“In the week before the latest attempted assassination of President Trump, The New York Times conducted the softest of softball interviews with leftist pundit Hasan Piker. A typical line from Piker on his Twitch livestream: ‘Let the streets soak in [landlords’] red Capitalist blood.’ Talking to the Times, Piker refused to condemn Luigi Mangione for murdering a complete stranger, Brian Thompson — because, in Piker’s view, Thompson had committed ‘social murder’ by being the CEO of a health-insurance company. Piker isn’t ‘a fringe figure’ on the left [sic]. He has interviewed major Democrats and plans to sit down with California Gov. Gavin Newsom soon. New York Times journalists nod along with his ideas. If that’s fringe, what’s mainstream? The alleged White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter also didn’t sound fringe in his manifesto.” (04/27/26)
“Energy-driven inflation and slowing growth have put the Fed in a difficult position. A look at monetary policy rules shows why holding rates steady may be the most prudent response.” (04/28/26)
“John Adams was more than the chief architect of American independence—he also gave the new states a constitutional vision for republican government.” (04/28/26)
“President Donald Trump’s televised tantrum during his April 26 interview with ’60 Minutes’ on CBS News – which aired a day after he was rushed from an event after it was crashed by a gunman – revealed the obvious fear he still holds about the Epstein files. Those more than 6 million documents potentially detail the life and crimes of his former friend, the now-dead registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. I think we’ll see more of that fear and more tantrums from Trump as the push for transparency with the Epstein files intensifies, since only about half of them have been released. Katie Phang, a former prosecutor who now works as an independent journalist, sued the Department of Justice on April 27, asking a federal judge to appoint a special master to review and release more Epstein files.” (04/28/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“In the last few days I’ve seen three separate instances of generative AI being used to promote propaganda for US-Israeli war agendas which are worth paying attention to. Firstly, an Israel-based company called Generative AI for Good has been creating deepfakes of supposedly real women who say they were sexually assaulted by government forces in Iran. … The Canary notes that Generative AI for Good is staffed with Israelis who have very conspicuous agendas, including a creative director who pushes the discredited narrative about mass rapes on October 7, a marketing manager who served in the IDF’s ‘Psychotechnical Headquarter,’ and a founder who said in early 2024 that ‘Artificial intelligence is a secret weapon of ours’ in using the revolutionary technology to bolster the military’s efforts both online and on the ground in the information war being waged alongside the military battlefields in Gaza.” (04/28/26)
“The U.S. and Israel started a senseless, criminal war of aggression against Iran two months ago, and that war set much of the rest of the region on fire. The aggressors failed to achieve anything beyond inflicting death and destruction while causing massive damage to the region and the global economy. The smart thing to do now would be for the U.S. and Israel to cut their losses and accept Iran’s latest proposal, but that seems unlikely to happen.” (04/28/26)
“Becoming infected by a pathogen is normally accidental and very different from engaging in self-destructive behavior. In fact, one could argue that public health authorities should treat chronic self-destructive behavior in adults differently from genetic disorders in young children, given that most people would likely agree that the costs associated with such behavior are not as easily justified as those associated with the latter. Yet, this actually shows that the discriminatory possibilities are endless and highlights the arbitrariness of the public health system. For a start, this system redistributes its overall costs as a burden for those most responsible for their own health and as a benefit for the most careless. That is, it socializes the costs of irresponsible health behavior. The only solution to this inherent flaw is the total abolition of the public health system.” (04/28/26)
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Joe Mullin
“Lawmakers in Congress are moving quickly on the GUARD Act, an age-gating bill restricting minors’ access to a wide range of online tools, with a key vote expected this week. The proposal is framed as a response to alarming cases involving ‘AI companions’ and vulnerable young users. But the text of the bill goes much further, and could require age gates even for search engines that use AI.” (04/28/26)
