Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I hold out hope because people aren’t buying the propaganda like they used to. I hold out hope because trust in the imperial media is at an all-time low while our ability to attack and discredit the official narrative is at an all-time high. I hold out hope because more and more people are realizing that capitalism simply does not work. I hold out hope because empires don’t last forever. I hold out hope because Iran just kicked the shit out of the US and Israel. … I hold out hope because Gen Z proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is morally superior to any generation which came before it with its forceful and uncompromising opposition to the genocide in Gaza.” (06/30/26)
“Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday issued a plea to a breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics to call off its plan to consecrate new bishops without his consent, describing the move as a schismatic act and a ‘sin of extreme gravity’. ‘I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!’ Leo wrote in a letter to the Rev. Davide Pagliarani, the superior of the Society of St. Pius X. Leo issued the last-ditch appeal a day before the society plans to consecrate four new bishops at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland. Under church law, the consecrations constitute a schismatic act, or an intentional rupture of the unity of the Catholic Church, and incur automatic excommunication for the four bishops and the bishop administering the consecration. Pagliarani responded by writing a formal letter to Leo asking him to take time before deciding any penalty.” (06/30/26)
“On Monday, Donald Trump sealed one of the most lasting parts of his legacy. In Trump v. Slaughter, the Court reaffirmed and reinforced the authority of presidents to determine who will carry out the functions of the Executive Branch. In so doing, the Court overruled one of the long-standing limits of presidential power in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. Humphrey’s Executor is hardly a household name. Yet the demise of the 1935 case represents a seismic shift in the balance of power within our constitutional system. In this case, the court decided that President Trump had the right to fire Rebecca Slaughter, a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. For decades, scholars and jurists have questioned where the Court found the authority for Congress to create a hybrid creature like the FTC — part legislative and part executive, with officials protected from removal by a president.” (06/29/26)
“Thousands of people have marched in South Africa’s main cities to demand that all undocumented migrants leave the country. Police officers – backed by private security guards – have been deployed because of fears that protests could turn violent. Anti-migrant groups had set Tuesday as the deadline for undocumented migrants to leave. Many foreigners have already fled to escape violence and intimidation. South African police say 25,000 have been repatriated so far. Most are from other African countries. One undocumented Malawian told the BBC he was ‘happy to be going back’ but ‘heartbroken’ to be leaving behind four young children. The Ministry of Police said the protests have largely been peaceful across the country, with isolated incidents of looting and attempted looting. In Johannesburg, the financial capital, shops in the city centre were closed, while police visibility is high on major streets.” (06/30/26)
“A roof collapse at a tutoring center under construction in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday killed at least 14 schoolchildren, police and rescue officials said. Eight other children were also injured and were being treated at a hospital, senior police official Faisal Kamran said, adding that the owner of the tutoring center and another person have been arrested. Kamran said rescuers were continuing to search through the rubble after receiving reports that more children could be trapped beneath the debris. He said the tutoring center was housed in an aging building and that the roof of an unfinished second floor apparently collapsed because of poor-quality construction. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grief over the collapse of the roof of an evening school building in Lahore.” (06/30/26)
“On Saturday, The Guardian published a leaked draft memo that would give Trump’s so-called ‘Board of Peace’ and its contractors in Gaza blanket legal immunity from any charges of wrongdoing. The draft language would also let the organization obtain public property in Gaza ‘free of charge’. This is only the latest example of the crass power grab in Trump’s Gaza peace plan, which U.S. representatives strong-armed the U.N. Security Council into endorsing back in November 2025. Meanwhile, on June 18, Hillary Rodham Clinton published an absolutely bizarre op-ed piece in the Financial Times endorsing Trump’s Board of Peace and its grand plans for Gaza. The op-ed was titled ‘The World May Not Like Trump’s Gaza Plan, but There Is No Alternative’. Neither article has gotten much attention in U.S. media.” (06/30/26)
“US envoys are flying into Doha for high-level peace talks amid a renewed spate of strikes, despite claims from Tehran that no such talks have been arranged. Secretary of state Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to represent the US, a White House official said. ‘IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA,’ Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. However, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said no talks between Iran and the US were scheduled in the coming days.” (06/30/26)
“The opening weekend of the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., was, to put it simply, miserable. It was extremely muggy, with rain pouring down seemingly every hour. A child rolled around in the grass, crying and screaming, ‘I. WANT. TO. GO. HOME!!!’ Creed’s ‘Higher’ blared over the loudspeakers, and a sparse crowd milled about the various exhibitions. The bare-bones setup (flimsy, fake two-dimensional columns that looked like something Wile E. Coyote would run into while chasing the Road Runner) left much to be desired, as America’s 250th anniversary was celebrated with kitsch and ennui rather than grandeur and appreciation. More than anything, the event lacked energy—and people. There wasn’t any line or wait to get in. The vibe was more conference-like than celebratory, and the state exhibits varied wildly in effort and presentation.” (06/29/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Israel is still pushing for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. They keep trying different angles and rebranding it under different names, but the end goal has remained the same since October 2023: the removal of all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. From the early months of the Gaza holocaust, Israel apologists had been referring to the ethnic cleansing agenda as a plan for the ‘voluntary migration’ of Gaza’s inhabitants. This framing conveniently ignored the fact that you cannot destroy a populated area and deliberately make it uninhabitable and then say the inhabitants of that area are leaving ‘voluntarily’. According to a Haaretz report that was published last week, Israel’s new National Security Council chief convened a meeting of top national security officials to discuss the issue of ‘encouraging the voluntary emigration’ of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.” (06/29/26)
“A couple of weeks ago, at the dedication ceremony for his presidential library, Barack Obama made a speech in which he addressed the Founding Fathers. ‘In forming our union,’ he said, ‘the founders fell terribly short of the Declaration’s promise, leaving slavery intact, allowing states to restrict the franchise to white men who owned property.’ Fortunately for us, however, ‘in drafting a Constitution and a Bill of Rights, they did have the foresight, the genius, to provide us with a framework that allows each generation to make our union more perfect.’ Needless to say, not everyone was thrilled with Obama’s comments. Conservatives on Twitter/X thought he had insulted or taken a ‘swipe’ at the Founders. Fox News said that he had ‘knocked’ them, noting the supposed irony of the statement coming ‘just days before America celebrates its 250th anniversary on the 4th of July.'” (06/29/26)
