“One morning in Boston in 1895, as K. C. Gillette stood before the mirror, a brilliant idea flashed across his mind. ‘As I stood there with the razor in my hand, my eyes resting on it as lightly as a bird settling down on its nest — the Gillette razor was born. I saw it all in a moment, and in that same moment many unvoiced questions were asked and answered more with the rapidity of a dream than by the slow process of reasoning. I stood there before that mirror in a trance of joy at what I saw.’ He quickly wrote a letter to his wife, ‘I have got it; our fortune is made.’ Simple ideas often appear obvious in retrospect, but simplicity is usually the far edge of genius.” (06/01/26)
“Decline is a choice. President Trump could not have said it better. Two years ago, everyone was talking about the Roman Empire, musing over its tragic decline. Would the United States fade the same way, with relentless clashes among different demographics fighting for a diminishing share of the government pie? Was Pat Buchanan right? The Republic is over, and the days of Empire have hastened the end of this once glorious experiment, he claimed. Historians note that democratic systems don’t last longer than 250 years. Yet the United States will celebrate its semiquincentennial. President Trump will be in office until 2029. Even if a Democrat follows him, the United States will have endured past the expected expiration date.” (06/01/26)
“Because defense contracts often prevent the military from repairing its own equipment, critics say weapons companies are price-gouging the Pentagon at every turn. As experts and observers tell RS, the military’s lack of a ‘right to repair’ doesn’t just allow defense contractors to charge thousands of dollars, for fixes that could be done for free or very cheaply. Rather, the Pentagon’s dependence on weapons makers for maintenance undermines military readiness. Namely, contractors’ extensive repair delays and sweeping decisions about whether to service gear routinely leave warfighters without critical equipment and weapons systems — even while deployed.” (06/01/26)
“Recent reporting from Axios suggests that President Donald Trump is considering a new nuclear deal with Iran as a way to turn the temporary ceasefire into something longer-term and more sustainable. It also suggests that the Iranian regime is interested in playing ball. The reporting is light on details, but suggests that the deal will have the same core ingredients as the one negotiated by President Barack Obama and signed in 2015 that the U.S. later left — some kind of financial/sanctions relief in exchange for verification of promises not to pursue a weapons program.” (06/01/26)
“Over the last twenty years, illiberal forces have coordinated ideas, personnel, and finances across international borders. Liberals can learn from this.” (06/01/26)
“Yes, millions of dollars were poured into the Kentucky primary of Rep. Thomas Massie to defeat him by a collective entity that can fairly be referred to as the Israel lobby, and that lobby succeeded in its mission. Massie lost and that foreign interest group is the primary reason why. It’s a fact of history.” (06/01/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The UK is getting crazier and crazier in its defense of Israel. Now they’re canceling the visas of mainstream normie political pundits for criticizing the state of Israel, and investigating people for antisemitic hate crimes when they denounce Zionists who aren’t even Jewish. American progressive commentator Cenk Uygur and his nephew Hasan Piker have both been denied visas by the British government, saying they were blocked from entering the country because of their criticism of Israel. ‘I’ve been banned from the UK,’ Uygur said in a tweet. ‘I tried to get on a flight to London to attend SXSW London and give a speech at Oxford. I’ve been banned for criticizing Israel. Are we free anymore? This is oppression of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country!'” (06/01/26)
“Anti-AIPAC sentiment is helping to swing Democratic primaries across the country. In Michigan, the pro-Israel group’s support for Rep. Haley Stevens has become somewhat of an anchor weighing down her Senate bid. In Philadelphia, a liberal group that had received some support from AIPAC’s network just once found that the association was now toxic, hurting its ability to help a candidate. And in the race to replace Hoyer, Boafo got condemned by other Democrats for his support from AIPAC’s best-known campaign committee. … As progressive Democrats use weariness of war in Iran and skepticism of big money to keep driving voters away from AIPAC, however, other sectors of the party are getting dragged down.” (06/01/26)
“Proper editors, back when that was still a thing, would not sign off on an article until the reporter had gotten to the heart of the matter and captured the essence of the other worldview. But none of that happens in health science reporting today. Instead, these wet-behind-the-ears reporters all follow the same script — ‘anyone who disagrees with the mainstream narrative must be a nutter who could not possibly be understood by anyone in polite society.’” (06/01/26)
