“If there was ever a “canary in the coal mine’ moment for the next housing crisis, it’s that mortgage and insurance giant Fannie Mae maintains a secret mortgage blacklist. The Wall Street Journal broke the news on March 17 that Fannie Mae keeps a blacklist that includes condo associations it believes have too little property insurance or need to make critical building repairs. According to the Journal, it’s a list that every major lender pays attention to. In other words, if you’re buying a condo in a building on that list, you’re likely not going to get a loan. However, the insurance ‘canary’ isn’t just about condo buildings. If you think homeowners insurance has already skyrocketed — and it has — hold on because you’re likely about to get screwed even more.” (04/07/25)
“What put the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with an annual budget hovering at just about 1% of federal spending, at the top of Elon Musk’s budget-cutting target list? Was it just a political calculation that foreign aid is a safe target because it’s unpopular with so many Americans and cutting those funds will only hurt foreigners, not U.S. voters? Or was Musk motivated by some other grudge we haven’t even heard about? … one of Musk’s principal influencers on this issue appears to have been a man named Mike Benz, who served in the Department of Housing and Urban Development and briefly in the State Department during President Trump’s first term.” (04/06/25)
“Bombing Yemen has done nothing to ensure the free passage of commerce through the Red Sea. Escalation has made shipping companies avoid that waterway like the plague, and ships aren’t going to come back until the conflict ends. Bombing is not going to restore the free passage of commerce. Even if the U.S. relied heavily on shipping through the Red Sea (it doesn’t), bombing Yemen wouldn’t be the way to safeguard it. This is an absurd justification for an unnecessary and ineffective war. There is no compelling reason for the U.S. to be bombing Yemen. It is a pointless expenditure of limited munitions at best, and there is a danger that it could lead to a larger conflict with Iran. The illegal war in Yemen makes no sense for U.S. interests, and it must end.” (04/07/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“One thing October 7 did accomplish was getting Israel and its allies to show the world their true face. Getting them to stand before all of humanity to say, ‘If you resist us, we’ll kill your babies. We’ll deliberately shoot your kids in the head. We’ll massacre medical workers. We’ll systematically destroy all your hospitals. We’ll rape you and torture you as a matter of policy. We’ll lay siege to the entire civilian population. We’ll make your entire land uninhabitable and then we’ll kick you all out and take it for ourselves.’ … Sometimes I’ll run into people who say ‘What did Hamas expect to happen? They had to know Israel would do this!'” [editor’s note: Yes, Hamas knew what the response would look like, and wanted it to look like that; Hamas called the Israelis in as “worse cop” to help Hamas put down the Palestinian rebellion against Hamas – TLK] (04/07/25)
“To paraphrase Groucho Marx, I’m suspicious of any ideological club that would have me as a member. This isn’t about picking teams – it’s about recognizing patterns. The ultimate form of control isn’t hiding truth – it’s shaping how we process truth when it emerges. That’s why pattern recognition matters more than ever. We must be able to hold multiple realities simultaneously: These revelations are significant AND their timing may be strategic. Power is being exposed AND new forms of control may be emerging.” (04/07/25)
“Let me say, up front, that I do not know if Trump’s tariffs will accomplish his purposes or not. Tariffs are common in human history. Some tariffs, in some places, and at certain times, have had some benefits to a country’s economy. Other tariffs have been utter disasters. What few Americans know is that tariffs were a major cause of the two greatest calamities in our history: the War Between the States and the Great Depression. Usually, tariffs don’t produce those kinds of calamities, but they have. Countries often use tariffs to protect certain domestic industries, and have done so with success.” (04/07/25)
“Everywhere we look, a wave of resistance is rising. My heart is full as I think of every one of you who is standing up right now to reclaim our democracy. From Senator Cory Booker, who spoke through the night to Congress, to the Wisconsin voters who defeated Elon Musk’s bid to buy their Supreme Court, and the millions of people who joined Hands Off! protests nationwide to reject cuts [sic] to Social Security and Medicaid, we see signs of Resistance all around us! Each of these acts takes courage, and is proof that you and I, ordinary people, have the power to stop authoritarians from taking over our society. Democracy is, at its heart, our right to imagine and build a better future for us all. We will not let anyone take away that right. Yet what will it take for the Resistance to win?” (04/06/25)
“President Donald Trump’s justifications for tariffs keep shifting — one moment they’re to cut the flow of illegal drugs and immigrants, the next, they’re to bolster American businesses and jobs. But the argument that seems to resonate most with the public is that they will result in a stronger and more competitive U.S. economy. Economists aren’t convinced, to put it mildly. The fact is that American government is often the biggest impediment to the workers and employers that politicians claim to be helping.” (04/07/25)
