Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“I saw a video of a food delivery robot navigating around the body of a homeless person lying on the sidewalk, and I can’t stop thinking about it. This video is as close to a self-portrait of western civilization as it gets. This is who we are. This is where we’re at. … It captures so perfectly the creepy dance between suffering, apathy, frivolity and corporate profiteering that makes our particular dystopia so distinctive, in just a few short seconds of footage. This is the dance that makes the empire go round. It’s got everything: * A man splayed out on the concrete because it hurts to be human in this global ghost town, and because he was unsuccessful at becoming a productive gear-turner in the capitalist machine, and because social safety nets have been stripped bare in order to help millionaires become billionaires.” (02/03/25)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/02/03/meditations-on-a-delivery-robot-steering-to-avoid-a-homeless-man-on-the-sidewalk/

Source: Cato Institute
by Doug Bandow

“The ongoing murderous repression of protesters in Iran is symptomatic of a long-term and deeper cruelty on the part of the regime: the attempt to eradicate freedom of conscience.” (02/03/26)

https://www.cato.org/commentary/irans-brutal-religious-persecutions

Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jon Duffy

“As the United States assembles a ‘massive armada’ off the coast of Iran — an aircraft carrier, accompanying destroyers, strike aircraft positioned across the region — the choreography is instantly recognizable. Forces move into place. Officials speak of ‘options.’ The president’s social media account warns of ‘far worse’ attacks than those launched against Iran last summer. What remains conspicuously absent is any explanation of what the use of that force is meant to accomplish.
If this sequence sounds familiar, it should. In late 2002 and early 2003, the U.S. followed a similar path. … Two decades later, the circumstances are different, but the failure is unmistakable.” (02/03/26)

https://archive.is/Qk9rn

Source: Bet On It
by Michael Crone

“In an earlier post, Caplan proposed eliminating the welfare state as a means to increase adoptable infants. Hidden among the responses to his post is data suggesting that eliminating abortion would bring about a massive increase in adoptable babies. Elizabeth Kirk and Ryan Hanlon, in a response to Caplan’s argument, wrote ‘For every child placed for adoption, approximately 70 other women choose to rear the child as a single parent, and 50 other women choose to terminate the pregnancy.’ In a different response, Steven Salop wrote ‘One study found that among women denied access to abortion, only about 10% chose adoption, so simply prohibiting abortion is not the best route to supporting expanded adoption.’ While knowing the best route to expanded adoption is difficult, the data presented imply prohibiting abortion would be a very powerful force for expanded adoption.” (02/03/26)

https://www.betonit.ai/p/abortion-and-adoption-the-crone-critiques

Source: Foreign Policy In Focus
by Reza Hasmath

“Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum on January 20 was not an exercise in pique. It was the clearest articulation yet of a strategic shift that has profound implications – not just for US-Canada relations, but for the entire structure of American alliances worldwide. Carney told the Davos audience that ‘the old order is not coming back’ and that the rules-based international system was always ‘partially false’. The strongest exempted themselves when convenient, trade rules were enforced asymmetrically, and Canada ‘placed the sign in the window’ while avoiding the gaps between rhetoric and reality. That bargain, he declared, no longer works. Canada is now building what Carney called ‘strategic autonomy’: the capacity to feed itself, fuel itself, and defend itself without depending on the United States.” (02/03/25)

https://fpif.org/canadas-pivot-is-a-warning-to-the-united-states-and-the-entire-alliance-system/