“The best show in Washington this week, free to watch, was the White House’s briefing for ‘new media.’ On three separate days, Karoline Leavitt chased her ordinary press conference with one for conservative influencers and streamers. Some of the questions were about Ukraine negotiations, and family-friendly policies the president might support. Some other questions focused on vengeance. … Revenge has been the great deliverable of the president’s first 100 days in office. No modern president had worked so quickly to knock out the foundations from left-wing [sic] institutions, which the influencers appreciated. A year after he said he’d be ‘too busy for retribution,’ at a time when his campaign worried that voters didn’t want him to focus on retribution, he had done plenty.” (05/02/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The empire’s war on free speech continues as a New Jersey judge rules that Khalil may take to the federal courts to fight the Trump administration’s efforts to deport him for criticizing the state of Israel. Khalil’s wife, a US citizen, gave birth to their son last week without her husband by her side after the Department of Homeland Security denied the family’s request to let him attend the birth. Mahmoud Khalil has become the face of the western empire’s frenetic attempts to silence all criticism of Israel throughout the western world. I have said it before and I will say it here again: there is no greater threat to free speech in our society today than Israel and its western backers.” (05/03/25)
“As we suffer through the DOGE attack on the American government, we are being made all too aware of the right-wing critique of the ‘deep state.’ This critique has been around since the 1930s, and was re-inserted into the culture by Ronald Reagan in 1986 when he said, ‘the nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’’ It has been vastly amplified by Donald Trump and echoed now by Elon Musk: according to them, we are being ruled by ‘unelected bureaucrats’ who have escaped the control of democratically-elected leaders and are implementing a left-wing agenda. The attack on the federal bureaucracy was not, however, a fever dream that came only from conservatives.” (05/03/25)
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Logan Marie Glitterbomb
“Lately I’ve been getting some very interesting social media ads. While I normally ignore social media ads (even going as far as to habitually block most of them), these two had me intrigued, so I took note of the brands so I could research more about them later. Turns out I’m really glad I eventually looked into them because they were both Palestinian-owned businesses that donate profits to Palestine.” (05/03/25)
“Hot disputes between nations over cross-border water have lately spouted like geysers. In January, President Donald Trump said he wanted to end agreements with Canada on sharing the Great Lakes. And after months of fraught discussions, he just settled with Mexico on allocations of river flows under a 1940s accord. In recent days, India suspended a water-sharing treaty with Pakistan after an attack in disputed territory; their decades-long agreement was obsolete anyway because of climate change and population changes. And next year, a 30-year pact on South Asia’s other major riparian system, the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin, will expire if not rapidly renegotiated. Are these examples of contention and divergence over fresh water now the norm in the world? ‘Contrary to popular belief,’ stated the Stockholm International Water Institute, ‘water scarcity has so far tended to unleash cooperation rather than conflict.'” (05/02/25)
“Stock markets plunged for days after President Donald Trump announced steep tariffs on imports from around the world. The sell-off ebbed only when he suspended most, but not all, of the new measures for 90 days. The ticker tape is just one indicator of an economy, and other signs are growing more and more ominous — including at the Port of Los Angeles, where high tariffs on China are crushing maritime traffic. ‘Essentially all shipments out of China for major retailers and manufacturers have ceased,’ Eugene Seroka, the executive director of the port, said on April 24. Trump views tariffs as essential to rebuilding the manufacturing economy that the United States once had. But his erratic tariff announcements have badly disrupted the economy that the country has today, and that pain is already being felt in the world of logistics.” (05/03/25)
Source: Brennan Center for Justice
by Elizabeth Goitein & Joseph Nunn
“U.S. President Donald Trump has turned a 60-foot-wide strip of federal land that spans three states on the southern border into a ‘military installation’ to ‘address the emergency’ he previously declared over unlawful immigration and drug trafficking. Trump’s memo authorizing this action seems designed to sidestep the Posse Comitatus Act, which normally bars federal armed forces from conducting domestic law enforcement. The apparent plan is to let the military act as a de facto border police force, with soldiers apprehending, searching, and detaining people who cross the border unlawfully. This move could have alarming implications for democratic freedoms. Moreover, it continues a pattern of the president stretching his emergency powers past their limits to usurp the role of Congress and bypass legal rights. He has misused a law meant to address economic emergencies to set tariffs on every country in the world.” (05/03/25)
“For almost 300 years, America has cultivated the metaphor of a shining city on a hill to describe how a righteous society is a beacon for a better life – but the same light casts that city under a glare, exposing its defects. The image comes from Jesus speaking to his followers in the Book of Matthew (5:14), ‘You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.’ … The image of a shining city on a hill encapsulates the optimistic vision that free, open societies will thrive and spread as the world converts to liberal democracy. But it comes with a warning: The same torch that beckons the huddled masses toward Lady Liberty also illuminates the shame of liberal democracies that betray their values.” (05/03/25)
“In the early hours of May 2, the quiet of night was shattered aboard the Conscience, a civilian vessel anchored in international waters, 17 kilometers off the coast of Malta. Aboard were 18 crew members and passengers, jolted from sleep by the sound of two explosions. Flames and smoke filled the air. The ship had just been struck—by what the crew members say were drone attacks. The very day of the attack, more passengers from 21 countries were waiting in Malta to be ferried out to join the Conscience. Among those slated to join the ship were world-renowned environmentalist Greta Thunberg, retired U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright, and longtime CODEPINK activist Tighe Barry. The Conscience is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a network of international activists that has been challenging Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza since 2008.” (05/02/25)
