Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I saw a tweet by Elon Musk the other day: ‘Whoever said ‘money can’t buy happiness’ really knew what they were talking about.’ He put a sadface emoji at the end. I personally do not feel the slightest bit sorry for Elon Musk and his feelings. But the fact that these billionaires aren’t even enjoying themselves as they poison our planet and rob us all says so much about the madness of the civilization we are living in. I mean, think about it. It’s not even making them happy. … It would be terrible if these obscenely wealthy oligarchs were robbing everyone else of happiness in order to make themselves exponentially happier than all of us. But they’re not even making themselves happy. They’re fucking miserable. Everyone involved in this abusive dynamic is suffering from it — even the abusers.” (02/07/25)
“‘Imminent financial collapse,’ United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres hysterically predicted in a Jan. 29 letter to all UN member states, saying his reputationally challenged organization is so cash-strapped that it will run out of money by July, close its iconic Manhattan headquarters in August and cancel its annual General Assembly meeting in September. Most UN functions, including its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which claims to coordinate responses to global emergencies, may also sunset in the coming months due to lack of funds. This gushing cavalcade of good news sounds more like a promise than a warning.” (02/07/25)
“As did many fellow Americans, I chuckled when President Trump announced the creation of the US Space Force on December 20, 2019. I even remember laughing heartily while taking in the late-night circuit’s many Star Trek jokes that day. Yet, I had mostly forgotten that the Space Force still exists until last week when Secretary of War Pete Hegseth started a policy speech alongside Elon Musk at SpaceX’s headquarters by flashing the Vulcan salute and affirming Musk’s desire to ‘make Star Trek real.’ The absurdity of Musk’s introduction (in which he spoke of ‘going beyond our star system to other star systems, where we may meet aliens or discover long dead alien civilizations’ as if this could happen in any of our lifetimes) belied the seriousness of the new U.S. Military Artificial Intelligence strategy that Secretary Hegseth proceeded to announce.” (02/07/25)
“In the dystopian novel ‘1984’, George Orwell wrote, ‘The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.’ The true meaning of that line was never more clear than watching the truly bizarre photo op of Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom heralding the success of the greatest boondoggle in history: his high-speed train to nowhere. Without laying a single yard of track after burning $12 billion, Newsom showed a diesel freight train on a conventional track to create the appearance of a working railroad. I have been writing about this boondoggle for years. Newsom promised years ago that the project would be transformative. It was, but not as he promised.” (02/07/25)
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen & Ryan Grim
“With Israel’s reputation reaching record lows among Democrats, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is resorting to ever more sophisticated methods to support its preferred candidates while cloaking its own involvement. The amount of money that the premier pro-Israel organization is able to spend in elections is extraordinarily valuable to candidates who would otherwise have little chance of winning. But it now comes with a catch: If voters know the money comes from an organization advocating on behalf of Israel, it can do more harm than good. AIPAC road-tested its stealth approach in a 2024 House primary in Oregon that pitted Susheela Jayapal, the sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), against physician Maxine Dexter. Dexter raised relatively little money throughout much of her campaign, then saw a last-minute deluge organized by AIPAC coupled with outside spending through super PACs, which themselves turned out to be funded by AIPAC.” (02/06/25)
“The opening chords of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Gimme Shelter’ wash over a drone shot of Mar-a-Lago. As the camera shifts to a set of black high heels and then tilts up to the once-and-future First Lady, Mick Jagger screams ‘War, children, It’s just a shot away. It’s just a shot away.’ This is not a typical moment in what’s come to pass for a documentary in 2025: an endless stream of brooding explanations of lefty issues or recreations of murders rubber stamped for Netflix with overwrought scores. … But it’s this naked, smug lefty do-gooderism that has eroded the documentary form for the last two decades …” (02/06/25)
“Liberated from a dictatorship 14 months ago, Syrians are struggling to unify their pivotal Middle East country. One example was an attack last month by the new government on an ethnic Kurdish area. A negotiated settlement has since calmed the region – a small step toward democracy – but it has also brought a fresh focus on an old problem: What to do with the former fighters of the Islamic State group and their families? While ISIS forces were decisively defeated in 2019 through a multinational effort, northeastern Syria is still home to pockets of former fighters – and more than 20 prison camps administered until now by Kurdish forces with U.S. support. Some governments and analysts worry that these camps are potential hotbeds for fomenting continued radicalism. Many of the estimated 50,000 prisoners are family members of ISIS fighters from Syria and Iraq.” (02/06/25)
“Federal immigration agents have abducted Eustaquio Orozco Verdusco, a workers’ rights organizer well known in Minnesota for fighting wage theft and labor trafficking. His attorney and son say he is currently held at the Cibola County Correctional Center in New Mexico, run by CoreCivic, one of the largest private prison companies in the United States. For the first time, his family is going to the press as community support for his release is swelling. All we care about is having him back with us, at home in Minnesota,’ his son, Gerardo Orozco Guzman, told me. ’That’s all we want.’ Our interview followed a judge’s ruling in the District Court of Minnesota on Wednesday that denied and dismissed Orozco Verdusco’s habeas corpus petition challenging his unlawful detention.” (02/06/25)
“A recent rise in anti-corruption movements in Europe has upended politics from Serbia to Bulgaria to Romania. Now, one of the continent’s most entrenched leaders, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary, faces a serious challenge this April in a parliamentary election that could be determined by what one commentator calls a public ‘yearning for integrity’. For the European Union, too, the stakes in the election are high. Mr. Orbán and his ruling populist conservative party, Fidesz, have often obstructed the 27-member bloc in helping Ukraine and countering Russia. The EU has also held back funds for Budapest over its shrinking rule of law. After nearly 16 years in power, Mr. Orbán has left Hungary with the lowest household living standards in the EU. The country of 9.6 million people has experienced three years of economic stagnation.” (02/03/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“There are, broadly speaking, two different types of people who are calling attention to the Epstein files right now: (A) those who hope the revelations lead to high-level prosecutions and major institutional changes in the US government, and (B) those who know this will never happen but hope the revelations will help radicalize people toward truly revolutionary politics. Those in category (A) believe the system is broken and needs to be fixed. Those in category (B) understand that the system is working exactly as intended and needs to be destroyed.” (02/05/25)
