Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“One of the most frustrating things about Israel apologists is how they constantly pretend to believe things they don’t really believe in order to push Israeli PR. There’s a tweet going around by a rabbi named Elchanan Poupko that says ‘I had never met a Zionist who does not care also for the lives of innocent Palestinians. I have never met an anti-zionist who does care for the lives of israelis. That is the difference between us.’ This person does not believe his own claim. He is knowingly lying about what he thinks is true about Zionists. A Penn State survey published in Israeli media last year found that 82 percent of Jewish Israelis support the forced expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza. Nearly half, 47 percent, said the IDF should kill all inhabitants of any city they capture — that’s inhabitants, not combatants.” (04/25/26)
“An explosive device killed 13 people traveling on a bus in southwestern Colombia on Saturday, an attack the country’s army chief described as a ‘terrorist act’ that also left at least 38 injured as violence linked to drug trafficking in the region escalates. Octavio Guzmán, the governor of the region of Cauca, said on X that the device was set off while the bus was traveling along the Panamerican Highway in the municipality of Cajibio. Five children were among the injured, Cauca Health Secretary Carolina Camargo told Noticias Caracol, a TV news program.” (04/26/26)
“Last week, The New York Times divulged a fresh trove of confidential internal memoranda between the Supreme Court justices. The documents allegedly show that Chief Justice John Roberts and his conservative colleagues have abused the Court’s technical procedures to block the agenda of Democratic presidents and to favor Republicans. While this accusation can only succeed by ignoring the broader context of the Court’s work, it heralds the latest progressive attack on the Court as a stabilizing institution in our national politics.” (04/25/26)
“Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his military to ‘vigorously attack Hezbollah targets’ in Lebanon, two days after a ceasefire was extended by three weeks. Fresh Israeli attacks followed the directive, which came after at least six people were killed in strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday. Further cross-border exchanges between the two sides have strained the truce agreement, highlighting the precarity of the ceasefire. The agreement, which has seen a reduction in fire rather than a complete halt, was extended on Thursday after talks between the countries’ envoys in Washington. Earlier on Saturday, Israeli strikes on a truck and a motorbike in the town of Yohmor al-Shaqeef in the Nabatieh district killed four people, Lebanon’s health ministry said, according to Agence-France-Presse.” (04/26/26)
“The United States Geological Survey reports a preliminary magnitude 3.0 earthquake struck near San Francisco Zoo, CA on Saturday. The quake hit at 4:39 p.m. at a depth of 6.96 kilometers. This was followed by a preliminary magnitude 2.7 earthquake in the same area. That quake hit at 4:41 p.m. at a depth of 6.87 kilometers. There was no initial word on damage or injury resulting from the quake. More information on this earthquake is available on the USGS event page.” (04/26/26)
“In the short run, Democrats’ victory in gerrymandering Virginia to create four new blue Congressional districts is a good thing. It will restore balance to the critical 2026 House elections to offset Republicans’ Texas gerrymandering which created four new red districts. President Donald Trump was technically right when the night before the Virginia vote he told a conference of supporters, ‘I don’t know if you know what gerrymandering is but it’s not good.’ Of course what Trump really meant is that gerrymandering is bad when it disenfranchises Republicans but good when it disenfranchises Democrats. Here’s what we do know: partisan gerrymandering is an affront to democracy by letting politicians pick their voters instead of voters picking their politicians.” (04/26/26)
“Virginia voted, and the Democrats treated the Republicans and Independents in the state like Bill Clinton treated so many women over the years – forcing their will on everyone else. If southern and rural Virginians didn’t want to be overpowered into submission, they shouldn’t have worn such a short skirt. In an election decided by three points after last year’s Governor’s race was won by the Democrat by more than 15 points, Democrats switched the state’s Congressional district map from six Democrats and five Republicans to 10 Democrats. Hitler would be proud. This is why we are a Constitutionally Limited Republic and not a democracy.” (04/23/26)
“How does the supposedly most fearsome regime in the violent Middle East now find itself on the verge of an utter economic and military collapse? Iran’s half-century-long deadly terrorist reputation peaked with the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel that it helped fund and coordinate. Iran’s terrorist ambitions of running the Middle East had accelerated after witnessing Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and his administration’s distancing itself from Israel. Biden’s humiliation by a series of Chinese slights and the Russian invasion of Ukraine further eroded American deterrence. European appeasement was another force multiplier of Iranian hubris.” [editor’s note: And yet somehow the mighty US hasn’t decisively defeated them – TLK] (04/23/26)
“For Earth Day in 2026, the celebratory events held April 22 numbered well over 10,000 worldwide. From cleanups to teach-ins to tree planting, such activities help boost enthusiasm for caring about the environment. Ultimately, however, it is during the other days of the year that follow-through can bring those good intentions to fruition. Over decades of Earth Day celebrations, many individuals have found that a focus on environmental care in local communities can reap tangible civic and social benefits. A case in point is Philadelphia, where a long-standing project in urban greening has been linked to drops in crime. That success has led the neighboring city of Chester to trod the same path. Philadelphia’s story began with green-thumbed activists from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society seeking to recover good neighborliness, square foot by square foot.” (04/22/26)
“Writing more than 2,000 years ago, the Greek historian Plutarch gave us an eloquent description of what modern historians now call ‘micro-militarism.’ When an imperial power like Athens then, or America now, is in decline, its leaders often react emotionally by mounting seemingly bold military strikes in hopes of regaining the imperial grandeur that’s slipping through their fingers. Instead of another of the great victories the empire won at its peak of power, however, such military misadventures only serve to accelerate the ongoing decline, erasing whatever aura of imperial majesty remains and revealing instead the moral rot deep inside the ruling elite. There is mounting historical evidence that America is indeed an empire in steep decline, while President Donald Trump’s war of choice against Iran is becoming the sort of micro-military disaster that helped destroy successive empires over the past 2,500 years …” (04/23/26)
