Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Israel and Hamas have reportedly agreed to a ceasefire and hostage deal, which is scheduled to take effect January 19. The deal as written is apparently virtually identical to the one Hamas agreed to last May, which Netanyahu then sabotaged with the complicity of the Biden administration. As usual, Israel appears to be ramping up its aggressions to kill as many people as possible before the fighting comes to an end. These next few days will be an especially terrifying time to be living in Gaza. The Times of Israel reports that according to two unnamed Arab officials, the middle east envoy for the incoming Trump administration did more to sway Netanyahu in one day than the Biden administration did all year. The Trump camp’s pivotal role in securing the deal has been acknowledged by pretty much everyone at this point, including Biden’s State Department.” (01/16/25)
“The outcomes in two legal cases concerning Donald Trump have left many Americans wondering whether one of the country’s founding principle – that no one is above the law – still holds. On Tuesday last week, the Department of Justice released part of a final report dismissing charges of criminal election interference despite detailing what department prosecutors saw as sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction. Three days later, the judge in a New York trial that found Mr. Trump guilty of felony business fraud issued a sentence of unconditional discharge. The decisions underscore the extraordinary legal challenges arising from Mr. Trump’s status as a former and future president. Yet the written records in the two cases also show that punishment is not the only expression of accountability. In democracies, the rule of law is often upheld in less tangible ways – through strict adherence to judicial decorum, impartiality, and restraint.” (01/15/25)
“Until recently, the American-funded Israeli genocide of Palestinians unsurprisingly continued without a stop in sight. On January 13, 2025, Israeli attacks assassinated at least 45 Gazans. Shortly after these attacks, however, a cease-fire and hostage deal (reportedly split into three phases) was confirmed on January 15, 2025. Importantly, Steven Witkoff, selected by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to be his special envoy in the Middle East, has forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a cease-fire and hostage plan in two months, existing in stark contrast with the Biden administration’s incompetent (and frankly cruel) inability to pressure Netanyahu into accepting a plan over the past year. Nevertheless, even though the incoming Trump administration secured a cease-fire and hostage deal, it’s impossible to truly know what will come next. Trump is notoriously unpredictable. According to recent estimates from Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 45,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered since October 7, 2023.” (01/16/25)
“‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.’ So declared Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ah, if only it had proved to be so. Although my respect for MLK is enduring, when it comes to that upward-trending curve connecting past to present, his view of human history has proven to be all too hopeful. At best, history’s actual course remains exceedingly difficult to decipher. Some might say it’s downright devious (and, when you look around this embattled planet of ours today, from the Ukraine to the Middle East, deeply disturbing). Let’s consider a specific, very recent segment of the past. I’m thinking of the period stretching from my birth year of 1947 to this very moment.” (01/16/25)
“Well, at least the cease-fire came while there are some structures still standing in Gaza. As for the war itself, the official death toll of Palestinians killed in the war—not counting those who starved or froze or otherwise died due to Israel’s 15-month war to destroy Gaza but not from military action per se—now comes to just over 46,000. Coincidentally, a report that appeared last week in The Lancet by some British epidemiologists concluded that the Palestinian authorities’ official death tally through last June undercounted Palestinian war-caused deaths by 41 percent. If the undercount has remained at that level, that means the actual death toll is more like 65,000. The Lancet also calculated that 59 percent of the deaths have been those of women, children, and the elderly.” (01/16/25)
“Joe Biden is leaving office the way he came in — under a cloud of self-delusion and amid a rancid stench of lies. He promised to be a standard-bearer of decency, a respecter of norms and the rule of law. He presented himself as a unifier who would help the country heal after the pandemic, a man of integrity and impeccable character, unlike his wretched predecessor. Yet behind closed doors, in the devious recesses of his soul, Joe plotted and planned just two things: self-aggrandizement and vengeance. Joe paid lip service to a grab bag of virtuous goals but, really, he was all about himself. As he has been all his life.” (01/15/25)
“Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody will take Marco Rubio’s seat in the U.S. Senate, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday, making Moody only the second woman to represent Florida in the chamber. Elected as the state’s top law enforcement officer in 2018, Moody campaigned on a pledge to voters that she’d be a prosecutor, not a politician. Along with DeSantis, Moody boosted her political profile during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling on the federal government to ‘hold China responsible’ for the outbreak. In elevating her to the post, DeSantis praised Moody as a key player in his political battles, a law and order prosecutor who’s prepared to help President-elect Donald Trump ‘secure and shut the border,’ rein in inflation, and overhaul what he described as a federal bureaucracy ‘run amok.'” [editor’s note: You can be “law and order” OR you can support the federal government violating the Constitution by regulating immigration. You can’t do both – TLK] (01/16/25)
“After 467 days, will Gazan skies carry clouds and sun rather than bombs and death? Will our martyrs get burials? Will food reach the mouths of children in Gaza? Medicine? Blankets? Will they get to reside in buildings rather than tents? Has the fire ceased? After 467 days, will we wake up tomorrow to something other than the latest count of the dead? Will the fog that has settled over our lives lift? Will we become recognizable to ourselves once more? Has the fire ceased? Will history rewrite itself? Will those who stood silent claim to have been there all along by our sides? Will our memories be enough of a witness? Has the fire ceased? Have the leaders of institutions that sanctioned our slaughter repented? Have the weapons manufacturers been seized? Have the halls of power been turned over to the masses? No, the fire has not ceased.” (01/16/25)
“Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has told Donald Trump that it is up to Greenland to decide its own future. The US president-elect sparked turmoil in Copenhagen and Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, last week when he signalled that the US wanted to acquire the huge arctic island, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark. In a 45-minute phone call on Wednesday, Frederiksen told Trump that Denmark was prepared to increase its responsibility for security in the Arctic. She also reiterated the statements of the Greenland PM, Mute Egede, who recently said that Greenland was not for sale. Trump did not react to the call publicly. However, he reposted on his TruthSocial account a 2019 poll that indicated 68% of Greenlanders supported independence from Denmark.” (01/16/25)
“I received this letter on the second day of the Palisades Fire, the largest of five fires burning in Southern California: ‘You f—ing moron. You stupid republcans (sic) have denied climate change — and now you want to blame democrats? You are an anti intellectual idiot. … F–k OFF.’ Here are the grim numbers: 24 dead; 12,000 structures, including homes and businesses, completely or partially burned; 300,000 people have been evacuated, with nearly 83,000 still under evacuation orders; nearly 100,000 are without power; and the two largest fires are not contained. As to the financial cost, estimates range from $50 billion to $100 billion.” (01/16/25)
