“While analyzing the tailspin of the Biden presidency and the failed campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, few pundits have questioned that militarism is a political necessity as well as a vital tool of U.S. foreign policy. Harris checked a standard box at the Democratic National Convention when she pledged to maintain “the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.” Yet the erosion of the Democratic Party’s base is partly due to the alienation of voters who don’t want to cast their ballot for what they see as a war party. That perception is especially acute among the young, and notable among African Americans. Many have viewed President Joe Biden’s resolute support for the Israeli war in Gaza as a moral collapse. When Harris remained loyal to it during the fall campaign, her credibility sank.” (12/21/24)
“A homeowner found herself behind bars after attempting to reclaim her home from an alleged squatter. Loletha Hale was charged with criminal trespass following a confrontation at her property on Dec. 9, according to WSB-TV 2. … The situation began in August when Hale discovered Sakemeyia Johnson, whom she described as a squatter, occupying her home. However, a judge ruled that Johnson was not a squatter due to her relation to a previously evicted tenant’s partner.” [hat tip — RRS] (12/21/24)
Source: Wall Street Journal
by Kimberley A Strassel
“Democrats are fist-pumping this week as Joe Biden looks poised to beat Donald Trump’s first-term record for judicial appointments. If only that number were the Biden judicial legacy to prove most lasting. The Senate was preparing on Thursday to confirm two final judges, votes that would result in Mr. Biden tallying 235 judicial picks, one more than the 234 confirmed in the first Trump term. Democrats are raving about the number and the diversity of those judges, as well as Mr. Biden’s success in flipping the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals back to a liberal majority. Republicans are consoling themselves that Mr. Biden was unable to change the ideological direction of the Supreme Court or of two other circuits that Mr. Trump remade with majorities of Republican-appointed judges. But it isn’t the numbers or the faces that will define the Biden years.” (12/20/24)
“President-elect Trump unleashed a tirade against Panama Canal tolls Saturday, claiming the U.S. is being ripped off by high prices. In a Truth Social post Saturday, Trump complained at length about the fees levied on U.S. ships going through the Big Ditch. The Panama Canal’s tolls can range from three to six figures depending on how large a vessel is and how much cargo it carries, with the largest ships being charged as much as $500,000. ‘The Panama Canal is considered a VITAL National Asset for the United States, due to its critical role to America’s Economy and National Security,’ Trump wrote in his post. ‘A secure Panama Canal is crucial for U.S. Commerce, and rapid deployment of the Navy, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and drastically cuts shipping times to U.S. ports.’ The incoming president criticized former President Carter, who Trump said ‘foolishly gave it away, for One Dollar.'” (12/21/24)
“The Chinese government protested Sunday the latest American announcements of military sales and assistance to Taiwan, warning the United States that it is ‘playing with fire’. U.S. President Joe Biden authorized Saturday the provision of up to $571 million in Defense Department material and services and in military education and training for Taiwan. Separately, the Defense Department said Friday that $295 million in military sales had been approved. A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement urged the U.S. to stop arming Taiwan and stop what it called ‘dangerous moves that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait’. Taiwan is a democratic island of 23 million people that the Chinese government claims as its territory and says must come under its control. U.S. military sales and assistance aim to help Taiwan defend itself and deter China from launching an attack.” (12/21/24)
“Elon Musk blew up a near-complete bipartisan budget deal with an avalanche of tweets contending that it was too costly, luring Donald Trump into demanding that Republicans kill it. But Musk’s real reason was that the agreement included painstakingly negotiated limits on American tech investment in China. Had that provision passed, it would have been costly to Musk’s extensive Chinese Tesla operations and future AI plans. Between Tuesday and Thursday, the budget deal collapsed. Trump, following Musk’s lead, threw in a new demand that the deal tackle the debt ceiling, always a politically tricky vote. But neither Democrats nor Republican fiscal hawks would give Trump that.” (12/21/24)
“The Teamsters are launching strikes against seven Amazon warehouses Thursday, in the union’s biggest provocation yet against the nation’s second-largest private employer, threatening to delay some package delivery during the busy Christmas season. The strikes will take place at sites in New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco, Skokie, Ill., and Southern California. Roughly 9,000 Amazon workers around the country have joined the Teamsters, according to the union, but Amazon has refused to recognize their union and bargain with them. The Teamsters are hoping to force Amazon to the bargaining table to hammer out a union contract with this round of strikes, which they are threatening to expand. ‘If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,’ Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said. … Amazon has said the union illegally coerced its workers to join, a key reason it cites for not recognizing the union’s representation of the workers.” (12/19/24)
“The shamelessness of the first family was writ large at the White House this week as the president’s final whirl of Christmas parties attracted social media ‘influencers’ whose biggest thrill was posting selfies with celebrity nepotist Hunter Biden. In the very week that he was due to be sentenced to jail for tax fraud, the first son merrily pressed the flesh and flashed his $70,000 pearly whites, secure in the knowledge that his father’s ‘full and unconditional’ pardon has got him off the hook for any and all crimes committed for the past 11 years. The outrage over Hunter’s pardon has been buried in an avalanche of other pardons Joe Biden has been doling out like candy to assorted scumbags. … It’s a fitting end to Biden’s benighted presidency.” (12/18/24)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with ‘murder as an act of terrorism’ in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as a Haaretz report titled ‘No Civilians. Everyone’s a Terrorist: IDF Soldiers Expose Arbitrary Killings and Rampant Lawlessness in Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor.’ The report contains testimony from Israeli troops that civilians are being murdered in Gaza and are then being retroactively designated as terrorists to justify heir execution. ‘We’re killing civilians there who are then counted as terrorists,’ a recently discharged officer told Haaretz. These two stories together say so much about the way the label ‘terrorist’ is used under the US-centralized power umbrella. The guy who shot the health insurance CEO is a terrorist, but the people systematically slaughtering civilians in Gaza are not terrorists.” (12/19/24)
“Post-election America finds itself in a panic. Voices from across a wide political spectrum warn that the country stands on the precipice of a potentially unprecedented and chaotic disregard for the laws, norms, and policies upon which its stability and security have traditionally relied. Some fear that the ‘new’ president, Donald Trump, is likely to declare a national emergency and invoke the Insurrection Act, unleashing the U.S. military for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and for ‘retribution against’ the ‘enemy from within’ as well as ‘radical left lunatics’. As the New Republic‘s editor Michael Tomasky notes, writing about the nomination of Kash Patel for the post of director of the FBI, ‘We’re entering a world where the rule of law is turned inside out.’ ” (12/19/24)
