“In the months before the April 12, 1861, firing on Fort Sumter, there were lots of sharp divisions in the North about the proper reaction to the first seven Confederate states that had already left the Union. Not all Unionists believed that war was inevitable. Some, in fact, were happy to be done with the departing South and thus see their stain of slavery gone from the Union. Similarly, others agreed that the emerging Confederacy was not worth the trouble and costs of war, and the secessionists could just form their own nation and stew in their own backward, servile juice. But after Fort Sumter, Lincoln … gained a consensus that the Constitution had no clauses about any lawful departure from the Union. But it did operate under a clear supremacy clause that made state obstruction of federal law and occupation of federal property veritable sedition.” (02/02/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“‘Government X does bad things’ and ‘therefore the US should forcibly overthrow Government X’ are two completely different claims. Propagandists keep acting like they’re the same claim and like the second claim naturally follows the first, and I’m seeing far too many people accepting this manipulation without question. They are not the same claim. They’re entirely unrelated. It should not be necessary to explain this to grown adults, but here we are. Even if we accept as fact all the claims about how badly the US-targeted government is behaving, and even if we ignore the obvious fact that unilateral US regime change wars are against international law, there is still no valid reason to accept that a government doing bad things justifies US regime change interventionism.” (02/02/25)
“US President Donald Trump announced that he agreed to a trade deal with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the US will lower tariffs on goods from India to 18% from 25%. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said India will reduce trade barriers to zero and will also stop buying Russian oil. An additional 25% tariff penalty imposed for Delhi’s refusal to stop buying oil from Russia will be dropped. The announcement comes less than a week after India and the European Union announced a landmark trade deal that capped nearly two decades of on-off talks. Modi said on X that he is ‘delighted’ that an agreement with the US has been reached. In the post, Trump said that a morning phone call with Modi included discussions of trade and the Russia-Ukraine war.” (02/02/25)
“Last fall, when New York’s business community warned that the election of a self-described democratic socialist as mayor would trigger an assault on the city’s economic engine, we were waved off as hysterical. The press assured us that Zohran Mamdani was ‘evolving’, that his rhetoric would soften, that we should focus instead on his vague promises of ‘affordability’. That reassurance evaporated almost instantly. Barely two weeks after his swearing-in — amid lofty rhetoric about ‘the warmth of collectivism’ — the Mamdani administration unveiled its real agenda. Sam Levine, the newly installed commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and a veteran of Lina Khan’s Federal Trade Commission, released a sensational report accusing companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats of ‘diverting’ more than $500 million from delivery workers.” (02/02/25)
“There is a long tradition of painters depicting real people in their religious art, but the appearance in a Roman church of a cherub that bears a striking resemblance to Premier Giorgia Meloni has sparked a minor scandal for both church and state in Italy. The diocese of Rome and the Italian Culture Ministry both announced investigations into the recent renovations at the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, after photographs of the Meloni-esque cherub were published in Italian newspapers this weekend. Their swift and harsh reactions indicated little tolerance for the profane in a sacred place. The ruckus has given the basilica, already well known as one of the oldest churches in Rome, newfound celebrity status. It was jammed on Sunday and Monday with curiosity-seekers straining to photograph the angel in a side chapel up near the front altar, at times disrupting Mass.” (02/02/25)
“Police say no suspicious packages or devices have been located after a bomb threat was sent to schools in the Columbia Heights neighbourhood, a suburb of Minneapolis, on Monday. Multiple schools in the district, where a number of students have been abducted in recent weeks as part of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in Minnesota, were nonetheless forced to close for the day. Columbia Heights Public Schools said it closed the schools out of an abundance of caution following a credible threat. Classes will resume on Tuesday. The school closures come as protests against ICE continue in Minnesota and across the US. Among the students [abducted] by federal agents in the Columbia Heights district was five-year-old Liam Ramos. A photo of Ramos in a blue bunny-eared hat being held by ICE agents led to a national outcry.” (02/02/25)
“The Trump administration’s latest threat to impose secondary tariffs on any nation selling oil to Cuba represents a dramatic and catastrophic tightening of the six-decade-long, deliberate chokehold the United States has maintained on Cuba’s access to essential resources. This act of collective punishment against the Cuban people, for alleged crimes the US government has scarcely attempted to substantiate, will be felt across every aspect of daily life. According to Trump’s January 29 executive order, this latest escalation in economic warfare is framed as a response to the ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’ the Cuban government allegedly poses to US national security.” (02/02/25)
“France has adopted its delayed 2026 budget Monday, clearing the way for higher military spending promised by President Emmanuel Macron to confront threats linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Mideast conflicts. The adoption of the budget marks the final step of a monthslong, chaotic process that exposed deep divisions in the fractured Parliament, which proved unable to reach a compromise. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu ultimately opted to use his special constitutional power to pass the bill without a vote, surviving two no-confidence votes on Monday evening. Macron has vowed to increase defense spending to counter what he describes as a widening range of threats, from Russia and nuclear proliferation to terrorism and cyberattacks. France in December passed an emergency law to avoid a U.S.-style government shutdown, but only the full 2026 budget provides the military with the needed funding to build up forces.” (02/02/25)
“In a big blow to the Trump-deranged community, Melania Trump’s eponymous movie knocked the lights out on its opening weekend. It came in at No. 3 overall, and its $7 million box office take in three days is almost unheard of for a documentary. ‘Melania’ is crushing it on Rotten Tomatoes, too, with a 99% audience score on the ‘popcornometer’ easily besting the sneering critics’ 10% on the Tomatometer ratings. Like everything to do with Donald Trump’s two presidencies, whatever the leftist media’s opinion, the American public thinks the opposite. The inverse media-ometer is one of the most reliable gauges of public sentiment in this country.” (02/01/25)
“A Russian cargo plane typically used to transfer military equipment landed at a military airfield in Havana Sunday night, echoing flight patterns seen ahead of the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. The U.S.-sanctioned Ilyushin Il-76, operated by Russian state-linked airline Aviacon Zitotrans, was tracked landing at San Antonio de los Baños Airfield, a Cuban military installation roughly 30 miles south of Havana, according to public flight data. Flight-tracking records show the aircraft stopped in St. Petersburg and Sochi in Russia; Mauritania, Africa; and the Dominican Republic. Each landing would have required approval from host governments, offering a window into which countries are continuing to permit Russian military-linked aviation activity despite Western sanctions.
