Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that the US is going to be launching major strikes in Iran, while President Trump says he’ll ‘bomb the shit out of’ the Iranians if they don’t agree to a deal of his liking. … Meanwhile the US war machine is acting like a poor widdle victim and claiming it’s only bombing Iran in order to defend itself from unwarranted aggression. CENTCOM released a statement on Wednesday saying ‘U.S. Central Command forces began launching additional self-defense strikes today’ …. Yep, sure, I know what that’s like. I just drove across town to break into someone’s house and he tried to stop me from pouring gasoline all over his living room, so I had to kill him in self-defense.” (06/11/26)
“Character does not matter, at least in politics. People can do things that cause embarrassment or shame, or at least would have in the past, and it will not hinder their pathway to power. If Harvey Weinstein were out of prison, he could easily win another Oscar. If Jeffrey Epstein were alive, he would still be getting solicitations for meetings and donations from Democrats [and Repblicans – TLK]. The old joke about the only way a powerful politician could be taken out is if they were caught ‘with a live boy or a dead girl’ has lost its punch, as those would likely be resumé enhancements today. Neither of those options would surprise me about the Democrat Texas has chosen to run for the Senate, and nothing would surprise me about the one they picked to run for Senate from Maine.” (06/11/26)
“In the Middle East, drones, missiles, and airstrikes continue to streak across the Gulf and, with more intensity, between Israel and Lebanon. Surrounded by these adjacent conflicts, Syria, however, as the Monitor’s Taylor Luck reports this week, is ‘an island of calm in the stormy Middle East’. And of buoyant hope. That is a credit to Syrians’ resilience and faith in progress, as they confront economic and political challenges and emerge from the aftermath of years of repression and civil war. Some credit is also due their former insurgent turned president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has sought to shore up stability and restore basic services, through civic conciliation and political pragmatism. For the international community, Syria’s current situation validates the hope and confidence placed in the government that ousted a brutal dictatorship in December 2024.” (06/10/26)
“Whoever designed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department must be a fan of the Ocean’s Eleven movie franchise. The multi-act plot lines are strikingly similar: Put together a motley crew of risk takers; pick a seemingly invincible target rich in treasure; infiltrate the target; exploit its weaknesses; and get away with an improbable heist while the guards are asleep, distracted, or otherwise occupied. Act One of Trump’s story arc began on January 29, when he and his eldest sons and the Trump Organization filed the lawsuit in federal district court in Miami. If only briefly, it seemed like the plan just might work.” (06/11/26)
Source: Foreign Policy In Focus
by Elena Gutiérrez
“Since January 2026, when the intensification of US policies aimed at suffocating the Cuban people began, I have had the opportunity to travel to the island three times. Each time I return with my heart a little more broken, but also with a stronger conviction that we need to defend Cuba. As a Mexican, I have received, on behalf of my compatriots, thousands of expressions of gratitude and hugs that the Cuban people send to the Mexican people. Every time I am there, I speak about the empathy and understanding we have toward Cuba, about the great efforts ordinary Mexicans make to bring a few kilos of rice to collection centers. And when I listen to Cubans, I learn a little more about the deep history that unites us.” (06/11/26)
“It’s June, which means the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to issue some of its most significant opinions of the term and, predictably, radicals on the political left are renewing their hysterical calls for sweeping changes to the court whenever decisions fail to align with their preferred policy outcomes. In recent years, virtually every Supreme Court ruling that has diverged from progressive policy preferences has been met with demands for so-called ‘court reform.’ This year, however, many prominent voices have abandoned any pretense of moderation, with demands for packing the court becoming the norm. U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, one of the most influential members of the Democratic Party, recently stated, ‘The Supreme Court is a disgrace. In the new Congress, we’re going to have to do something about this Supreme Court and let me be very clear: Everything is on the table — everything — to deal with this corrupt MAGA majority.'” (06/11/26)
“The Pentagon is on lockdown Thursday as emergency workers respond to the Department of War’s headquarters for ‘a hazardous materials incident,’ Arlington County Fire and EMS said in a post to X. ‘ACFD units, including our Hazardous Materials Team, are currently operating at the Pentagon in support of PFPA’s Hazmat Team during a hazardous materials incident,’ it said. Building systems detected an ‘air quality issue,’ which prompted a shelter-in-place order, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. ‘The Pentagon has sophisticated systems to ensure the safety of the building and its occupants,’ Parnell said. ‘Those systems have detected an air quality issue necessitating precautionary measures until we determine its significance. The Department is executing standard protection protocols, including a shelter-in-place order for the affected area. Response teams are in place and ready to support building occupants.'” (06/11/26)
“A top Trump agency is cutting off funding to the Los Angeles agency responsible for coordinating billions in homelessness spending after accusing it of ‘obvious fraud,’ ‘wanton mismanagement’ and repeated failures to safeguard taxpayer dollars, Fox News Digital has learned. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is a member of the White House fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance, is immediately suspending the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s (LAHSA) federal funding while HUD’s inspector general investigates potential offenses by the agency and its leadership, according to a letter sent to LAHSA’s board chair Wendy Greuel and its CEO Gita O’Neill, which was obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital. The letter detailed conflicts of interest, financial mismanagement, fraud, lack of oversight, and more from the homelessness agency, which has faced efforts by the city and county to take it over.” (06/11/26)
“SpaceX goes public Friday at around $1.7 trillion. Elon Musk owns enough SpaceX stock that, on top of everything else he holds, Musk becomes the first person in human history to cross the trillion-dollar line. The coverage will be all hype. Unprecedented. A genius. Where’s he going next? What does the future hold? It wasn’t like Elon Musk invented some amazing capacity. He didn’t do something transformational for the world. He didn’t harness electricity. He didn’t invent the transistor. He didn’t invent rocket flight. He didn’t invent satellite technology. He didn’t even make them much better. What he did was learn how to game the system. He took what America built through generations of investment and generations of hard work and turned it into a profit center for himself. He took American loans, American intellectual property, American space, American airwaves, and turned them into a wealth engine for one man.” (06/11/26)
“Karmelo Anthony will serve his sentence while it appears the fundraising campaign for his family organized by his mother, Kala Hayes, has been taken down. Anthony was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years behind bars on Tuesday. He has since filed a notice of appeal to challenge the conviction. He said in his appeal that he cannot afford a new lawyer, WFAA reported. Those documents say, Anthony is a ‘penniless, destitute, and indigent person, too poor to employ counsel to represent me on the appeal,’ according to the outlet. The fundraiser was posted on GiveSendGo, an international crowdfunding platform, on April 15, 2025. It was less than two weeks after Anthony fatally stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf during a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas. All the while, the fundraiser for Anthony and his family, titled, ‘Help Karmelo Official Fund,’ initially had a goal of generating nearly $1.4 million, and raised just shy of $634,000.” (06/11/26)
