“Every time a Republican sneezed in the last decade there was a mob of Democrats there to protest it. Whenever a Republican called for an end to the genital mutilation of children or a Hamas terrorist murdered Jews somewhere, a gaggle of progressive goons tried to murder police officers, burn down a courthouse somewhere or call for the completion of Hitler’s work of wiping out the Jews. The rent-a-mob was always at the ready, with tents and signs ready to go and the ability to show up pretty much anywhere in the US at a moment’s notice. Where are they now? Isn’t it odd that the only ‘protests’, insofar as they can be called that, are happening in Washington, DC? New York City streets aren’t being marched down. Seattle isn’t burning. Neither Portland is under siege. Where are they? Well, I have a theory.” (02/13/25)
“Employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development asked a federal judge on Thursday to keep blocking an effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to pull all but a fraction of worldwide staffers off the job. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated by Trump, handed the administration and billionaire ally Elon Musk a setback last week by temporarily halting plans that would have put thousands of workers on leave and given those abroad only 30 days to return to the United States at government expense. Nichols’ order was set to expire by the end of the day. Two associations representing federal employees want him to continue it, as well as suspending Trump’s freeze on almost all foreign assistance. The president’s pause has shut down clinics, emergency water deliveries and almost all of the thousands of other U.S.-funded aid and development programs around the globe, USAID workers and humanitarian groups say.” (02/13/25)
“In bad times — and these are bad times — I call up the spirit of Willie. Willie has seen me through cancer, divorce, and deaths in the family. His memory has given me the courage and strength to push on when I wanted to give up and hide. Willie reminds me that, even at 87, I can take it, get back up, survive, sometimes even win. Willie was my bully. When I was 12, he beat me up or at least threatened to do so almost every day. Trump is my bully now. Even though I share the misery he spreads with millions of others, it somehow seems personal because he makes me feel so vulnerable, so hopeless, so at the end of my version of the American dream. And, of course, everything he does evokes Willie.” [editor’s note: These are getting more amusing each time; hello, Mr. Lipsyte … he cannot run again, and if you “dump” him, you just get Vance! – SAT] (02/13/25)
“It hasn’t gotten much attention, but one of Elon Musk’s major DOGE initiatives is a massive fire sale of federal office space. Despite forcing federal employees back to the office by abolishing telework programs, Musk and company want to unload a large number of unused properties and recoup that money for the budget, a process that could expand if worker purges continue. That theoretical win-win, however, will soon come into contact with the realities of commercial real estate markets, which are particularly depressed when it comes to the very type of inventory the government wants to sell. … It could lead to widespread defaults in financial securities linked to commercial mortgages. And if unchecked, that could lead to broader pain.” (02/13/25)
“China has floated a proposal to hold a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump to help end the Ukraine war, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Chinese officials in recent weeks have raised a proposal with the Trump team through intermediaries to hold a summit between the two leaders and to facilitate peacekeeping efforts after an eventual truce, according to people in Beijing and Washington cited by the newspaper. … The Kremlin had said Putin and Trump had agreed to meet, and Putin had invited Trump to visit Moscow. Trump said their first meeting would ‘probably’ take place soon in Saudi Arabia.” (02/13/25)
“Why aren’t we having more babies? This seems to be a persistent question without an easy answer. There’s a growing anxiety around global birth rates. Every couple of days, a new story breaks on the looming population collapse or the downward trajectory of fertility rates in an area. What do we blame? Is it feminism? The destruction of the family? The loss of religion? The economy? No one seems to know, but an essay by Guillaume Blanc published by Works in Progress last year makes a compelling case worth relaying. Blanc’s research focuses on France and shows that the country’s baby bust began in 1760, almost a century before other European nations. … Blanc makes the case that declining fertility in France is due not to economic forces but cultural ones.” (02/12/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“As we witness whatever’s going to happen with the highly jeopardized ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, I’d just like to make sure everyone’s aware that official Israeli sources have been telling the press that Israel was violating the ceasefire prior to the current standoff, and that Hamas was not. Following the announcement by Hamas that it would be delaying the release of Israeli hostages until numerous Israeli ceasefire violations have been addressed, Israeli news outlet Maariv reported that according to the IDF itself, Hamas has not been guilty of any ceasefire violations up to this point. Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah flagged on Twitter that according to Maariv, ‘the defense establishment and the IDF say that so far the terrorist organization has not violated the agreement, and therefore it is very doubtful whether Israel can take steps against Hamas at this stage.'” (02/12/25)
“President Trump has fired the top watchdog for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) — just as details resurfaced that the controversial agency had bankrolled the college education of an al Qaeda terrorist with ties to 9/11 hijackers. Paul Martin, who had served as the inspector general since 2023, was informed by a White House official via email Tuesday that his termination was ‘effective immediately.’ Martin wasn’t given a reason for his firing, a copy of the email shows. The White House wouldn’t comment on his termination. His dismissal came just one day after his office had published a report criticizing Trump’s call to freeze USAID funds …” (02/12/25)
“The entire media-Democrat complex spent years building panic over President Donald Trump being a dire threat to democracy, only to be embarrassed by the electorate who decisively chose the Terrible Threat over Kamala Harris. Now Trump is displaying the highest approval ratings of his political career, and voters are satisfied he’s acting on his campaign promises. Pretty much all his Cabinet picks are getting confirmed. So, what can this Panic Patrol do now? Just as judges and prosecutors were arrayed to stop Trump before he was elected again, a passel of mostly Democrat-appointed judges are getting in the way of his early executive actions designed to restrain government. The new media buzzwords are ‘constitutional crisis.’ In his ‘Reliable Sources’ newsletter, Brian Stelter was making a crazy quilt of quotes from all the anti-Trump forces.” (02/12/25)
“As President Donald Trump tests the limits of manufactured crisis and chaos, he claims a mandate from the American people. But his razor-thin electoral victory tells a different story. Voters didn’t ask for an illegal takeover of government offices, a freezing of funds for needed services, sending our immigrant neighbors to camps at Guantanamo, or aggression against our allies. Yes, we wanted change. But as multiple polls show, a clear majority were seeking relief from unaffordable prices, real economic hardship, and inequality, not an authoritarian takeover.” [editor’s note: Correct, but 77 million people did, so welcome to democracy! – SAT] [additional editor’s note: Those 77 million fell for different parts of the scam; it’s unlikely a majority fell for any particular piece of it – TLK] (02/12/25)
