“A retired Indian couple is suing their son and daughter-in-law, demanding that they produce a grandchild within a year or pay them 50 million rupees ($675,000). Sanjeev Ranjan Prasad, a 61-year-old retired government officer, said it was an emotional and sensitive issue for him and his wife, Sadhana Prasad, and they cannot wait any longer. His son, a pilot, was married six years ago. ‘We want a grandson or a granddaughter within a year or compensation, because I have spent my life’s earnings on my son’s education,’ Prasad told reporters on Thursday. Prasad said he spent 3.5 million rupees ($47,300) for his son’s pilot training in the United States.” (05/16/22)
“If one were about to compile a list of the five most powerful Americans alive today, most of the names would be different from the ones you’re about to read about below. You’d obviously find President Joe Biden at the top, because, feeble and brain-addled or not, the president of the United States is always the most powerful person alive. You’d also see former President Donald Trump displayed prominently because he still commands wide support and plays kingmaker in GOP politics. … But this is a different list. Instead of simply naming the most powerful people, or the richest, or the prettiest, or the most likely to find themselves in a drug-induced coma by the end of 2022, my purpose here is to list the five most ‘important’ people alive in America today.” (05/16/22)
“The school board of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Fairfax, Virginia, is reviewing updated rules that could potentially expose students to suspension or expulsion for ‘maliciously misgendering’ their peers based on ‘frequency and intensity.’ The Fairfax County Public Schools Students Rights and Responsibilities (SRR) handbook, which will be voted on May 26, includes in its updated version rules that make ‘malicious deadnaming’ and ‘malicious misgendering’ of classmates a Level 4 offense, which allows for a suspension up to 5 days ‘if frequency and intensity are present,’ according to page 19 of the document. ‘Using slurs based upon the actual or perceived gender identity’ is forbidden under the rules of the document, ‘which includes, but is not limited to, malicious deadnaming or malicious misgendering.'” (05/16/22)
“North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has lambasted health officials and ordered the army to help distribute medicine, as a wave of Covid cases sweeps through the country. More than a million people have now been sickened by what Pyongyang is calling a ‘fever,’ state media said. Some 50 people have died, but it’s unclear how many of those suspected cases tested positive for Covid. North Korea has only limited testing capacity, so few cases are confirmed. North Koreans are likely to be especially vulnerable to the virus due to lack of vaccinations and a poor healthcare system. A nationwide lockdown is in place in the reclusive country. State media said Mr Kim led an emergency politburo meeting at the weekend where he accused officials of bungling the distribution of the national medicine reserves.” (05/16/22)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“NBC’s Meet the Press just aired an absolutely freakish segment in which the influential narrative management firm Center for a New American Security (CNAS) ran war games simulating a direct US hot war with China. CNAS is funded by the Pentagon and by military-industrial complex corporations … as well as the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, which as Antiwar’s Dave DeCamp notes is the de facto Taiwanese embassy in the US. The war game simulates a conflict over Taiwan which we are informed is set in the year 2027 …. We are not told why there needs to be a specific year inserted into mainstream American consciousness about when we can expect such a conflict, but then we are also not told why NBC is platforming a war machine think tank’s simulation of a military conflict with China at all.” (05/16/22)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The US House of Representatives has voted 368-57 to spend $40 billion on a world-threatening proxy war while ordinary Americans struggle to feed themselves and their children. All 57 ‘no’ votes were Republicans. Every member of the small faction of progressive House Democrats popularly known as ‘The Squad’ voted yes. The massive proxy war bill then went to the Senate, where it was stalled with scrutiny not from progressive superstar Bernie Sanders, but from Republican Rand Paul. This is because the left-wing Democrat is a myth, like the good billionaire or the happy open marriage. It’s not a real thing; it’s just a pleasant fairy tale people tell themselves so they don’t have to go through the psychological turmoil of acknowledging that their entire worldview is built on lies.” [editor’s note: A gentle reminder that “pro-peace Democrat” becomes an oxymoron when they control Congress and the White House – SAT] (05/13/22)
“Recently, much attention has been focused on the Department of Homeland Security’s ill-conceived Disinformation Governance Board. And rightfully so. But against this backdrop, I believe a deeper, more organized, and deliberate disinformation campaign has been underway by political leadership at DHS. This campaign has been carefully planned and executed over a series of months and has been repeated time and time again, both to the American people and the U.S. Congress. … Political leadership at DHS wants you to believe that the border is closed and secure, that DHS has ‘operational control’ over the border, that illegal [sic] aliens are ‘promptly removed’ from the U.S., and that DHS has a plan to address the massive surge of illegal [sic] migration that will result from removing Title 42.” (05/13/22)
“John D. Rockefeller ruled the Standard Oil Company monopoly until the trust busters from Washington broke up its giant price-fixing and predatory practices into several companies. Andrew Carnegie was the ruler of the giant Carnegie Steel Company (which became U.S. Steel Corporation). Carnegie violently broke up strikes, such as the 1892 Homestead strike, before he left the company to be a major philanthropist building libraries and universities. In the post-World War II years, the CEOs of General Motors and Ford had immense power but still had to contend with a strong United Auto Workers union and later with jolting consumer advocacy leading to federal safety and emissions regulation. Today’s corporate dictators are like no others, with unparalleled wealth towering over that held by Rockefeller and Carnegie (adjusted for inflation).” [editor’s note: Like his colleague Reich, Nader now appears to be as senile as Biden – SAT](05/14/22)
“Intellectuals, broadcasters and cultural figures from Hungary’s Roma community are using the airwaves to reframe narratives and elevate the voices of the country’s largest minority group. Radio Dikh (a Romani word that means ‘to see’) has broadcast since January on FM radio in Hungary’s capital, Budapest. Its 11 programs focus on Roma music, culture and the issues faced by their community, and aim to recast the way the often disadvantaged minority group is perceived by broader society. ‘Roma people in general don’t have enough representation in mainstream media … and even if they do, it’s oftentimes not showing the right picture or the picture that is true to the Roma community,’ said Bettina Pocsai, co-host of a show that focuses on social issues.” (05/15/22)
“North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Pennsylvania have become this year’s battleground states, not in general-election contests but in vicious, high-priced Democratic primary runoffs between moderates and progressives. Moderate-supporting super PACs, under the guise of supporting issues like crypto and Israel, have poured in historic amounts of money to push their preferred candidate on Democratic voters. In just a handful of House races and one Senate race, they’ve spent tens of millions of dollars. That tidal wave of corporate money within Democratic elections is unprecedented, and has resulted in some dubious messaging and advertising. In Pennsylvania, the Penn Progress super PAC, supporting moderate Senate candidate Conor Lamb, became one of the rare entities to see one of its ads taken off the air on the grounds that it was demonstrably false and misleading, after it wrongly referred to his opponent John Fetterman as a ‘self-described democratic socialist.'” (05/13/22)
