“The Trump administration objected so strenuously to a recent speech by South Africa’s ambassador that it expelled him from the United States. What did Ebrahim Rasool say that was so objectionable? Honestly, the speech he made at a webinar sponsored by a South African research institute was rather boring. But embedded in his remarks is this observation: ‘Donald Trump is launching an assault on incumbency, those who are in power, by mobilizing a supremacism against the incumbency at home.’ Don’t come here, don’t invest here, don’t buy from Tesla or Amazon or any of the other corporations that have kissed Trump’s ring. This sentence requires a bit of interpretation. The ‘incumbency’ in this case is the federal bureaucracy; the diversity, equity, and Inclusion programs in government and business; anti-racism initiatives more generally; and even elements of the Republican Party that haven’t been Trumpified.” (03/24/25)
“The United Nations said Monday it will ‘reduce its footprint’ in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli tank strike hit one of its compounds last week, killing one staffer and wounding five others. Israel has denied it was behind the March 19 explosion at the U.N. guesthouse in central Gaza. In a statement Monday, U.N. Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said that ‘based on the information currently available,’ the strikes on the site ‘were caused by an Israeli tank’. The Israeli military did not immediately comment. Dujarric said the U.N. ‘has made taken the difficult decision to reduce the Organization’s footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar.’ He said the world body was cutting back about a third of its approximately 100 international staffers in Gaza, but ‘the U.N. is not leaving Gaza.'” (03/24/25)
“Detained Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil hid his ties to the controversial United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees on his visa application, the feds have alleged. Lawyers for the Department of Justice lodged new accusations against the anti-Israel campus protest leader in court papers over the weekend, arguing that they should be grounds for his deportation. Khalil — a green-card holder who was nabbed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York on March 8 — allegedly fraudulently applied to change his immigration status without disclosing his ‘membership in certain organizations,’ the feds said. Among those organizations was the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, known as UNRWA …. Khalil was a political affairs officer with UNRWA from June through November 2023.” (03/24/25)
“On March 14, Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly berated South Africa’s Ambassador to the U.S. Ebrahim Rasool in a most undiplomatic tweet, writing: ‘South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country. Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.’ On Sunday, March 23, the South African ambassador returned home to a hero’s welcome. The United States lost a seasoned South African representative who had previously served as ambassador under President Obama, was a member of South Africa’s National Assembly, and was active (and imprisoned) during his country’s anti-apartheid struggle. And ginning up the conflict with a country that has such tremendous international standing may prove to be a bad move for President Trump.” (03/24/25)
“South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Monday the claim that white people are being persecuted in his country is a ‘completely false narrative.’ It was his latest attempt to push back against allegations made by U.S. President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and some white minority groups in South Africa. South African-born Musk, who has regularly accused South Africa’s [b]lack-led government of being anti-white, repeated a claim this weekend in a social media post that some of the country’s political figures are ‘actively promoting white genocide.’ Ramaphosa said in his weekly message to the nation that South Africans ‘should not allow events beyond our shores to divide us or turn us against each other. In particular, we should challenge the completely false narrative that our country is a place in which people of a certain race or culture are being targeted for persecution.'” (03/24/25)
“Pity poor John Roberts. No, he’s not corrupt or compromised. He is simply a man who has found himself at a pivotal time and place in a position of great responsibility for which he is utterly unsuited. He’s not a dumb man. He is, in fact, a very smart man – Hugh Hewitt knew him personally in the Reagan administration and testifies to that. I have no doubt it’s true. I know many smart people who have similar flaws. As objectively intelligent as John Roberts is, he is unwise, and he is endangering the institution he wants to preserve because he does not understand human nature or the times he finds himself in. Frankly, I’ll take wisdom over raw intellect any day of the week.” (03/24/25)
“Several ‘incendiary devices’ were found at a Tesla dealership in Texas, according to police. A bomb squad deployed to the dealership in north Austin around 8 a.m. Monday after receiving a call about suspicious objects that had been found there. The objects were determined to be working incendiary devices, and were taken away by cops. No suspects or motivations in the case have been released, but it comes after a string of attacks on the Elon Musk-owned car company in recent weeks in retaliation over his activities with President Trump’s DOGE.” (03/24/25)
“Nadine Menendez and her prison-bound husband — former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez — were ‘partners in crime,’ a prosecutor told a jury Monday as opening statements began in her trial over allegations that the power couple accepted bribes of cash and gold bars. The longtime senator was convicted last year of accepting bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from three New Jersey businessmen. Now, a new jury will hear similar evidence about Nadine Menendez, 58, after her trial was postponed when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz said Nadine Menendez ‘did the dirty work’ for the 71-year-old New Jersey Democrat, who is scheduled to report to prison in June to begin serving an 11-year sentence. Defense attorney Barry Coburn told jurors they will have to exonerate Nadine Menendez because there will be an ‘absolute, utter failure of proof in this case.'” (03/24/25)
“On March 5, four state attorneys general visited a high school auditorium in Phoenix, to take testimony from people affected, directly or indirectly, by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s rampage through the federal government. At this ‘community impact hearing’, AGs from Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Minnesota, all Democrats, heard from fired VA and Department of Agriculture employees; school superintendents; abortion care and HIV providers who are struggling with funding freezes; navigators who help people connect with federal benefits that may not be there for long; nonprofit leaders in energy efficiency and food security who are seeing the people they serve suffer; and many more. All the speakers articulated the damage to Arizona’s economy and its people. The AGs framed the event as the bare minimum of small-d democratic responsiveness.” (03/24/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“One major challenge is that Zionists benefit from abusing Palestinians and exerting influence in western governments, and they also benefit from people opposing these things — because it can be used to feed their victim-LARPing ‘antisemitism’ narrative. This dynamic allows Israel to go all-out in committing mass atrocities and apartheid abuses while Zionist oligarchs like Miriam Adelson openly purchase western governments without having to worry about the damage it does to their public image, because any response to the damage it does to their public image can be reframed as ‘antisemitism’ and used to advance their interests even further by stomping out civil rights. People demonstrate against Israel’s genocidal atrocities? That’s antisemitism — those protesters need to be silenced, arrested, and deported. People object to blatant Zionist influence in their governments? Antisemitic conspiracy theories: we need more hate speech laws and internet censorship.” (03/23/25)
