“There’s this thing in politics where people scramble to find something ‘good’ to talk about for their side, no matter how bad reality happens to be. It’s like someone being blown up in a terrorist attack, but their pants were not stained or torn at all – whew! It’s a special kind of ‘missing the forest for the trees’ you can only find in politics and dysfunctional relationships. Under the banner of ‘Tennessee Election Result Is a Fire Alarm for Republicans’, the editors at Newsweek have declared the results of a special election in December of an off-year to be something Republicans need to set their hair on fire over. Why? Because the Republican only won by 9 points in a district that Donald Trump carried by 22.” (12/04/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“One thing I try not to think about very often is how many reports we’ve been seeing about Israeli prison guards training dogs to rape Palestinian captives in torture camps like Sde Teiman. Drop Site News has a new write-up about a testimony from a journalist published by the Palestinian Journalists Protection Center. The reporter says that during his 20 months of hell in Israeli prisons he was electrocuted, beaten, starved, and sexually assaulted on film. He also says he was sexually assaulted by ‘a trained dog’ — just the latest in a long string of such allegations coming out of Israel’s notorious network of torture prisons. Last month Novara Media published an article titled ‘Israeli Prison Guards Are Using Dogs to Rape Palestinians, Former Detainees Say’, based on information collected by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.” (12/04/25)
“Finally, thankfully, the global warming craze is dying out. To paraphrase Monty Python, the climate parrot may still be nailed to its perch at the recent COP summit in Belém, Brazil – or at Harvard and on CNN – but elsewhere it’s dead. It’s gone to meet its maker, kicked the bucket, shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. By failing to pledge a cut in fossil fuels, COP achieved less than nothing, the venue caught fire, the air-conditioning malfunctioned – and delegates were told on arrival not to flush toilet paper. Bill Gates’s recent apologia, in which he conceded that global warming ‘will not lead to humanity’s demise’, after he closed the policy and advocacy office of his climate philanthropy group is just the latest nail in the coffin.” (12/04/25)
“The FBI made an arrest on Thursday in its nearly 5-year-old investigation into pipe bombs placed outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. The arrest marks the first time investigators have settled on a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement, spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories and remained an enduring mystery in the shadow of the dark chapter of American history that is the violent Capitol siege. The suspect in custody has been identified as Brian Cole, according to three people familiar with the matter. Two of the people said he lived in Woodbridge, Virginia, a Washington suburb. No other details were immediately available, including the charges Cole might face. The people who described the arrest weren’t authorized to publicly discuss a case that hasn’t yet been made public and spoke on the condition of anonymity.” (12/04/25)
“Between the War on Drugs and the War on Terror, the US government has a long history of waging bloody and unsuccessful wars against broad concepts that can not be meaningfully defeated. What makes the government’s latest ‘armed conflict’ unique is not just its combination of these two failures, but also that its target (‘narco-terrorism’) is largely a myth. Under the title “Operation Southern Spear,” the Trump administration has launched a campaign intended to target the drug cartels that it designated as terrorist organizations earlier this year. So far, this has involved at least 21 airstrikes, killing upwards of 83 people on small boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific; a military buildup involving 15,000 troops; and covert operations by the CIA in Venezuela. Though President Donald Trump lacks the legal authority for these activities, the Senate’s latest attempt to restrain military action failed in a narrow vote of 49-51.” (12/04/25)
“A prominent international human rights organization is warning that the United States’ plan for postwar Gaza will impose ‘unlawful collective imprisonment’ on the Palestinian civilians who have survived two years of genocide. In November, several news outlets reported on the Trump administration’s plan to carve Gaza in two: a so-called ‘green zone’ controlled by Israel and a ‘red zone’ controlled by the militant group Hamas. The US would construct what it called ‘Alternative Safe Communities’ for Palestinians to live in the Israeli-controlled portion of Gaza, which is over half of the territory under the current ‘ceasefire’ agreement. The New York Times described these communities as ‘compounds’ of 20,000 to 25,000 people, where Israeli officials reportedly argued they should not be allowed to leave.” (12/04/25)
“George Bernard Shaw famously observed that ‘England and America are two countries separated by the same language.’ It appears, however, that this chasm has finally been overcome by the common dialect of rage. The new word of the year was announced this week by the Oxford University Press and it is tragically apt: ‘rage bait’. First used in 2002, the new word is defined as ‘online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media content’. … Rage is a curious emotion. It is the ultimate release. It allows you to do things and say things that you would not otherwise do or say. That is why it is addictive and contagious.” (12/04/25)
“The Navy admiral who reportedly issued orders for the U.S. military to fire upon survivors of an attack on an alleged drug boat is on Capitol Hill for a classified briefing with top congressional lawmakers overseeing national security. The information from Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who is now the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, comes at a potentially crucial moment in the unfolding congressional investigation into how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth handled the military operation in international waters near Venezuela. There are mounting questions over whether the strike may have violated the law. The briefing in a secure facility at the Capitol is with congressional leaders, including the Republican chairs and ranking Democrats of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, and separately to the GOP chairman and Democratic vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.” (12/04/25)
“The State Department renewed its ‘do not travel’ advisory for Venezuela. Without edits, the travel advisory was reissued Wednesday, with the State Department citing a myriad of high risks related to crime, terrorism, detention and poor health infrastructure. ‘All U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents in Venezuela are strongly advised to depart immediately,’ the advisory says. In 2019, the U.S. severed diplomatic ties with Venezuela, closing its embassy. It says it no longer has the ability to provide emergency services or consular assistance to U.S. citizens in the country. ‘There is no safe way to travel to Venezuela,’ the advisory states, adding that people should avoid traveling to the country by any means.” (12/04/25)
Source: The American Prospect
by Shoaib Mir & Parthu Venkatesh P
“Sitting outside his modest house in India’s eastern state of Bihar, Sudeshwar Singh, 48, scrolls on his smartphone through the recent Global Tuberculosis Report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) last month to check India’s status. Just eight countries account for 67 percent of global TB cases, according to the report, with India contributing 25 percent of the total, topping the chart. Seeing India leading in global TB disappoints Singh. As the day starts to fade, he puts on a jacket with a ‘Stop TB’ logo, packs a few copies of handbooks and pamphlets in a tote bag, and starts walking toward a nearby village. Singh, himself a TB survivor and a renowned health advocate, has been a guide for a network of TB advocates in the region, working toward a global commitment to end the epidemic by 2030 under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.” (12/04/25)
