“The decision to block U.S. Steel’s acquisition by Nippon Steel is the perfect coda to President Joe Biden’s political career. By intervening in the private business affairs of the two companies, Biden is demonstrating once again his expansive view of executive power, hubristic sense of government’s ability to order economic affairs, and willingness to stretch the definition of ‘national security’ to justify his big government agenda even when there is plainly no national security threat. Those elements have been central to Biden’s political persona for decades. Even as his charisma and mental facilities have failed, they remain.” (01/03/25)
“2025 has just begun and for the first time in many years, free-speech advocates have a reason to celebrate. With the departure of 2024, we said goodbye to one of the most reviled offices in the Biden administration: The Global Engagement Center (GEC). I discuss the Center in my recent book, ‘The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage’ as one of the most active components in the massive censorship system funded by the Biden administration. The demise of the GEC is a good start. However, like weight-loss resolutions, it will take much more of a commitment if we are going to restore free speech in the United States.” (01/04/25)
“Rock and roll promised a freedom that could not be contained or silenced, an international language of liberation. The freedom songs of the folk singers went electric, the coded messages of gospel music burst into the full flower of funk and soul. Even disco promised emancipation, from Chaka Khan’s ‘I’m Every Woman’ to Diana Ross’s ‘I’m Coming Out.’ In U2 we wanted our song ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’ to sound like the freedom we were campaigning for in our work with Amnesty International. That’s how insufferable we were. Outside the studio, it felt like freedom was unstoppable. … But where are we now, as my hero David Bowie sang? Is the Medal of Freedom a nostalgia act? Is freedom itself a nostalgia act? Maybe the idea of freedom as a guarantee. But not freedom as a mighty, worthy struggle.” (01/04/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Awakening from the propaganda matrix is like being a conservative: you’re frequently disgusted with society and where it appears to be headed. But unlike a conservative, you’re disgusted by actual problems instead of imaginary nonsense. Also unlike a conservative, your problem is not with relatively new societal developments like recent immigration waves and LGBTQ acceptance; your problem is with abusive dynamics which have been plaguing civilization for centuries. Capitalism. Imperialism. Militarism. Settler-colonialism. Genocide. Plutocracy. Exploitation. Consumerism. Many rightists warn urgently that our society is on the verge of plunging into a nightmarish authoritarian dystopia, but if you’re truly unplugged from the indoctrination of the empire you understand that the dystopia is already here, and has been for a long time.” (01/05/25)
“So, yesterday, President Joe Biden blocked the sale/merger of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel. Nippon and U.S. Steel issued a joint statement condemning Biden’s decision as the result of a process ‘deeply corrupted by politics.’ They also threatened legal action to try to revive the deal. U.S. Steel was in a difficult financial situation and depended on this sale to survive. Now, it is unclear how long U.S. Steel will be able to continue operations, jeopardizing the very workers Biden purported he was going to protect by blocking the sale. Blocking this sale is an affront to the property rights of these two corporations, which should be free to contract and transact as they see fit without any meddling by the federal government. It also steals the potential value of U.S. Steel shareholders and workers.” (01/04/25)
“The free-market economy — laissez-faire capitalism — may be unpopular because people think it authorizes the exploitation of workers. They are not paid the full value of their product — or so it seems. This indictment has been wielded to justify not only full socialism but also substantial government interference with the market economy, including strong pro-union measures. Few people realize, however, that the market economy was decisively acquitted of the exploitation charge back in 1884 by the second-generation Austrian economist Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk in his History and Critique of Interest Theories. The key to understanding the acquittal is time.” (01/03/25)
“The mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is to enhance the health and well-being of Americans. Somewhere during its journey of growth and influence, however, HHS lost its way. If this is to be corrected, new leadership is required to move us back to an era of less processed food, healthier ingredients, and logical choices that enhance our health. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has the focus, knowledge, enthusiasm, and influence to effect much-needed change in our food system. In my 20-plus years as a professional chef and restaurant owner, I watched as food quality deteriorated. We, collectively as a nation, have become less and less healthy. This happened while large food corporations have become more and more profitable.” (01/03/25)
“The 21st century is already 25 years old. Yet this is this year that we seem to have reached the cusp of a new millennium, because technology has now brought us to a moment of great uncertainty. … The digital world has already wreaked havoc on a number of venerable institutions that once shaped American life: News media, academia, Hollywood and the political parties have lost influence to podcasters and video streamers — and with it the power to shape a semi-coherent political and cultural consensus. What sort of consensus can emerge from the chaotic influencer economy? AI, for its part, seems to be on course toward economic and cultural disruption on par with the industrial revolution.” (01/03/25)
“Not long ago, Vice Presidential candidate and now Vice President-elect J.D. Vance asserted that ‘a million cheap, knockoff toasters aren’t worth the price of a single American manufacturing job.’ There’s a lot wrong with this comment …. But I want to add one more issue to the pile – what, exactly, does Vance mean when he says these are ‘knockoff’ products? The term ‘knockoff’ has usually been taken to mean a low quality, counterfeit product attempting to pass itself off as an expensive product with a prestigious brand. I’ve heard of knockoff Louis Vuitton bags or knockoff Rolexes, for example. So what would make an imported toaster a knockoff product? The toaster in my kitchen is an imported product – is it therefore a knockoff? Well, not by this measure.” (01/03/25)
“In the end, Mike Johnson was elected Speaker on the first ballot. But this requires a rather loose definition of the word ‘first.’ After the full roll was taken, Johnson had exactly nine holdouts: three who voted for other members for Speaker, and six who withheld their vote entirely. … One by one, the six who didn’t vote decided to go to Johnson, leaving three final holdouts: Reps. Tom Massie (R-KY), Ralph Norman (R-SC), and Keith Self (R-TX). Massie was a hard no … Johnson took Norman and Self into a back room off the floor and emerged a few minutes later. The two congressmen then went to the well of the House and changed their votes to Johnson, giving him a 218-215 victory over Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.” (01/03/25)
