“Officials in the Biden administration are taking credit for creating conditions in Syria that enabled opposition forces to overthrow the Syrian government. Now that opposition forces have ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, administration officials are insisting that longstanding U.S. policies, including actions taken by the Biden administration against Assad’s supporters, made the overthrow of the Syrian government possible. Administration officials deny that they aided Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the U.S.-designated terrorist organization that led the drive to overthrow Assad, but they insist that they facilitated the opposition’s victory, citing years of U.S. efforts to empower the opposition and weaken the Syrian government. Just as U.S. officials have claimed, the United States played a central role in creating the conditions that led to Assad’s ouster.” (12/18/24)
“Everyone’s blaming health insurance company greed for soaring costs, rising claims denials and daunting roadblocks to care. That’s naïve. Follow the money to find the real culprits: lying politicians. In 2013, before Affordable Care Act regulations kicked in, insurers denied roughly 1.5% of claims, according to the American Medical Association. But under ACA rules, denials increased tenfold. Now nearly 15% of claims are denied, reports Premier, an insurance consultant firm. Some insurers deny a third or more of claims, according to Kaiser Family Foundation research. Insurers are also increasingly demanding pre-authorizations for a wide range of treatments and medications, tying your doctor’s hands and in some cases dangerously delaying care. Your doctor has to call the insurer before beginning treatment or ordering a medication — and seldom is the person on the other end of the phone a specialist in the disease or treatment in question.” (12/17/24)
“gA roup of student loan borrowers aged 50 and up traveled from around the country to Washington, D.C., on December 11, setting up rocking chairs outside the Department of Education. Dressed in ponchos and beanies to protect against the frigid rain, they passed out cross-stitch kits and signs reading ’Knit-In for Debt Cancellation,’ sharing their personal debt stories amidst chants of ‘Biden, don’t forget, cancel student debt.’ These protesters are all members of the Debt Collective, the first union of debtors in the country, and they came to Washington with a message for President Joe Biden: Cancel student debt for borrowers over 50 years old before Donald Trump takes office in January.” [editor’s note: If their debt is so crippling, how did they afford that travel? – TLK] (12/16/24)
“Gaza, Haiti, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, and Venezuela: President-elect Donald Trump will face no shortage of foreign-policy challenges when he assumes office in January. None, however, comes close to China in scope, scale, or complexity. No other country has the capacity to resist his predictable antagonism with the same degree of strength and tenacity, and none arouses more hostility and outrage among MAGA Republicans. In short, China is guaranteed to put President Trump in a difficult bind the second time around: he can either choose to cut deals with Beijing and risk being branded an appeaser by the China hawks in his party, or he can punish and further encircle Beijing, risking a potentially violent clash and possibly even nuclear escalation.” (12/17/24)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Billionaire Peter Thiel had a fascinating televised moment the other day when asked by Piers Morgan what he thought about the public making a hero of the man suspected of murdering health insurance CEO Brian Thompson. The way he stumbled and stuttered when trying to answer the question gives a lot of insight into how terrified such people are of the public turning against them one day. ‘And to those who think this shooter is a hero, because he did it because he said this healthcare executive is presiding over a healthcare system which kills thousands of Americans by denying them cover, what would you say to them?’ Morgan asked. Thiel paused for a long time, and then stuttered for a long time …” (12/17/24)
“Officials in Texas say they are preparing to buy and store border wall materials being auctioned off by the federal government and keep them in place until the Trump administration takes office in January. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick reacted to reports of continued auctions of border wall materials that have been left near the border after the sudden stop of border wall construction in 2021. ‘I will bid on all of that wall, and we will buy it in Texas, and we will give it to Donald Trump,’ Patrick said on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’ ‘I’ve got a billion dollars in my pocket to do it,’ he said. His comments were supported by Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, who said she is ‘fully prepared’ to help in the effort..” (12/17/24)
“I have been following the rise of WNBA star Caitlin Clark since her Iowa University days. I am a hoops man myself and I’ve seen so many flashes in the pan, but I knew there was something different, something solid about Clark from the get-go. In her eyes and in the hustle of her game, I could see that she had that determin[ation], that no-quit factor that the greats have. There are others with more talent but not that killer instinct. She has both and that’s what makes her so dynamic to watch — her basketball charisma is undeniable. That is why I was disappointed to hear her tell Time magazine after winning the ‘Athlete of the Year’ that she benefits from [w]hite privilege. The magazine quotes Clark saying: ‘I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege.'” (12/17/24)
“U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday derided those of his colleagues who claim it’s too expensive for the federal government to take ambitious action on national crises in housing and healthcare while simultaneously supporting a military budget that’s approaching $1 trillion a year. ‘I find it amusing that any time we come to the floor and members point out that we have a housing crisis, that we have some 600 million Americans who are homeless, that we have millions and millions of people in this country spending 40, 50, 60% of their limited incomes on housing and that we need to invest in low-income and affordable housing, what I hear is, ‘We don’t have the money!” Sanders (I-Vt.) said on the floor of the Senate.” (12/17/24)
“The election of former President Donald Trump to another term as U.S. president has been cause for profound despair among millions of Democratic voters. Certainly anyone who cares about human and democratic rights can only feel dismay about the return of this notorious megalomaniac to the White House. But worse than the election results is another deflating reality. Neither major party candidate represented a challenge to U.S. complicity in Israel’s horrific war on the people and land of Gaza. The presidential election proved to be a choice between two electable candidates, manifestly different on the surface, yet neither of whom was capable of taking a principled stand against the worst crime imaginable: genocide. Consider that reality for a moment.” (12/17/24)
“The founder of the feared Los Zetas drugs cartel has been deported to Mexico after serving a lengthy jail sentence in the United States. Osiel Cardenas Guillen, 57, led Los Zetas until 2003, when he was cornered by Mexican soldiers near his hometown of Matamoros. Under his leadership, the group became one of the most powerful and brutal hit squads in the Mexican drug wars. US immigration officials handed Cardenas over to Mexican police at the Otay border crossing, where he was quickly re-arrested and taken to El Altiplano maximum security jail in Mexico state. Mexican prosecutors said he had been arrested on charges of murder and organised crime dating back to his time as one of the most powerful drug lords in Mexico.” (12/17/24)
