Source: Common Dreams
by Jamie Beran & Rabbi Jill Jacobs
“When thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents invaded Minneapolis this past January, Twin Cities residents, and people across the country, jumped into action, trailing these agents, organizing major protests, and dropping off food and supplies to those understandably afraid to leave their homes. Both of our organizations, too, took action. Bend the Arc: Jewish Action leadership traveled to join a clergy day of protest alongside close partners in Minneapolis, and T’ruah sent some 50 rabbis to support dozens of their colleagues who live and work there. Lay people and clergy alike similarly stepped up in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and other cities targeted by major Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Minnesotans successfully diminished the massive ICE takeover of their city. This is a testament to the power of citizen organizing and action.” (05/13/26)
“One gauge of a society’s level of interpersonal trust lies in how much the central government shares power – with local authorities, courts, private citizen groups, and others. For the last 16 years in Hungary, such trust has been evaporating. An increasingly authoritarian leader, Viktor Orbán, had been centralizing power and creating ‘us versus them’ polarization around often-fabricated issues. On Saturday, all that changed with the swearing-in of a new prime minister, Péter Magyar. His broad-tent Tisza party won big in elections a month ago. In his inaugural speech, Mr. Magyar pledged not to rule over Hungary but to ‘serve’ it – through reconciliation, inclusiveness, and democratic renewal. ‘We are going to remake the constitutional system so that such a concentration of power can never happen again,’ he declared.” (05/11/26)
“After British troops had beaten German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s tank forces at the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt on November 4, 1942, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared, ‘This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.’ The same might now be said about humanity’s struggle to defeat the dire threat of global climate change caused by our never-ending burning of fossil fuels. The illegal war of aggression on Iran, abruptly launched on February 28, 2026, by the governments of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump, has indeed provoked a global energy crisis of a unique kind.” (05/12/26)
“Virginia Democrats are doing an unwitting service to the whole country, by revealing just how hostile their party is to the most essential checks and balances. Democrats violated the state’s constitution by pushing through a referendum to take four House seats away from Republicans. But when Virginia’s Supreme Court threw out the illegal map, Democrats didn’t back down: They started thinking of ways to get rid of every justice on the court, so they could pack it with new ones expressly picked to return a verdict more favorable to the party. If the Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature could drop the existing mandatory judicial retirement age from the current 73 all the way down to 54, every justice on the bench could be removed and replaced by compliant partisans.” (05/12/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The Israeli government is currently accusing The New York Times of antisemitic blood libel for publishing a report on Israel’s already well-documented systemic rape of Palestinian prisoners. Contrary to popular belief, the highest award in journalism is not the Pulitzer. The highest award in all of journalism is being accused of antisemitism by the Israeli government for factual reporting. But the New York Times is unworthy of this award. The Times has been running cover for the Gaza holocaust from the very beginning with extensively documented biases in its reporting, and played a leading role in promoting the atrocity propaganda about mass rapes on October 7. Israel’s abuses were actively facilitated by the New York Times, including its systemic sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners.” (05/12/26)
“It almost seems impossible, and I wouldn’t believe it if didn’t see it with my own eyes, but through the miracle of ‘new math’ and the sheer stupidity of the ABC News product ‘The View,’ it is not possible to bring five human beings together and make their collective IQ less than the sum of their individual IQs. How can people coming together be dumber collectively than individually? Skill, I have to assume, and really trying. I say trying because all the ladies on The View are so dumb that they have to be trying, like the whole show is some sort of dare. The end result is a show that makes its audience dumber: a cultural cancer on the country.” (05/12/26)
“The US has been holding regular negotiations with Denmark to expand its military presence in Greenland, according to multiple officials familiar with the discussions, with talks between both sides progressing in recent months. US officials are seeking to open three new bases in the south of the territory, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark, as they work to resolve a diplomatic crisis sparked by President Donald Trump when he threatened to seize Greenland by force. Trump said in January that the US should ‘own’ Greenland to prevent Russia or China from taking it. He said this could happen ‘the easy way or the hard way.’ The White House confirmed the administration was engaged in high-level talks with Greenland and Denmark, but declined to comment on details of the negotiations.” (05/12/26)
“A leading people smuggler, whose network is believed to be responsible for the majority of illegal cross-Channel journeys in recent years, has been unmasked by a BBC investigation. The 28-year-old Iraqi Kurd has evaded arrest for several years by operating under the alias ‘Kardo Ranya.’ He has kept his real name a closely guarded secret, which has frustrated law enforcement agencies in their efforts to issue an international warrant for his arrest. … using contacts in the smuggling world, my colleague Rob Lawrie and I were able to follow a trail from migrant camps on the northern French coast, all the way to Iraqi Kurdistan, obtaining Kardo Ranya’s real identity and details, and ultimately confronting him.” (05/12/26)
“The war launched by Israel and the United States on Iran on February 28 has already proven a turning point in world history. So many elements of geopolitics have coalesced in it that we won’t understand its full significance for some time to come. A ceasefire, especially one as chaotic and fragile as this one, is not the end of war, so the new realities may soon be replaced by others. But safe to say that none of the countries of the regions directly impacted by this war so far (from the Levant and the Persian Gulf all the way to South Asia, and of course the United States and Israel) will be able to return to the status quo antebellum.” (05/12/26)
“Kuwait accused Iran of launching a failed attack earlier this month on an island where China is helping build a port in the Middle East nation. The accusation brought Tuesday came just before U.S. President Donald Trump was to depart for Beijing where he’ll meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a high-stakes visit over the war and other issues. Iran didn’t immediately acknowledge the allegation by Kuwait, which came under attack by Iran in the war and during the shaky ceasefire still holding in the region. But that allegation and ongoing attacks throughout the region have threatened to reignite open warfare. The narrow Strait of Hormuz remains in Iran’s chokehold, the U.S. is maintaining a blockade against Iran and negotiations between the two countries appear at a standstill.” (05/12/26)
