Source: In These Times
by Sarah Lazare & Lindsay Koshgarian
“If the immigration enforcement apparatus of the United States were its own national military, it would be the 13th most heavily funded in the world. This puts it higher than the national militaries of Poland, Italy, Australia, Canada, Turkey and Spain — and just below Israel. That bloated force is due to a massive funding increase in President Donald Trump’s budget bill that went into effect October 1, and it comes as Chicagoland faces an escalation of violence from ICE and other federal agencies. Agents are tear gassing and beating protesters, raiding and ransacking communities across the area, and detaining people at homeless shelters and hospitals. They are roaming the city and surrounding suburbs in masks, sometimes in plain clothes and unmarked cars, and other times — especially near protests — in armored vehicles, wearing the militarized, camouflage uniforms that are the hallmark of soldiers.” (10/05/25)
“The other day I sat, slack-jawed, reading Kamala Harris’[s] book — which was not easy to do with my eyeballs permanently rolled into the back of my head. … At one point, I even tried to imagine what America would be like today if this woke lawyer had actually won last year. Then it occurred to me that we already kind of know. We actually have a pretty good test case of exactly that: a center-left [sic] lawyer-politician coming to power last year after a massive immigration wave had discredited and ousted the previous incumbent. Enter Keir Starmer, my high school frenemy, and now prime minister. But unlike Harris, Starmer has at least shown signs of understanding his problem …” (10/03/25)
“Japan’s ruling conservative party has elected Sanae Takaichi as its new leader, positioning the 64-year-old to be Japan’s first female prime minister. Takaichi is among the more conservative candidates leaning to the ruling party’s right. A former government minister, TV host and avid heavy metal drummer, she is one of the best known figures in Japanese politics – and a controversial one at that. She faces many challenges, including contending with a sluggish economy and households struggling with relentless inflation and stagnant wages. She will also have to navigate a rocky US-Japan relationship and see through a tariff deal with the Trump administration agreed by the previous government. If confirmed as prime minister, one of Takaichi’s key challenges will be uniting the party after a turbulent few years which saw it rocked by scandals and internal conflicts.” (10/04/25)
“From Madagascar and Morocco to Peru this week, from Serbia and Kenya earlier this year to Indonesia and Nepal last month, youth across the globe are calling to account political and economic systems that are not working for them. Young adults in the United States aren’t taking to the streets in such dramatic fashion. But American Gen Zers – generally those between 13 to 28 years of age – are also questioning prevailing priorities and seeking alternative approaches to political and economic challenges. Sixty-one percent of young Americans do not identify with either the Republican or Democratic party, says the Institute for Citizens and Scholars. But they value dialogue with those they disagree with: More than 37% of Gen Z respondents find such conversations ‘interesting and informative,’ compared with only 22% of respondents nationally.” (10/03/25)
“A federal judge has temporarily blocked a new Trump administration policy to keep migrant children in detention after they turn 18, moving quickly to stop transfers to adult facilities that advocates said were scheduled for this weekend. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras on Saturday issued a temporary restraining order to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to not detain any child who came to the country alone and without permission in ICE adult detention facilities after they become an adult. The Washington, D.C., judge found that such automatic detention violates a court order he issued in 2021 barring such practices. ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond Saturday to emails seeking comment.” (10/04/25)
“It is hard to know what shocks eco-leftists more: that President Trump keeps his campaign promises or that their green gravy train is derailed. Let’s be honest — it’s both. On the campaign trail, President Trump promised he would end the Green New Scam. And now that he’s delivering, Democrats are crying because the taxpayer spigot has finally been shut off. Just this week, the administration canceled nearly $8 billion in so-called ‘clean energy’ grants, and the crocodile tears from the left are flowing like a river.” (10/04/25)
“The Trump administration plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Saturday. Pritzker said the guard received word from the Pentagon in the morning that the troops would be called up. He did not specify when or where they would be deployed, but President Donald Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago. ‘This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,’ Pritzker said in a statement. ‘It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.’ A spokesperson for the governor’s office said she could not provide additional details. The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to questions about Pritzker’s statement.” (10/04/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“British police report that one of the two fatalities in the Manchester synagogue attack was caused by gunfire from police. One of the reported injuries was also the result of a stray police bullet. So he killed one person. The Manchester synagogue attacker killed one single person and the entire western world stopped in its tracks to mourn and grieve and weep and denounce, on the same day that Israel killed at least 57 Palestinians and it was completely ignored by western politicians and media. … how many deaths would it have taken? How many Palestinians would have needed to be murdered for it to have risen to the level of interest and attention from western politicians, pundits, and news reporters that we saw them giving to the violent death of one western Jew?” (10/04/25)
“The government shutdown costs taxpayers $400 million every day to pay federal employees who are not actively working, totaling $1.2 billion as of Friday, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data published by the office of Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, estimates. … A law passed in 2019 requires furloughed employees receive backpay after a funding agreement is reached and a shutdown ends. The CBO found that the furloughed employees’ daily cost of compensation sits at about $400 million, or a total of $1.2 billion as of Friday.” (10/04/25)
“It was an action-packed week in America that ended with a government shutdown as Democrats and Republicans failed to arrive at a compromise on health care benefits. But despite what you heard from the mainstream media, that wasn’t the big health care story of the week. It was this: On Tuesday, the Trump administration reached a deal with Pfizer to lower the cost of drugs for Americans, reversing decades of unfair pricing in which American patients paid up to four times more than Europeans for drugs that were developed in our own country. Pfizer agreed not to launch new drugs at a higher price in the U.S. than in other wealthy countries. It also agreed to sell drugs to Medicaid at lower prices and to sell drugs at a discount to Americans without insurance.” (10/04/25)
