Reed
“On June 12, 1929, America’s First Lady Lou Hoover hosted one of several social gatherings at the White House for the spouses of newly elected members of the US House of Representatives. The tea party for congressional spouses was a polite and quiet tradition, a courtesy that Presidents’ wives hoped would encourage goodwill between the legislative and executive branches of government. But this one produced an uproar. What was the problem? Unforgivably to some, one of the attending spouses brought with her an immutable characteristic. She was black. Her name was Jessie DePriest, wife of Congressman Oscar Stanton DePriest of Illinois. … The incident would not be the last time a DePriest focused the nation’s attention on a worthy cause. Mrs. DePriest’s husband would see to that, and for it, he should be remembered as a hero.” (02/17/25)
https://fee.org/articles/remembering-oscar-depriest/
Source: Persuasion
by Sam Kahn
“The administration is reversing the New Deal and sending us back to … the 1920s.” (02/17/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/trump-is-actually-warren-harding
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“So Israel held a bunch of Palestinians in concentration camps without charge just for being Palestinian, and then they not only starved and tortured them but actually made them wear a Star of David on their prison garments. But remember kids, it’s evil and wrong to compare Israel to Nazi Germany — no matter how cartoonishly blatant they make the similarities. … According to an Israeli media report, last May IDF troops strapped explosives to the neck of an 80 year-old Palestinian man in Gaza and used him as a human shield for hours. They then shot and killed him and his wife. When the Gaza holocaust first started I used to read headlines like this and go ‘Holy shit that must be an exaggeration’, and then I’d read up on it and go ‘Fuck, nope, that’s exactly what happened!’ Now I read them and sigh and just sort of wilt inside.” (02/17/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/02/17/i-write-about-israel-all-the-time-because-i-have-to-not-because-i-want-to/
Source: ABC News
“Pope Francis is sick with a polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract, the Vatican said Monday. The 88-year-old Argentine pontiff was diagnosed following testing ‘carried out over the past few days,’ the Vatican’s press office said. With the results, he’ll have a change in drug therapy. He had initially been admitted to Policlinico Agostino Gemelli in Rome on Friday for bronchitis treatment, and preliminary tests showed he had a respiratory tract infection and slight fever. Testing over the past days paints a ‘complex clinical picture,’ the Vatican said Monday, and he’ll need to remain in the hospital for an ‘appropriate’ amount of time. Polymicrobial diseases are caused by combinations of viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites, according to the National Library of Medicine.” (02/17/25)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pope-francis-remain-hospitalized-complex-respiratory-infection-vatican-rcna192442