“Japan has implemented a five-fold increase to visa fees for all foreigners, marking the first price hike in nearly 50 years. From 1 July, single-entry visa fees will be raised from the current 3,000 yen ($18.69; £14) to 15,000 yen, while multi-entry visas will now cost 30,000 yen, up from 6,000 yen. The visa fee revisions – the first since 1978 – were made to ‘reflect inflation and exchange rate fluctuations,’ Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters on Friday. ‘We do not anticipate that it will have an immediate impact on inbound tourism,’ he added. The Japanese yen has been weakening continually since 2021, and is now hovering near historic 40-year lows. This, along with a post-pandemic travel rebound, has led to a surge in tourists to Japan. The country welcomed a record 42.7m international tourists last year.” (06/22/26)
“If news reports are accurate, by the time you read this, Keir Starmer may no longer be the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Depending on the source, he has either decided to resign or is seriously considering it. In any case, the events in Britain over the last few weeks—the murder, enabled by the police, of Henry Nowak by the Sikh Vickrum Digwa; the attempted beheading of a man in Belfast by a Muslim immigrant; the release of a report on the systematic and protracted rape of young women and girls by Muslim ‘grooming gangs;’ the subsequent (and understandable) renewal of unrest over largely unchecked immigration; and the government’s increased efforts to limit and control speech—have likely doomed Starmer and the Labour Party, making it impossible for them to maintain or regain the trust of the people. None of this should really surprise anyone.” (06/22/26)
“Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an evil empire and meant it. He didn’t hedge, qualify, or wait for a focus group. He built the military, stationed Pershing missiles in Europe over fierce opposition, and helped accelerate the collapse of a system that had enslaved hundreds of millions. On American movie screens, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Sylvester Stallone played men who took responsibility, absorbed punishment, and didn’t apologize for their convictions. That wasn’t mere entertainment. It was a cultural argument, and it was winning. I arrived in California in 1990. The economy was thriving, the Republican Party was still competitive, and the state had a future worth arguing about. Thirty-five years of one-party rule later, California’s own Department of Finance confirms a net domestic loss of 216,000 residents in the year ending July 2025 alone — dead last in U-Haul’s outbound migration index for the sixth consecutive year.” (06/22/26)
“At least 13 people have been killed and 66 injured after an explosion at Qatar’s largest gas facility. The city’s main liquified natural gas (LNG) processing site suffered ‘a technical accident’ in Ras Laffan industrial zone on Sunday night, the interior ministry said, with the city’s skyline turning orange because of the explosion. Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said the explosion would not affect the country’s exports, adding ‘this was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature’. The Ras Laffan Port is the largest artificial harbour in the world and has the world’s largest LNG export facility. It was targeted by Iranian strikes earlier this year. The blast on Sunday rattled windows and was felt across central Doha, panicking residents more than 70km (43 miles) from Ras Laffan.” (06/22/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“A spirituality that is uninterested in ending war, genocide, poverty and injustice is a dead spirituality. If you hold your time on the meditation cushion as something separate from the weeping mother clutching a small body in Lebanon, you’re wasting your time. Sometimes I get asked why I only occasionally write about ‘spiritual’ matters like awakening, egoic delusion, inner work etc, but from my point of view everything I write is about that stuff. To oppose the injustices and abuses of our world is to directly interface with the mechanisms of humanity’s struggle to become a conscious species. The overwhelming majority of what people call ‘spirituality’ in our society is really just glorified escapism. It’s about avoiding reality by focusing on good vibes, nice feelings, and comforting stories about the nature of the cosmos.” (06/22/26)
“America should continue to lead the world in clinical research and medical innovation. Instead, we are losing ground. A recent study found that China now conducts more early-stage clinical trials than the United States. In 2025, Chinese companies accounted for nearly half of global pharmaceutical licensing deal activity. Those trends should concern every American. For nearly 80 years, clinical trials have driven medical progress. They transform scientific discoveries into treatments that save lives. They establish whether new therapies are safe and effective. They generate the evidence that physicians, patients and regulators use to make decisions. But clinical trials do more than generate evidence. They attract investment, scientific talent and the infrastructure that supports future innovation. When clinical research moves overseas, those advantages often move with it.” (06/22/26)
“US President Donald Trump says he has ‘inspected’ the Reflecting Pool in Washington DC, and that ‘work will begin immediately’ to repair the American landmark. Despite a recent multi-million dollar renovation, including a fresh coat of blue paint, the historic structure continues to face issues – most prominently algae turning the water a bright shade of green. The pool may need to be drained and refilled for a second time this month, according to Trump, who flew over the site in a helicopter on Sunday while on his way back from Camp David. It comes as Trump claims the pool’s paint has been marred by vandals ahead of the 250th anniversary of the country’s 4 July independence day. US Attorney for Washington DC Jeanine Pirro has vowed to aggressively prosecute anyone found to have damaged the pool.” (06/22/26)
“That subhead of mine is certainly repetitive of me (me, me), but how can you not be repetitive in the distinctly repeated world of Donald J. Trump (Trumped, Trumped)? I mean, twice already and who really knows what’s to come? Here’s the question nobody seems to be asking right now, though: What country will Donald Trump attack next? Yes, at the moment, he’s still wildly wound up in his Iran war/truce/peace/or you name it (tomorrow). Yesterday, it was, of course, Venezuela, and next week it might be Cuba or Greenland, or who on (or off) this planet knows where? … who knows what I’ve forgotten or what to expect in this increasingly bizarre world of ours from the president who swore repeatedly in his third election campaign that he would never, never, never go to… yes, of course, war?” (06/22/26)
“A former federal inspector general has been sniping at President Donald Trump’s approach to rooting out government fraud — but his complaints sound less like a serious defense of oversight and more like a bitter kiss-off from a spurned ex-bureaucrat. ‘The watchdogs have crossed a dangerous line,’ Mark Greenblatt intoned in the Daily Beast. They’ve become lapdogs: ‘MAGA lapdogs,’ as his headline put it. He’s furious that my inspector general colleagues and I are joining the wide-ranging effort, led by Vice President JD Vance, to crack down on the fraud that’s looting our national treasury. Greenblatt’s argument rests on a flawed premise: He claims that supporting such a mission somehow prevents an inspector general from conducting independent oversight. That’s nonsense.” (06/22/26)
“Kenya’s Health Minister Aden Duale was found in contempt of court on Monday for failing to halt the construction of an Ebola quarantine facility intended for Americans, despite existing court orders. The High Court ordered Duale to appear on Tuesday for sentencing. Earlier this month, the minister defended the project, arguing that the facility at the Laikipia Air Base would benefit both Kenyans and international partners. The court had previously directed the government to suspend construction of the facility pending the hearing of a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya and the Katiba Institute, a constitutional watchdog. The petitioners argued that Kenya’s healthcare system is already overstretched and may be unable to manage foreign Ebola patients safely. Residents living near Laikipia Air Base reported seeing U.S. military aircraft landing after the court issued its suspension order on May 29.” (06/22/26)
