The Trauma and the Terror Among Us: The Global War on Terror’s Journey Home

Source: TomDispatch
by Andrea Mazzarino

“America’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been receiving lots of scrutiny right now from journalists and ordinary citizens like me — and for good reason! Detaining people en route to their kids’ schools, in hospitals, or at work shouldn’t be the first thing that comes to mind these days when I think of ‘freedom,’ ‘civil rights’ or ‘America.’ Nor should spending tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to rebuild warehouses so that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, can hold people without charges in subhuman conditions. What do you think? In all of this mayhem, it’s easy to overlook new human rights violations because there are so many each day. Violations of the rule of law have become the air Americans breathe.” (04/28/26)

https://tomdispatch.com/the-global-war-on-terrors-journey-home/

Dems have power to stop all the violent rhetoric, and if not their silence is tacit approval

Source: New York Post
by Karol Markowicz

“In the week before the latest attempted assassination of President Trump, The New York Times conducted the softest of softball interviews with leftist pundit Hasan Piker. A typical line from Piker on his Twitch livestream: ‘Let the streets soak in [landlords’] red Capitalist blood.’ Talking to the Times, Piker refused to condemn Luigi Mangione for murdering a complete stranger, Brian Thompson — because, in Piker’s view, Thompson had committed ‘social murder’ by being the CEO of a health-insurance company. Piker isn’t ‘a fringe figure’ on the left [sic]. He has interviewed major Democrats and plans to sit down with California Gov. Gavin Newsom soon. New York Times journalists nod along with his ideas. If that’s fringe, what’s mainstream? The alleged White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter also didn’t sound fringe in his manifesto.” (04/27/26)

https://nypost.com/2026/04/27/opinion/dems-have-the-power-to-stop-all-the-violent-rhetoric-like-hasan-pikers-and-if-not-their-silence-is-tacit-approval/

Mali: Junta leader meets Russian ambassador after attacks the Kremlin called “a coup attempt”

Source: SFGate

“Mali’s junta leader met with Russia’s ambassador to Bamako on Tuesday, authorities said, his first public appearance since the West African nation saw a massive, coordinated attack by Islamic militants and separatists over the weekend. Russia, the junta’s key ally, called the attack a coup attempt. The office of the military leader, ​Assimi Goita, released photos showing him meeting a Russian delegation led by the Ambassador Igor Gromyko in what appeared to be the presidential palace in Bamako, the Malian capital. Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Mali issued a security alert, citing ‘possible terrorist movements within Bamako, including reports of forced school closures.’ In power since a 2020 coup, the junta suffered a major attack on Saturday after al-Qaida-linked militants and the separatist Azawad Liberation Front group staged coordinated attacks on at least four cities in a region considered a global hot spot for terror-related deaths.” (04/28/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/mali-s-junta-leader-meets-russian-ambassador-22230310.php

Three Recent Examples Of AI Being Used For Empire Propaganda

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“In the last few days I’ve seen three separate instances of generative AI being used to promote propaganda for US-Israeli war agendas which are worth paying attention to. Firstly, an Israel-based company called Generative AI for Good has been creating deepfakes of supposedly real women who say they were sexually assaulted by government forces in Iran. … The Canary notes that Generative AI for Good is staffed with Israelis who have very conspicuous agendas, including a creative director who pushes the discredited narrative about mass rapes on October 7, a marketing manager who served in the IDF’s ‘Psychotechnical Headquarter,’ and a founder who said in early 2024 that ‘Artificial intelligence is a secret weapon of ours’ in using the revolutionary technology to bolster the military’s efforts both online and on the ground in the information war being waged alongside the military battlefields in Gaza.” (04/28/26)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/28/three-recent-examples-of-ai-being-used-for-empire-propaganda/

Japan Airlines trials humanoid robots as ground handlers

Source: BBC News [UK State Media]

“Japan Airlines (JAL) will start using humanoid robots in ground handling tasks at Tokyo’s Haneda airport from May, in a two-year trial it said is aimed at easing employees’ workload. For a start, the Chinese-made robots will be deployed to load and unload cargo containers, JAL and GMO AI & Robotics, its partner in the project, said in a demonstration to the media on Monday. Japan’s aviation industry is wrestling with a labour crunch brought on by an increase in inbound tourism and a declining working-age population, said JAL, which employs some 4,000 ground handling staff. The carrier hopes that these robots can also be used to clean cabins and operate ground support equipment in future. Robots are already being used in some airports across Japan, including for security patrol and retail.” (04/28/26)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwp87j1llvo

