“Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, in her recent USA Today and Newsweek opinion pieces, has worked hard to present herself as a champion of American farmers and a steward of healthier food options. Alongside Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., she spoke of the values these farmers embody (independence, grit, patriotism) and celebrated a $700 million regenerative agriculture initiative as proof that this administration is delivering for rural America. But if you pull back the curtain on Secretary Rollins and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the narrative changes. What looks like a bold vision for ‘regeneration’ quickly reveals itself as a political performance designed to distract from the USDA’s business-as-usual that props up industrial agriculture, not family farmers.” (12/23/25)
“Antisemitism is on the upswing in the United States and around the world. Although antisemitism has a long tradition on the European right, the communists under Stalin were also very antisemitic. That’s why so many Russian Jews immigrated to Israel. What is surprising is the recent increase in antisemitism on the progressive left – particularly on college campuses. The explanation, I believe, lies in ‘woke’ ideology. By one widely respected measure, America is the most individualistic country in the world. Geert Hofstede, who pioneered the study of the subject, defines individualism as ‘a cultural orientation in which people see themselves primarily as independent individuals rather than as members of tight, cohesive groups.’ They also see others that way. That undoubtedly explains why America is the most successful melting pot in the world.” (12/23/25)
“If you’re a little too online, you likely know that Marco Rubio as a teenager made extra cash working for his late brother-in-law Orlando Cicilia. The business imported and sold exotic animals as a front for moving nearly a half million pounds of cocaine and marijuana. It was later said, when kingpin Mario Tabraue became a main character on the monstrously popular documentary series Tiger King, that the cocaine was actually stuffed into the bodies of vipers and boa constrictors, though an 80-page indictment of the enterprise makes no mention of that, and Tabraue has been known to sue those who accuse him of animal cruelty. ‘I dealt to support my animal habit,’ Tabraue humbly told the Netflix documentarians about the drug ring that imported and distributed $79 million worth of drugs between 1976 and 1987. It was Rubio’s job, the current secretary of state wrote in his memoir, to clean the cages.” (12/23/25)
“Earlier this month, the Trump administration released its new National Security Strategy, or NSS. Normally, such documents are poor predictors of what’s likely to happen in the real world. They are more like branding tools that communicate the attitudes of a given administration while rarely offering a detailed or accurate picture of its likely policies. The reason documents like the NSS are of limited import is simple enough: foreign and military policies aren’t set by documents but by power and ideology. Typically enough, the current U.S. approach to the world flows from struggles among representatives of contending interest groups, some of which, like the military-industrial complex (MIC), have a significant advantage in the fight.” (12/21/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The dumbest thing we are being asked to believe today is that pro-Palestinian protests caused the Bondi shooting. It’s self-evidently moronic. No one sincerely believes it. They’re just pretending to believe it to get protests banned and criticism of Israel outlawed. Nobody actually believes pro-Palestine protests caused the Bondi shooting. They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state. Nobody actually believes ‘globalize the intifada’ means ‘kill all Jews.’ They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state. Nobody actually believes pro-Palestine demonstrations are ‘hate marches’ or that pro-Palestine speech is ‘hate speech.’ They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state.” (12/22/25)
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas JS Davies
“The United States has now intercepted multiple Venezuelan oil tankers as part of its escalating aggression against Venezuela, while also destroying dozens of small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific under the banner of ‘drug enforcement’, killing over 100 people whose identities the U.S. has obscured. At the same time, the Trump administration has threatened a naval blockade of Venezuela – a sovereign country with which the United States is not at war. How can Washington claim the right to seize or blow up vessels, disrupt maritime trade, and kill civilian boaters – while bombing Yemen and condemning its de facto Houthi government for intercepting ships in the Red Sea to counter Israel’s genocide in Gaza? This contrast exposes a stark double standard in U.S. policy.” (12/22/25)
“Attention high-school seniors: Deadlines are coming up! Polish your dream-college applications, hit send, and hope the admissions game isn’t rigged with ‘race proxies’! To stay ahead of the curve, consider including your ‘subjective social status’ — what’s good enough for the governor of California should be good enough for admissions officers. Education gatekeepers are always hunting for fresh metrics to cherry-pick students, especially after the Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard ruling banned racial preferences in college admissions. Some elite schools produced expected racial shifts post-SFFA, others amazingly kept racial proportions similar to pre-SFFA. Was this by feigning compliance using stealthier ‘socioeconomic status’ preferences? ‘Socioeconomic’ is deceptive. It sneaks in the term ‘economic’ to win over generous Americans who support helping those with genuine financial need. Then ‘socio’ takes over, shunting aside tax returns and bank statements apparently to favor racial outcomes.” (12/22/25)
“A federal judge on Monday questioned whether government officials could be trusted to follow orders barring them from taking Kilmar Abrego Garcia into immigration custody or deporting him. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis noted that Abrego Garcia was already deported without legal authority once and said she was ‘growing beyond impatient’ with government misrepresentations in her court. ‘Why should I give the respondents the benefit of the doubt?’ she asked, referring to the government attorneys. Abrego Garcia’s mistaken [sic] deportation and imprisonment in El Salvador in March has galvanized both sides of the immigration debate. The Trump administration initially fought efforts to bring him back to the U.S. but eventually complied after the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in. He returned to the U.S. in June, only to face an arrest warrant on human smuggling charges in Tennessee.” (12/22/25)
“The major artificial intelligence companies’ prime directive to literally bulldoze AI infrastructure into states with minimal regulation has produced citizen-led, bipartisan demands for local and national moratoriums on data center siting. While the Trump administration is doing everything it can to facilitate the only capital spending with a pulse in the economy, these calls for moratoriums are growing, and connecting with local successes in blocking data center construction. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) recently called for a national moratorium on the construction of data centers that are ‘powering this unregulated sprint to develop and deploy AI’. Sanders did credit ‘the transformative power of AI and robotics’ before calling out Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, and Bill Gates with a simple question: ‘Are these multibillionaires staying up nights worrying about what AI and robotics will do to the working families of our country and the world?'” (12/22/25)
“The US is immediately pausing leases for offshore wind energy projects currently being built near the Atlantic coastline, citing security concerns. In a statement, the Department of the Interior said it was pausing five large-sale projects to look into how windmills could interfere with radar and create other risks to east coast cities. President Donald Trump has long opposed wind energy, saying it is unreliable and drives up costs, and attempted to stop all projects when he returned to office. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said wind farms have no future in the US energy grid. Renewable energy companies, as well as state leaders, have expressed alarm over the administration’s stance.” (12/22/25)
