Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“Right wingers are like ‘Listen to Venezuelans! No, not the Venezuelans in the streets demanding Maduro’s return. No, not the polls saying most people in Venezuela oppose US regime change. Those are the wrong Venezuelans. I meant listen to the Venezuelan talking to Fox News from his mansion in Miami.’ They’re like, ‘Trump needed to invade Venezuela and abduct its president because otherwise that poor country would be victimized by the whims of a despotic tyrant!’ Actually fellas I’m pretty sure the real tyrannical regime is the one who’s claiming the entire western hemisphere is their personal property and they get to control what happens in every country on half the planet.” (01/08/25)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/01/08/the-real-tyrannical-regime/

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“One could argue that our dietary habits are something government shouldn’t be involved in.
I do. But the federal government taxes, regulates, subsidizes, and researches for food production in these United States ‘bigly.’ And then the government taxes, regulates, subsidizes and researches for medical interventions that mitigate the consequences of how we eat. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Brooke L. Rollins, the current secretaries of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), respectively, have signed their names to a new set of Dietary Guidelines for Americans — an interesting document. ‘The message is simple,’ it says: ‘Eat real food.’ The fact that much of our food industry has been constructed in collaboration with the USDA makes this advice … piquant.” (01/08/26)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/01/08/on-the-governments-diet/

Source: The Intercept
by Gabriel Hetland

“Venezuela posed no threat to the United States, and under international law, there is no plausible justification for Trump’s attack. But it goes beyond that: By forcefully deposing a sitting president, the U.S. has eroded any pretense that the already-battered rules-based international order exists. While many of Trump’s critics in government and policy circles bemoan his flouting of procedure, Trump operates as a blatant imperialist — and is immensely proud of it.” (01/08/26)

https://theintercept.com/2026/01/08/venezuela-maduro-trump-oil-american-empire/

Source: OtherWords
by Lindsay Koshgarian

“At a time when nearly half of Americans say they’re struggling to afford basic necessities, President Donald Trump has turned his attention to invading and ruling Venezuela. One in two Americans are having trouble affording groceries, utilities, healthcare, housing, and transportation, according to a recent poll. Healthcare costs are rising (in many cases doubling) for millions of Americans because Republicans in Congress refuse to help. And while grocery prices remain high, those same GOP lawmakers chose to cut food stamps for millions of struggling people. Our government should be helping working people and families. Instead, the president chose to use our tax dollars to invade a foreign country.” (01/07/25)

https://otherwords.org/congress-must-stop-this-war-and-help-working-americans-instead/

Source: Persuasion
by Luke Hallam

“In late November, Andrew Sullivan published a Substack post that has really stuck with me. Titled ‘The Question of Decency,’ Sullivan was writing in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s dehumanizing ‘Quiet, piggy’ comment to a female reporter on Air Force One. Sullivan was lamenting the extent to which American discourse has degraded, the way that cruelty and spite have become regular features of politics. He was also commenting on the extent to which the president of the United States himself is leading this new era of indecency. I was reminded of Sullivan’s article yesterday watching the news unfold of a U.S. citizen being shot dead by a federal agent in Minneapolis. The Trump administration’s reaction to the killing ranks as one of the most indecent displays of political cynicism and outright cruelty in recent memory.” (01/08/26)

https://www.persuasion.community/p/wheres-the-decency

Source: Brownstone Institute
by Steven Kritz

“Given that the 1980s and 1990s were in the wheelhouse of every Baby Boomer’s working career, I could see where the attitude would be that getting an education and working hard would lead to success. Extrapolating this thinking to the younger generations, it would make sense for Boomers to believe that the younger generations, having an even higher percentage with a college degree, just need to keep working hard and they will also achieve the same level of success. However, there are several major flaws in this thought process.” (01/08/26)

https://brownstone.org/articles/meritocracy-vs-credentialocracy/

Source: TomDispatch
by Michael Klare

“For most of us, Friday, February 6, 2026, is likely to feel no different than Thursday, February 5th. It will be a work or school day for many of us. It might involve shopping for the weekend or an evening get-together with friends, or any of the other mundane tasks of life. But from a world-historical perspective, that day will represent a dramatic turning point, with far-reaching and potentially catastrophic consequences. For the first time in 54 years, the world’s two major nuclear-weapons powers, Russia and the United States, will not be bound by any arms-control treaties and so will be legally free to cram their nuclear arsenals with as many new warheads as they wish — a step both sides appear poised to take.” (01/08/25)

https://tomdispatch.com/plunging-into-the-abyss/