Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“There are Polymarket ads in fortune cookies. / And pop-ups in our prayers. / There are paywalls on the monasteries, / and the monks are millionaires. / Well little Johnny’s gone to war. / He joined the McMarines. / The Iranians must be liberated / and blown to smithereens. / Light a candle in the chapel, John, / and pray to Western God, / and listen to the homily / the preacher wrote with Claude: / ‘Oh Western God, please guide our drones,’ the pious Johnny prayed. / ‘That we may safely bomb their schools / and turn their children gray.’ / The candle disappeared from sight / a minute into Johnny’s prayer, / and was replaced with hologram ads / for DraftKings and Wayfair.” (10/25/26)
“The current narrative would have you believe that higher education is a dying institution. Experts consistently claim that a four-year degree is no longer worth the investment, warning that artificial intelligence (AI) is on the verge of rendering human labor obsolete. The prevailing message dictates that machines will soon dominate the workforce, leaving the next generation with no viable career paths. But a recent Gallup poll reveals a contrasting reality. While public anxiety is high, the job market tells a different story. According to a recent Gallup study, a staggering 80% of employers prefer to hire candidates with a college degree, even for roles that do not explicitly require one. Furthermore, six in 10 employers express a high level of confidence in higher education. While public trust in institutions has undeniably plummeted, the people actually handing out paychecks still find immense value in the university system.” (10/24/26)
“Multiple annual measures of political openness and the rule of law have found both in global decline in recent years. The latest Rule of Law Index, released by the World Justice Project (WJP) Wednesday, underscores this democratic recession. As checks and balances on governments have weakened, authoritarianism has ‘become entrenched’, the nonprofit noted. This, in turn, has constricted freedom of expression, association, and civic participation in about two-thirds of the 143 countries assessed. But there are also positive glimmers: The share of countries registering decline dropped from 68% in 2025 to 62% this year. And access to and affordability of civil justice have improved. Perhaps more significant, the WJP’s findings reaffirm the robust link between transparent, consistent rule of law and a key dimension of citizen well-being – economic prosperity.” (10/23/26)
“The English say all bad ideas come from France, but that is unfair to the Germans. The scenes of riot and destruction from France may arise from our Gallic friends’ particular circumstances and peculiar habits, but they reflect Europe’s general malaise — one to which the United States is not immune. The ‘French intifada’ is overthrowing the icons of France. The images are as memorable as the menu at Maxim’s restaurant. A statue of Joan of Arc is defiled with the Palestinian flag. A bust of Marianne, the icon of the French Revolution, is cast to the ground in the trashed city hall of Marseilles. The 19th-century town hall of Limoges goes up in flames. The statistics are as stunning as Maxim’s prices.” (10/24/26)
“Unknown gunmen have raided a remote village in the northeast Nigerian state of Taraba, killing at least 10 people, looting shops and setting houses ablaze, police say. There are fears the actual death toll is much higher, with eyewitnesses speaking of 20 lives lost and a non-governmental organisation suggesting a toll of as many as 50. The gunmen reportedly swooped on the village of Binnari in the Karim Lamido area mounted on motorcycles just after midday Muslim prayers on Friday in a rampage that went on for up to four hours. Police say they are searching for other casualties in the bush but the authorities were accused by Amnesty International of failing to protect rural communities. Nigeria continues to face attacks by armed groups across several regions, including the northwest, northeast and central regions.” (10/24/26)
“Two people have been pulled alive from the rubble of a building that collapsed in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Friday, as a search continues for five still missing. Police said on Saturday that a manhunt had been launched for the building’s owner and the contractor responsible for the site. Dramatic footage shows the bottom floor of the block, thought to have been 16 or 18 stories, giving way before the rest of the building crumples, sending a plume of dust into the surrounding streets. Dozens of builders had been working on the upper floors when it collapsed, but managed to emerge largely unscathed. Those missing were thought to have been in shops at the base of the building. The incident has raised fresh concerns about construction standards and regulations in Kenya.” (10/24/26)
Source: Center for International Policy
by Sina Toossi
“The war between the United States and Iran persists in a dangerous strategic stalemate. As Washington maintains a punishing economic and maritime blockade, Tehran continues to restrict passage through the Strait of Hormuz, imposing mounting costs on the United States, its allies, and the global economy. Neither side appears prepared to concede. The Pentagon is sending a third aircraft carrier strike group to the region, while the Trump administration is reportedly considering strikes against Iranian nuclear and energy infrastructure, potentially using the GBU-43/B bomb, known as ‘the mother of all bombs’. Both moves support the possibility of the United States attempting to break this stalemate through force. Iran, meanwhile, has in recent weeks intensified attacks on commercial vessels attempting to transit Hormuz outside its designated route, with strikes becoming more frequent and destructive. Washington appears to be continuing to misread the Iran it is confronting.” (10/24/26)
“I know a lot of people, all of whom dated around before finding the person they eventually married. Every single one of them, to a person, knows for certain whether or not the people they dated were related to them. No ambiguity, no open question, no qualifiers on their answer – they knew whether or not they’d been fishing off the family pier. That question, however, gets murky for some… apparently. Where most people could definitively say they’d never picked anyone up at Thanksgiving dinner, many Democrats have to think about it, and some still do not know. Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar, representing Mogadishu, is one such person.” (10/24/26)
“El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele on Saturday denied that human remains handed over to his military teams at Haiti ’s airport were the bodies of the four Salvadorans reported missing after coming under attack by gangs on Oct. 18. An official with El Salvador ’s government, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, confirmed that the bodies found were not those of the missing aviation technicians. The four missing Salvadorans are members of a gang suppression force established by the U.N. Security Council to combat organized crime in the Caribbean nation. Bukele has clarified that the Salvadorans are aviation technicians, not troops trained for combat.” (10/24/26)
“‘I am trying to figure out the way to do this’. Those words from MS NOW’s Chris Hayes say all you need to know (and likely all you will get) from his interview on Wednesday with Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. There is a litany of questions the liberal host never asked of Omar. Those questions have only increased over the years, leading to the current criminal investigation into immigration fraud. At points, Hayes sounded more like a supplicant than a journalist given his discomfort with asking pressing questions. The interview had the journalistic nutritional content of a Slurpee that would give any liberal a sugar high and any non-liberal a stomachache.” (10/24/26)
