“A five-judge panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously voted to convict those accused of plotting the 2018 killing of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes, a case that exposed deep-rooted ties between politics and organized crime. The case has stirred emotions in the politically divided nation. Some see Franco as a martyr and symbol of left-wing resistance, while allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro have attacked her legacy and the tributes paid to her since her death. The five men on trial for the killing of the 38-year-old human rights activist-turned-politician were former congressman Chiquinho Brazão; his brother who was a member of a Rio government watchdog, Domingos Brazão; his assistant Robson Calixto Fonseca; former police investigator Rivaldo Barbosa and former police officer Ronald Paulo Alves Pereira.” (02/25/26)
“When we last left Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC), she was getting massively outspent in her March 3 Democratic primary for re-election in the Fourth Congressional District, where she faces Durham County commissioner Nida Allam. But that million-dollar deficit has now been mostly made up by a super PAC linked to artificial intelligence model designer Anthropic, makers of Claude, which is now dumping nearly $700,000 into supporting Foushee. Another $250,000 has been put toward Foushee by a mysterious PAC with ties to Democratic leadership. Jobs and Democracy PAC is Anthropic’s super PAC and part of an umbrella organization called Public First, which has been trying to give off a vibe of being the kinder, gentler AI super PAC, dedicated to prudent regulation rather than rampant accelerationism. The headline on Jobs and Democracy PAC’s website reads: ‘Supporting Democrats who put people before Big Tech.'” (02/25/26)
“Iran is close to a deal with China to purchase anti‑ship cruise missiles, according to six people with knowledge of the negotiations, just as the United States deploys a vast naval force near the Iranian coast ahead of possible strikes on the Islamic Republic. The deal for the Chinese‑made CM‑302 missiles is near completion, though no delivery date has been agreed, the people said. The supersonic missiles have a range of about 290 kilometres and are designed to evade shipborne defences by flying low and fast. Their deployment would significantly enhance Iran’s strike capabilities and pose a threat to U.S. naval forces in the region, two weapons experts said.” (02/24/26)
“Dozens of viral videos coming out of Iran in recent days reveal a marked shift in what Iranians think of the regime in Tehran, especially after its brutal killing of thousands of protesters on Jan. 8 and 9. The videos of funerals in homes and cemeteries for those killed last month show family and friends dancing instead of wailing, singing instead of lamenting, cheering with political slogans instead of trembling in fear of further repression. Many wear clothes that are vibrant, as if at a wedding, rather than traditional black. In Iran, memorials for loved ones are often held several times, until 40 days have passed. An Iranian who posted one video wrote on the social platform X that when the regime trivializes the killing of so many people, ‘we dance to welcome eternity.’ Death, in other words, is not being given the last word.” (02/24/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Anyone silly enough to believe the US wants to bring democracy to Iran should have a look at what the US is currently doing to sabotage democracy in Iraq. President Trump has been aggressively threatening to cut off Iraq’s oil revenue if it allows the return to office of former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom the Trump administration views as too sympathetic to Iran. And the threats appear to be working, as Antiwar’s Jason Ditz reports: ‘Once and possibly future Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s candidacy is increasingly in doubt this weekend, with reports that President Trump’s demand he not be allowed to return to office increasing the possibility that the Coordination Framework bloc may withdraw him as their choice for premier.'” (02/24/26)
“Here’s a depressing but all too predictable headline from The Wall Street Journal last week: ‘Detroit’s EV Pullback Is Costing $50 Billion.’ Yikes! That’s a lot of money for the American auto industry to lose. Once again, we have confirmation of an iron law of economics: If you want to kill an industry, subsidize it.” (02/24/26)
“Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers pulled over several cars in Eagle County, Colorado. They took the people away in handcuffs, according to a witness, and left the cars idling at the side of the road. When family members of the disappeared immigrants arrived, there was no sign of their loved ones. What they found instead were customized ace of spades playing cards that read ‘ICE Denver Field Office.’ When I saw an image of that card, the memories came flooding back. I’d seen something similar many years before. Sitting in the U.S. National Archives building — Archives II — in College Park, Maryland, sometime in the late 2000s or early 2010s, I’d spent parts of several afternoons watching film footage shot by, and of, U.S. troops in Vietnam back in the 1960s. One of those silent military home movies always stuck with me.” (02/24/26)
“The director of the Louvre in Paris has resigned, months after the high-profile theft of France’s crown jewels from one of the world’s most visited museums. Laurence des Carrs submitted her resignation to President Emmanel Macron, who praised her decision at a time when museum needed ‘calm and a strong new impetus to successfully carry out major projects involving security, and modernisation’. On the morning of 19 October last year, thieves used a stolen vehicle-mounted mechanical lift to gain access to the museum from a balcony close to the River Seine. The four main suspects have been arrested, but the eight prized pieces of jewellery, worth an estimated 88m euros (£76m, $104m) have not been recovered.” (02/24/26)
“In his State of the Union speech Tuesday, President Trump should boast of his triumphs this last year — and offer a frank and positive take on the work still ahead. The nation should see him as the happy warrior he deserves to be: cheerful, proud, upbeat. Trump began his second term full of optimism, promising ‘a golden age,’ reversing the misery and turmoil of the Biden years — and immediately started making good on his vows.” (02/24/26)
“A Boise, Idaho woman has been charged with malicious destruction of federal property by fire after prosecutors said she stole an ambulance, drove it into a building that houses U.S. Department of Homeland Security offices and then poured accelerant inside the property. Sarah Elizabeth George, 43, was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Boise. In court documents, FBI special agent Daniel Ramirez said a suspect believed to be George stole a Canyon County Paramedics ambulance from St. Luke’s Hospital Emergency Center in the Boise bedroom community of Meridian late on Feb. 18. Ramirez said the suspect then drove the ambulance to a nearby parking lot, loaded at least two gas jugs and a plastic bag into the vehicle and then drove the ambulance through the front doors of a nearby office building before getting out and pouring the contents of the jugs on the lobby floor.” (02/24/26)
