Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“One of the craziest things happening right now is how there’s been report after report confirming that Jeffrey Epstein really was an Israeli intelligence operative, based on publicly available documents, and yet it’s had no measurable impact on mainstream media or politics. Over the last month and a half, Drop Site News has published four reports about Epstein’s intelligence ties …. In the latest article, Drop Site’s Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussein write, ‘we’re left wondering why the rest of the media, which has demonstrated no lack of excitement when it comes to the saga of Jeffrey Epstein, has all of a sudden lost its reporting capacity, in the face of reams of publicly available newsworthy documents.'” (11/12/25)
“Researchers and scientists in South Africa on Tuesday launched clinical trials on the first domestically developed vaccine. The oral cholera vaccine, developed by the Cape Town-based pharmaceutical firm Biovac, is currently undergoing trials to determine its safety in adults and will be followed by trials to compare it to existing cholera vaccines that are already in the market. Depending on the results, the vaccine could be approved and ready for use in Africa by 2028, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said. The development of the vaccine has been praised as a significant milestone for vaccine access in the country and across the rest of the continent. Motsoaledi said that while South Africa experienced relatively low levels of cholera, many countries in Africa often hit hard by outbreaks would greatly benefit. He said the COVID-19 pandemic exposed how vulnerable African countries were to pandemics as they relied on imported vaccines.” (11/12/25)
“Of the 10 sections of President Trump’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, the second is the real key to reform. It asks that schools cultivate a ‘vibrant marketplace of ideas on campus’ — exactly what campus radicals have destroyed, reducing higher education to its present appalling condition. But this remedy also exposes the main weakness of the White House’s compact — and of most reform efforts. Asking radical university staff to create ideological diversity is rather like relying on Nancy Pelosi to choose Republican representatives for the Jan. 6 committee. While radicals remain in control of campuses, reform will proceed glacially — if at all. The discrepancy between what we fund the campuses for and what they are doing is enormous. Promotion of knowledge and understanding has given way to inculcation of a poisonous fringe ideology.” (11/11/25)
“The trial of Congolese rebel leader Roger Lumbala began Wednesday in Paris over atrocities committed two decades ago during the Second Congo War. Lumbala has been charged with ‘criminal conspiracy to prepare crimes against humanity’ and ‘complicity of crimes against humanity’ during the conflict from 1998 to 2003. Lumbala faces a possible sentence of life in prison. A verdict is expected Dec. 19 following the trial at the Paris criminal court. The 67-year-old led the Congolese Rally for National Democracy, a rebel group backed by neighboring Uganda and accused of atrocities against civilians, particularly targeting the Nande and Bambuti ethnic minorities in eastern Congo in 2002 and 2003. The group committed widespread torture, executions, rape, forced labor and sexual slavery, according to U.N. reports.” (11/12/25)
“General Motors has directed several thousand of its suppliers to scrub their supply chains of parts from China, four people familiar with the matter said, reflecting automakers’ growing frustration over geopolitical disruptions to their operations. GM executives have been telling suppliers they should find alternatives to China for their raw materials and parts, with the goal of eventually moving their supply chains out of the country entirely, the people said. The automaker has set a 2027 deadline for some suppliers to dissolve their China sourcing ties, some of the sources said.” (11/12/25)
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas JS Davies
“For decades, Washington has sold the world a deadly lie: that ‘regime change’ brings freedom, that US bombs and blockades can/somehow deliver democracy. But every country that has lived through this euphemism knows the truth: it instead brings death, dismemberment, and despair. Now that the same playbook is being dusted off for Venezuela, the parallels with Iraq and other US interventions are an ominous warning of what could follow. As a US armada gathers off Venezuela, a US special operations aviation unit aboard one of the warships has been flying helicopter patrols along the coast. This is the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR, the ‘Nightstalkers’) the same unit that, in US-occupied Iraq, worked with the Wolf Brigade, the most feared Interior Ministry death squad.” (11/12/25)
“The International Atomic Energy Agency has not been able to verify the status of Iran’s near weapons-grade uranium stockpile since Israel struck the country’s nuclear sites during the 12-day war in June, according to a confidential report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog circulated to member states and seen Wednesday by The Associated Press. The IAEA said that the status of the near weapons-grade material ‘needs urgently to be addressed.’ According to the IAEA’s last report in September, Iran maintains a stockpile of 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. That stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi warned in a recent interview with the AP. He added that it doesn’t mean that Iran has such a weapon.” (11/12/25)
“What do President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani have in common? Not much, except this: young adults love them. In fact, both men owe their electoral victories in part to Gen Z, my generation. Seventy-eight percent of voters ages 18 to 29 turned out for Mamdani on Nov. 4, according to one breakdown, including 67% of young men and 84% of young women. Just a year earlier, many in this same demographic were heading to the polls to cast their votes for Trump. The president won 46% of Gen Zers last year, including 56% of young men and 40% of young women, significantly improving his standing among this group compared to 2020 and 2016. If this wild swing from right to left has given you whiplash, I don’t blame you. But there is some method to the madness.” (11/12/25)
“More than 150 illegal [sic] migrant [alleged] sexual predators have been [abducted] in Florida as part of a massive sweep dubbed ‘Operation Dirtbag,’ Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed on Wednesday. The [alleged] sex offenders were among more than 230 illegals [sic] rounded up in the Sunshine State after being wanted for crimes including drug offenses and even murder. Others who were arrested had prior convictions for child molestation and sexual assault, according to the Department of Homeland Security.” (11/12/25)
“Back in 1793, a penny could get you a biscuit, a candle or a piece of candy. These days, many sit in drawers or glass jars and are basically cast aside or collected as lucky keepsakes. But their luck is about to run out. The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia is set to strike its last circulating penny on Wednesday as the president has canceled the 1-cent coin as the cost of making them became more than their value. President Donald Trump has ordered its demise as costs climb to nearly 4 cents per penny and the 1-cent valuation becomes somewhat obsolete. The U.S. Mint has been making pennies in Philadelphia, the nation’s birthplace, since 1793, a year after Congress passed the Coinage Act. Today, there are billions of them in circulation, but they are rarely essential for financial transactions in the modern economy or the digital age.” (11/12/25)
