“US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to announce the firings of 20% of admirals and generals across the armed forces, according to US media. The announcement is anticipated Wednesday at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, adding to an earlier round of personnel cuts in 2025. There are over 800 active-duty generals and admirals across the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Force, according to the latest defence department tally. The last time Hegseth assembled military leaders at Quantico, in September 2025, he criticised the department as being ‘too woke’ and slammed its leaders for being out of shape, saying ‘fat generals and admirals’ is ‘a bad look’. Hegseth’s anticipated firings are the latest in a broader overhaul of the US military under his leadership, seeking to insert what he calls ‘a war fighter ethos’ into the defence department, including a rebrand, calling it the Department of War.” (09/30/26)
“Let me get this straight: Because President Trump launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran for the purpose of denying the mullahs access to a nuclear weapon (a red line that every U.S. politician has embraced in the past) and, because Americans are paying more for gasoline and diesel than they were a year ago, voters are now set to elect anti-U.S., anti-Israel candidates who want to destroy the economic system and institutions that have made the United States the strongest, most prosperous nation on earth. Did I get that wrong? Has Americans’ hatred of Donald Trump made them simple? Do they really think that Democrats like Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for a vacant Senate seat in Michigan, loves our country and aligns with our values?” (09/29/26)
“The U.S. military announced Wednesday that it completed the withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year mission to fight the Islamic State group and prompting President Donald Trump to hail the conclusion of ‘a very expensive excursion into Hell’. The last U.S. troops left an air base in northern Iraq under a deal between Baghdad and Washington. Trump, in a social media post, described the withdrawal by a Sept. 30 deadline as ‘orderly’. Appearing soon after at a White House event celebrating Hispanics, he spoke at length about the withdrawal and said, ‘It’s been a long time with very bad decision making that got us involved in this quagmire in the first place. It was a quagmire. For many, many years it lasted. But soon that part of history will be over.’ He said the shift was a victory for the U.S., Iraq and a sign of victory over the Islamic State group.” (09/30/26)
“The fragility of U.S. democracy is not an accident. Nor is it an inevitable product of our unfinished national slog toward freedom or proof of the inability of regular people to wisely govern their own affairs. It is instead the consequence of direct attacks on the architecture that makes any democratic system possible. Our supporting pillars are being chipped away, and if that is not stopped, the house will collapse. As anyone who has been forced into emergency home repairs knows, you have to do the necessary structural work before you do the other stuff. Your pretty paint job and new tile will not matter much when your house falls down. Our political system is the same. Our pursuit of affordability is nice, but it will be cold comfort if we fade into authoritarianism.” (09/30/26)
“Despite the recent surge in AI doomerism, President Donald Trump is right to maintain his strong support for data centers. As he notes: ‘China couldn’t be happier’ if we were to turn our backs on these centers as a nation, which would effectively let the Chinese Communist Party win the AI race. As Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in July, ‘The country that leads in artificial intelligence in the coming years and decades ahead will be the global superpower’. Victory means capturing trillions of dollars in national wealth, securing an advantage in military technology and gaining enormous leverage in international affairs. An energy bottleneck could pose a serious risk to America’s AI lead. We need data centers to train and run top-tier AI models, and those centers need a lot of electricity.” (09/29/26)
“Countries that try to stay impartial in international disputes are having a tough go these days. That’s also true for countries that serve as trusted interlocutors or simply provide safe venues for adversaries to talk. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine along with U.S. President Donald Trump’s high tariffs on friendly nations and his war with Iran have forced a reckoning of the meaning of diplomatic or military neutrality. On Sunday, the country that epitomized neutrality for centuries, Switzerland, added some clarity to its identity as an icon of evenhandedness. In a referendum, more than two-thirds of Swiss voters rejected a proposal to enshrine ‘perpetual and armed neutrality’ in the country’s constitution.” (09/28/26)
“Bringing his socialist economic chops to fix New York City’s stagnant-to-sluggish jobs growth, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new solution is to hire more government employees. His always-busy press office and Maoist ‘mass engagement’ cadres announced Monday a new Jobs NYC Center, a ‘hub connecting New Yorkers to careers in public service’. Citywide unemployment as of August was 4.8%, about a fifth higher than the national average of 4.1%. Mamdani’s hate-the-rich, capitalism bad rhetoric hasn’t helped: Finance — which provides the tax revenue to fuel Gotham’s lavish social spending — has been reducing jobs in the city for long decades; these days job growth in financial services comes almost exclusively in lower-tax, business-friendly cities and states. In the last year, the city added a measly 27,600 jobs to its private-sector workforce of 4.2 million — nearly all of them home-health aide work, which is mostly funded by Medicaid.” (09/29/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I hate it when people say humanity’s problems will be solved by ‘artificial superintelligence’ as though all we need to fix the cruelty and abusiveness in our world is an AI that is smarter than a human. … [Mark Zuckerberg] said the following in a statement titled ‘The Future is for Everyone — The Path to a Positive AI Future’: ‘In the next few years, people will be able to use superintelligence beyond human capacity to create and discover extraordinary new things, build new businesses, express new ideas, learn new concepts, and advance our health and quality of life. As we get closer to this moment, it is important to develop a philosophy for how we can best use superintelligence to ensure it improves all of our lives, work, communities, freedom and safety.'” (09/29/26)
“Yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito recused himself from one of the term’s most important cases: Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. As I have previously discussed, the case involving the liability of energy companies for nuisance actions tied to climate change could have sweeping implications for the country. Justice Alito should be commended for avoiding even the appearance of a personal interest or a conflict in the case. However, the controversy should prompt the Court to explore a longstanding problem for justices in holding financial interests that can conflict with their duties. The solution is simple: justices need to use blind trusts. Supreme Court Clerk Scott Harris released a letter revealing that Alito decided he ‘will not continue to participate’ in Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County.” (09/29/26)
“US President Donald Trump has ruled out any sort of joint venture with China in artificial intelligence (AI), arguing it would be tantamount to ‘giving away secrets’ to America’s main economic rival. Speaking at an event in Washington on Tuesday, Trump again argued against putting any restrictions on the technology that would stifle growth in the future, despite mounting public concern. Following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House last week, Beijing and Washington announced the launch of a new AI dialogue, with further talks scheduled for November. The two countries also established a new communications channel to prevent misunderstandings during AI-related incidents. During Tuesday’s event marking the launch of America.gov – a new AI-powered website designed to streamline government services – Trump argued the US is ‘leading by a lot’ in the AI sector and does not want to ‘mix it up’ with potential competitors.” (09/29/26)
