“Thanks to our current misbegotten model of manhood, we are once again arguing about this moral question: Should former Cincinnati Reds player and manager Pete Rose be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame? In a sane time, the proper answer would be: Are you kidding? Maybe many of you reading this couldn’t care less. Unfortunately, you probably should care because the real question in these chaotic times of ours is: What does the Hall of Fame stand for? In the same way, you might now wonder what America stands for and whether, in our moment, Pete Rose (bully, liar, cheat, sexual predator, and fan-favorite superstar athlete) has, in fact, become a sports surrogate for Donald Trump. Back in my sports-writing days for the New York Times, I must admit that I liked Rose for some of the same reasons I liked that other shady character I covered: Trump.” (06/12/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The Palestinian Authority said on Thursday that internet and fixed-line services are down throughout the entire Gaza Strip following an Israeli attack on the last fiber-optic line in the enclave, AFP reports. Communications had already been cut off from northern Gaza the previous day. … Israel is continually seeking out new ways to obstruct the world’s visibility into what’s happening with Gaza. That’s why they’ve been assassinating journalists who live in Gaza at a historically unprecedented rate while banning journalists outside Gaza from entering. It’s a nonstop war against visibility and truth, because Israel thrives on lies and darkness.” (06/12/25)
“Nearly a quarter century ago, Argentina became famous for the world’s biggest debt default in history. A string of populist governments had overspent, while endemic corruption had cut tax revenues. On Tuesday, the second-largest country in Latin America became famous for something else. In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court upheld a six-year sentence for a former president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, affirming her conviction for fraud on public contracts during her presidency from 2007 to 2015. The court said it acted to ‘protect our republican and democratic system’. The decision marks another corner-turning moment for a nation witnessing rapid reforms under the latest president, Javier Milei. His reforms since late 2023, such as cutting the number of ministries in half, have eliminated many incentives for corruption.” (06/11/25)
Source: Common Dreams
by Christine Ahn & Leslie Cagan
“President Trump’s deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to quash peaceful demonstrations against brutal ICE raids is a wake up call. Now is the time to push back against this administration’s use of military violence against its own citizens to consolidate authoritarian power. As Trump threatens to arrest California Governor Newsom and unleash ‘troops everywhere’, the people of this country must reject militarization as a tool of authoritarianism and stand firm to defend and expand democracy. As tanks and troops descend upon Los Angeles to silence dissent, on Saturday, they will roll through Washington in a display of power, revealing the undercurrents of an administration that wields militarization not for defense, but for domination. On his 79th birthday, President Trump will finally get his ‘big, beautiful’ military parade, brandishing unrivaled U.S. military might on the streets of the nation’s capital.” (06/12/25)
“A June survey from Public Policy Polling shows New York City mayoral candidate and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani ahead of opponent and former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as the city’s Democratic primary draws near. Primary day is June 24 and early voting begins June 14. Cuomo has been the consistent front-runner in the race, though Mamdani, a state assemblymember who is running on an affordability platform, has risen from long-shot candidate to serious contender. ‘All gas, no breaks,’ wrote Mamdani on X on Wednesday of the poll results. ‘When you run a disciplined, grassroots campaign relentlessly focused on an agenda to address the crises in working people’s lives, these are the results,’ Andrew Epstein, spokesperson for Mamdani, told Politico, which was first to report on the results of the poll on Wednesday.” (06/12/25)
“In dealing with the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles police chief described his force as ‘overwhelmed’ by the protesters and rioters. The city, as is the case with many of America’s other large cities, suffers from inadequate manpower. The size of the LAPD is the smallest in 20 years. The George Floyd protest/riots-inspired ‘cops-are-out-to-get blacks’ narrative is not just false and insulting to cops — it gets people killed. The narrative has caused police officers to quit or retire early, and the negative image of the police discourages new applicants, resulting in manpower shortages in city after city.” [editor’s note: So what’s the down side? – TLK] (06/12/25)
“US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has appointed eight new people to the committee that issues official government recommendations on immunisations, days after removing all 17 previous members. In an announcement on X, Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic, said reconstituting the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (Acip) was ‘a major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines.’ Kennedy said the new members ‘have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations.’ Health experts have criticised his questioning of the safety and efficacy of vaccines, although he previously told the Senate he is ‘not going to take them away.’ Kennedy named the new members as Joseph R Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Robert W Malone, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth and Michael A Ross to the committee.” (06/12/25)
“The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed repealing rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas, an action that Administrator Lee Zeldin said would remove billions of dollars in costs for industry and help ‘unleash’ American energy. The EPA also proposed weakening a regulation that requires power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants that can harm the brain development of young children and contribute to heart attacks and other health problems in adults. The rollbacks are meant to fulfill Republican President Donald Trump’s repeated pledge to ‘unleash American energy’ and make it more affordable for Americans to power their homes and operate businesses.” (06/11/25)
“If there is one thing that threatens the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it’s the fact that it blows up the budget deficit. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will increase borrowing by a total of $2.4 trillion by 2034, because the $1.3 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, and other programs do not come close to canceling out $3.7 trillion in tax cuts for the rich. … A loud faction of Republican ‘deficit hawks’ are reportedly unhappy with this, not so much because of the tax cuts, but because the welfare and food aid cuts are not savage enough. But a smaller faction of Senate Republicans (perhaps scenting danger if they vote to throw millions of their own constituents off their health insurance) are wavering on the existing Medicaid cuts.” (06/12/25)
“Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a dissent to the Supreme Court’s decision to limit the U.S. Tax Court’s authority in certain Internal Revenue Service (IRS) cases, asserting that the federal tax collecting service could avoid accountability in the future. Gorsuch wrote the dissent to the high court’s opinion in Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Zuch, a case that centers on Jennifer Zuch’s dispute with the IRS that began in 2012 over the agency’s moves regarding her late 2010 federal tax return filing. ‘Along the way, the Court’s decision hands the IRS a powerful new tool to avoid accountability for its mistakes in future cases like this one,’ Gorsuch wrote in his dissent. In this case, Zuch claimed that the IRS made a mistake, crediting a $50,000 payment to her then-husband’s account instead of her own. The IRS disagreed and sought to collect her unpaid taxes with a levy to seize and sell her property.” (06/12/25)
