Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Everyone hates Israel now, and what’s funny is this wouldn’t have happened if our society had been the tiniest bit normal about Gaza. If everyone wasn’t constantly being forcefully told they’re not seeing what they’re seeing, it wouldn’t have become so personal for them. If western governments had just said ‘this is bad’ when news came out about Israel bombing a hospital instead of ‘THIS ISN’T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE THERE’S A HAMAS BASE IN EVERY HEALTHCARE FACILITY YOU ARE BEING ANTISEMITIC.’ If the news media had just said ‘this is bad’ when Israel systematically exterminated journalists in Gaza instead of reporting ‘three killed in what IDF describes as strike on terrorist vehicle’ over and over again.” (01/21/25)
“The assassination of Charlie Kirk (conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA) and its aftermath has led to a surge in public discussion about the nature and limits of free speech. The Trump administration, citing threats from Anti-Fa, designated it as a terrorist organization and in the process, also took aim at speech that is constitutionally protected. One late night TV host, Jimmy Kimmel, was temporarily fired due to pressure from the FCC and then reinstated. Whether the Trump administration represents a singular threat to the First Amendment, or whether ‘the left’ or ‘right’ is the larger threat to free speech are arguable points, but not ones that I will attempt to settle in this essay. Instead, in this essay I aim to make a left-wing case for pure tolerance, or in other words, of the necessity and practicality of tolerating speech by those viewed as intolerant.” (01/20/26)
“You probably haven’t thought about Don Lemon in, well, ever. Why would you? No one watched him when he was on CNN, which is a big part of the reason he’s no longer on CNN, and he’s only doubled down on everything people found annoying about him when he was easy to find. And the only time you’re likely to have thought about Ilhan Omar is when she’s doing something racist, stupid or both – which is a lot, actually. … Some people live lives of example, others are destined to be a cautionary tale. Make all these leftists into examples that serve as warnings to others that lawlessness will not be tolerated.” (01/20/25)
“One of the most difficult areas in church–state law involves the conflict between freedom of speech and freedom of religion. In the United States, at least at the level of basic principle, that conflict has been largely resolved for decades. Ever since Cantwell v. Connecticut, we have accepted that people don’t have a right to be free from criticism — or even offense — directed at their religious beliefs. Speakers may criticize religion, ridicule religious doctrines, and even confront believers directly, so long as they respect ordinary time, place, and manner restrictions and do not incite imminent violence. In other words, in American constitutional law, freedom of speech generally trumps claims that religious sensibilities have been wounded. The First Amendment does not contain a right not to be insulted. The situation in Europe is more complicated.” (01/20/26)
“The past year has completely discredited any claim that choosing between the Democratic and Republican parties would be merely a matter of ‘pick your poison’ with the same end result. In countless terrible ways, the last 12 months have shown that Donald Trump’s party is bent on methodically inflicting vast cruelty and injustice while aiming to crush what’s left of democracy and the rule of law. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party’s leadership persists with the kind of elitist political approach that helped Trump win in 2024. Hidebound and unimaginative, Senate leader Chuck Schumer and House leader Hakeem Jeffries have been incapable of inspiring the people whose high-turnout votes will be essential to ending Republican control of Congress and the White House.” (01/20/25)
“The United States and China are the world’s two great powers. The US boasts the largest economy, the global reserve currency, the leading AI firms, and a military with unmatched worldwide reach. China has the globe’s second-largest economy (far ahead of third-place Germany); commanding positions in key fields such as drones, batteries, and rare earths; an increasingly formidable navy; and, by virtue of its export dominance, substantial leverage over global trade. Cold War II is taking shape. Or is it? Dig deeper, and both nations start to look like surprisingly fragile societies drifting slowly but steadily toward disaster.” (01/20/26)
“Food, which generally originates with a farmer, gardener, or orchardist, is fast losing its hands-on persona and increasingly gaining a mechanical, chemical platform. Over the last decade, the United States has lost about 28,000 farms annually. While some of the loss is due to urbanization, most of the land remains farmland, either managed by other farmers or simply abandoned. While there are 1.3 million farmers over age 65, only 300,000 are 35 or younger. In 2022, the average American farmer was 58—years older than the average age in other vibrant economic sectors. The American business landscape is largely anti-people. The current rush to artificial intelligence reflects how eagerly most businesses seek to eliminate people. The farming sector illustrates this trend better than most.” (01/20/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Will Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado return to her country, as she has vowed? If so, how exactly would she do that? Does she sneak into the country and remain hidden, as she has done ever since the Chavista regime began arresting and brutalizing protestors after the country’s 2024 presidential election? Or does she get on a plane and fly publicly into the country and live openly without fear of being arrested by the Chavista regime to face pending criminal charges against her? It seems to me that given the position of servile subserviency into which she has placed herself with respect to her relationship with President Trump, she would almost certainly feel compelled to ask his permission to return to her home country.” (01/20/26)
“Donald J. Trump was inaugurated for a second term as president exactly one year ago. It is safe to say the country, and the world, will never be the same. President Trump has engaged in energetic and bold governing and diplomacy, fulfilling campaign promises like boosting domestic energy production, while also seeking peace in turbulent parts of the world and attempting to follow through on long-term ambitions, like acquiring Greenland. He has engaged with the press on a near-daily basis, boosted recruitment for our military, dismantled harmful left-wing shibboleths like DEI, convinced our NATO allies to spend more on their own defense, junked burdensome regulations that interfered with our country’s progress …. It is an incredible boatload of accomplishments.” [editor’s note: Well, until you delete the parts that are made-up bullshit. Then it’s not quite so incredible – TLK] (01/20/25)
“A year into Trump’s second term, the emboldened president’s maximalist strategy — pushing every norm to its most elastic, and then a bit beyond, and from that new breaking point pushing yet again — conjures the boiling-frog theory, in which a frog placed in boiling water will immediately hop out, but a frog placed in cool water that is slowly heated will complacently boil to death. (And yes, I know that this amphibious metaphor for failing to notice incremental negative changes is apocryphal, but the lesson is still apt.) Or, as the former Trump adviser Steve Bannon put it to me, the Overton window is moving so far, so quickly, that the more apt way to understand Trump’s strategy is: ‘Fuck the Overton window.'” (01/20/26)