Virginia’s “Lobster district” is a gerrymandered Godzilla

Source: Fox News Forum
by Jonathan Turley

“‘Incredible, unstoppable titan of terror!’ Those words advertising the 1954 movie Godzilla could be the billing of a new freakish giant stretching across the sleeping farm fields of Virginia. Now in a court near you is The Lobster, a monster over 100 miles long. The only saving grace is that this creature only devours Republicans, leaving roughly half the state with virtually no representation in Congress. Virginia was a quiet, pastoral state before the creature’s appearance. It was considered the gold standard among states rejecting gerrymandering, with fairly divided districts in a state divided right down the middle. It then elected a governor, Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who assured voters that she was adamantly against gerrymandering and then immediately called for the most radical gerrymandered map in the nation after she was elected.” (04/28/26)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-virginias-lobster-district-gerrymandered-godzilla

NY: US soldier, charged with using intel to win $400,000 on Maduro raid, to appear in court

Source: SFGate

“A U.S. special forces soldier is due in federal court in New York on Tuesday on charges that he used classified information about the mission to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to win more than $400,000 on the prediction market Polymarket. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, has been charged with the unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and making an unlawful monetary transaction. The case comes during heavy scrutiny on prediction markets, which allow people to trade or wager on almost anything, as policymakers call for stricter regulation of the platforms amid concerns about insider trading.” (04/28/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/us-soldier-charged-with-using-intel-to-win-400k-22229443.php

The Army That Photographs Its Own Contempt

Source: Common Dreams
by Yahia Lababidi

“On April 19, 2026, an image circulated of an Israeli soldier standing before a statue of Jesus Christ in Debel, a Maronite Christian village in southern Lebanon, bringing a hammer down upon the sacred face while another soldier recorded him. The image spread within hours because it seemed to compress a moral education into one gesture. Tucker Carlson was furious. So was a segment of the American right that has, for years, supplied the political and theological conditions that produced this soldier. That is the story the image tells, if you are willing to read it past the shock. Since October 7, 2023, Israeli soldiers have assembled one of the most extensive self-incriminating records in the history of modern warfare.” (04/28/26)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israeli-army-photographs-crimes

Belarus: Regime frees prominent journalist Andrzej Poczobut in 10-person prisoner swap

Source: SFGate

“Prominent journalist Andrzej Poczobut has been released from jail in Belarus in a swap with Poland that saw a total of 10 people freed as the authoritarian leader of Belarus seeks improved relations with the West, officials in both countries said Tuesday. Poczobut, a correspondent for the influential Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and a leading figure among Belarus’ Polish minority, was serving eight years in prison in a case condemned as politically motivated. His 2021 arrest after covering pro-democracy rallies in Belarus drew widespread criticism. He later was awarded the Sakharov Prize, the European Union’s most prestigious human rights award. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski called Poczobut a symbol of the fight for freedom in Belarus but also of the effectiveness of the Polish state in leaving no one behind. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who welcomed Poczobut at the border about midday Tuesday, posted on X that the journalist was ‘unwavering.'” (04/28/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/belarus-frees-journalist-andrzej-poczobut-in-22229752.php

Leftist [sic] Fundamentals: Violence, Hatred, and Lying

Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis

“Cole Allen’s leftism [sic] and his attempt to kill President Trump are not the least bit surprising to anyone who knows history and leftist [sic] philosophy. Violence, hatred, and lying are cardinal principles of leftist [sic] doctrine, but certainly not their only evils. If I were, in the title, to list every vile attribute the Left [sic] believes in and practices as part of their ideology, this column would only consist of one long title. So, I’m going to stop with violence, hatred, and lying, prove [sic] that those are part of leftism, and describe other leftist [sic] barbarities in other articles. Let’s look at the above three …” (04/28/26)

https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/04/28/leftist-fundamentals-violence-hatred-and-lying-n2675152