“The Washington Post reportedly killed a $115,000 advertisement calling on President Trump to fire DOGE chief Elon Musk — sparking renewed outcry over censorship at the Jeff Bezos-owned publication. Advocacy group Common Cause wanted the anti-Musk wraparound ad, which would cover the front and back pages, to run this week, but it was scrapped without management providing a reason, according to the Hill. Common Cause, along with partner Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, had planned to spend $115,000 for both the wraparound ad and a similar full-page ad inside the paper, the outlet reported. ‘We are forced to ask ourselves if the Washington Post — a pillar of investigative journalism during Watergate — is unwilling to challenge those in power,’ Virginia Kase Solomón, president at Common Cause, told the New York Post in a statement.” (02/18/25)
“Guess what? The Trump administration’s much-criticized strategy to get Western Europe to do more to defend itself is working. President Trump smiled in the Oval Office as Robert F. Kennedy Jr was sworn in as secretary of Health and Human Services. Yes, Europe’s leaders were miffed that President Trump had a one-on-one call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week apparently without consulting them. And that he sent Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security adviser Mike Waltz and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff to to Saudi Arabia to discuss a possible deal to end the Ukraine war with their Russian counterparts — while not inviting them. Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told NATO members in Brussels, ‘Leaders of our European allies should take primary responsibility for defense of the continent.'” (02/17/25)
“Detained Britons Craig and Lindsay Foreman have been charged in Iran with espionage, the country’s judiciary news agency has said. Mr and Mrs Foreman were arrested in the city of Kerman in January but news of their detention, on unspecified security charges, emerged last week. Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said that the couple, both aged 52, had ‘entered Iran under the guise of tourists’ and ‘gathered information in multiple provinces of the country.’ The couple had been on a motorbike trip around the world and had planned to stay in Iran for five days before they were charged with espionage, or spying, by Iranian authorities. Mr and Mrs Foreman were heading for Australia on their journey across the globe and had crossed into Iran from Armenia on 30 December and were planning to be in Pakistan by 4 January.” (02/18/25)
“A California court ruled on Wednesday that the owner of a Bakersfield bakery violated state law when she refused to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple in 2017. A three-judge panel in the 5th Appellate District Court unanimously ruled that Cathy Miller’s policy of denying the cake was intentionally discriminatory, reinforcing that businesses cannot deny services based on sexual orientation under the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. The ruling overturned a 2022 decision by Kern County Judge Eric Bradshaw, who had found in Miller’s favor. … Eileen and Mireya Rodriguez-Del Rio, visited Tastries Bakery to purchase a cake for their wedding. They selected a predesigned white cake — one regularly sold for birthdays and baby showers — but Miller declined to sell it after learning it was for a same-sex marriage.” [editor’s note: So no special cake, just their ordinary predesigned one? Yep, book ’em, Danno! – SAT] [editor’s note: Such discrimination, while disgusting, should be perfectly legal – TLK] (02/18/25)
“On New Year’s Day, just hours after a man rammed his car into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans — killing 14 and injuring many others — images began circulating online of another attack: a Tesla Cybertruck parked in front of the lobby of the Las Vegas Trump Hotel, engulfed in flames. At first, the blast was interpreted as an attack on MAGA: a vehicle produced by right-wing centibillionaire Elon Musk, blown up in front of a hotel bearing the name of the president-elect. But far from targeting Donald Trump or his top fundraiser, the explosion — carried out by Green Beret Matthew Livelsberger in a plan hatched with the aid of ChatGPT — was a tribute, a 21st-century votive offering to the idea of sovereign men.” (02/18/25)
“The US State Department has dropped a statement from its website which stated that Washington does not support Taiwan’s independence — a move which has sparked anger in China. China said the revision ‘sends a wrong … signal to separatist forces advocating for Taiwan independence,’ and asked the US to ‘correct its mistakes.’ The department’s fact sheet on Taiwan-US relations earlier included the phrase ‘we do not support Taiwan independence’ — this was removed last week as part of what it said was a ‘routine’ update. A US spokesperson was quoted as saying that it remains committed to the ‘One China’ policy, it said, where US recognises and has formal ties with China rather than Taiwan. China sees self-governed Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be part of the country, and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve this.” (02/17/25)
“Last Friday, Vice President J.D. Vance shocked Europe with an impassioned address in defense of free speech and democratic choice. If Europe would not stop jailing speech offenders and pulling stunts like last year’s canceled Romanian election, it could no longer count on American support. CBS and Face the Nation anchor Margaret Brennan first went viral Sunday when she challenged Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying Vance in Munich ‘was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide’. But Brennan’s dingbat equation (speech=Hitler) was just an appetizer. Considering context, what the flagship show 60 Minutes rolled out last night was unique. It came across less like a news report than a political resolution sent home by a government-in-exile.” (02/17/25)
“A few years ago, I came across an old book at an estate sale. Its title caught my eye: ‘Our New Possessions’. Its cover featured the Statue of Liberty against stylized stars and stripes. What were those ‘new possessions’? The cover made it quite clear: Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. The subtitle made it even clearer: ‘A graphic account, descriptive and historical, of the tropic islands of the sea which have fallen under our sway, their cities, peoples, and commerce, natural resources and the opportunities they offer to Americans.’ What a mouthful! I’m still impressed with the notion that ‘tropical’ peoples falling ‘under our sway’ offered real Americans amazing opportunities, as did our (whoops — I meant their) lands. Consider that Manifest Destiny at its boldest, imperialism unapologetically being celebrated as a new basis for burgeoning American greatness.” (02/17/25)
“Americans these days don’t much like billionaires. Our ultra-rich, Americans overwhelmingly believe, aren’t paying enough in taxes. Polling earlier this month found that nearly three-quarters of the nation’s likeliest voters — 74 percent — feel billionaires are paying ‘too little’ at tax time. Just how concerned about billion-dollar fortunes have Americans become? Nearly half of us overall, Harris polling found last summer, would like to see a limit on ‘wealth accumulation’. Among Gen Z’ers, that support for limits on billionaire fortunes runs all the way up to 65 percent. ‘Billionaires’, some 58 percent of Americans agreed in that same Harris poll, ‘are becoming more like dictators.’ The share of Americans equating billionaires with dictators — given Elon Musk’s current dominant role in the new Trump White House — is most likely running even higher today.” (02/17/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“So Israel held a bunch of Palestinians in concentration camps without charge just for being Palestinian, and then they not only starved and tortured them but actually made them wear a Star of David on their prison garments. But remember kids, it’s evil and wrong to compare Israel to Nazi Germany — no matter how cartoonishly blatant they make the similarities. … According to an Israeli media report, last May IDF troops strapped explosives to the neck of an 80 year-old Palestinian man in Gaza and used him as a human shield for hours. They then shot and killed him and his wife. When the Gaza holocaust first started I used to read headlines like this and go ‘Holy shit that must be an exaggeration’, and then I’d read up on it and go ‘Fuck, nope, that’s exactly what happened!’ Now I read them and sigh and just sort of wilt inside.” (02/17/25)
