Source: The Atlantic
by Idrees Kahloon
“There is an irony to the undying Jeffrey Epstein scandal: It may never be more than an annoyance for President Trump, who knew Epstein well, but it could topple British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who never met the sex-offender financier. Starmer has a 71 percent disapproval rating and leads the least popular British government since World War II. The reasons for the Labour Party leader’s deepening plight are moral, because decency and shame still matter in British politics. But they are also institutional. An American president is less democratically accountable than the British prime minister, because partisanship has disabled the checks that the Founders placed on the chief executive.” (02/08/26)
https://archive.is/iOTu2
Source: Hullabaloo
by Tom Sullivan
“Trumpism is a movement [Lionel] Trilling would still recognize as one that expresses itself ‘only in action or in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas.’ Memes and AI slop, in current parlance. Or in mass deportations and state-sanctioned street violence and murder. If those ‘gestures’ appear garbled, it is because the ‘the high priests of MAGA ideology,’ Stephen Miller and Russ Vought, are not driven not by coherent ideas. What drives them is visceral rage at cultural change that fails to center men as base as themselves. And by the congenital insecurity of Donald Trump himself.” (02/08/26)
https://digbysblog.net/2026/02/08/trumpisms-primal-scream/
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The world’s largest social media companies have been accused of creating ‘addiction machines’ as a landmark trial began in California examining the mental health effects of Instagram and YouTube. In his opening argument before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl and a jury, Mark Lanier argued that his client, plaintiff ‘K.G.M.,’ suffered from mental health issues as a result of her social media addiction. … The outcome of the trial may provide a benchmark for monetary damages [sic] that would likely impact thousands of cases brought by other plaintiffs, their families, state prosecutors, and school districts across the United States.” (02/09/26)
https://archive.is/nxmaT
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Sunday that close ally Juan Pablo Guanipa was kidnapped by armed men in Caracas hours after his release from prison. The abducation comes just days before lawmakers are due to vote on a historic amnesty law covering charges used to lock up dissidents.” (02/08/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260208-venezuela-opposition-leader-machado-says-ally-kidnapped-after-release-from-prison
Source: The Chris Hedges Report
“Chris Hedges on Trump, Epstein and the Decline of American Democracy.” (02/08/26)
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/chris-hedges-on-trump-epstein-and
Source: The UnPopulist
by Paul Rosenzweig
‘More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato predicted ICE’s tactics. He knew, even then, that the character of a certain type of man or woman was corrupt and that anonymity would enable brutality. In short, he knew that ICE agents would want to wear masks not to protect themselves from danger, but rather to enable their immoral conduct. Plato’s prescient understanding of ICE agents arose during a discussion of the parable of the ring of Gyges. The debate occurred during Socrates’s inquiry into human virtue, recounted in Plato’s Republic.” (02/08/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/plato-understood-why-masking-would
Source: The American Prospect
by Ellen Ioanes
“As details about President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace and its plans for the reconstruction of Gaza trickle out, two things become increasingly clear: Palestinians have barely, if at all, been consulted in these plans; and the people in Trump’s orbit stand to benefit from the project the most. The U.N. Security Council approved the Board of Peace as a mechanism for implementing Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Israel and Gaza back in November, though its mandate now appears much broader. The BoP itself consists of high-level representatives from Gulf nations, Israel, Serbia, Albania, and Argentina, among others, with Trump himself as the chair and ultimate decision-maker. Absent from the Board of Peace are representatives from almost every EU country except Bulgaria and Hungary, and anyone representing Palestine.” (02/09/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/02/09/board-of-peace-profits-trump-kushner-gaza/
Source: CNBC
“Two congressional lawmakers on Sunday called on Howard Lutnick to resign amid revelations that the Commerce secretary had more extensive business and personal dealings with deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein than were previously disclosed. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., urged Lutnick to step down after The New York Times reported the Trump ally interacted ‘regularly’ with Epstein, according to files released by the Department of Justice relating to the notorious sex offender. Massie was the lead Republican on the Epstein Files Transparency Act that compelled the release of the Epstein files. … Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, took it a step further, calling on Lutnick to resign — or be fired.” (02/08/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/08/epstein-files-trump-lutnick-massie.html
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“Donald Trump has chosen Kevin Warsh, a harsh critic of the Federal Reserve who has called for ‘breaking some heads,’ as the next Fed chair. Last week I wrote about what the Fed is and what it does. Today I’ll talk about the Fed’s policy record, with emphasis on the criticisms offered by Warsh and others.” (02/08/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/federal-reserve-101-part-ii-the-global
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Matt Williams on What the Epstein Files Reveal about the Global Elites.” (02/08/26)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/2-6-26-matt-williams-on-what-the-epstein-files-reveal-about-the-global-elites/
