12 years ago this month, a white police officer named Daren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri killed an 18 year old black man named Michael Brown Jr. The resulting community response grew into what we all remember as the Ferguson protests and launched countless efforts across the country to address police brutality and increase accountability on the boys in blue. In the 12 years since Mike Brown’s murder, police across America have killed more than 14,000 people. According to Mapping Police Violence, so far in 2026, there have only been 10 days where police did not kill someone in the US. The supposedly radical notion of ‘defunding’ police is quite literally a matter of life or death.

The initial calls for “defunding the police” were decried as reckless and short-sighted, even back in 2014, and since then, without any exaggeration or hyperbole, things have grown significantly worse. However, because many powerful politicians have been completely unable to wrap their heads around the value of demilitarizing police or decreasing public surveillance, we find ourselves trapped in a conundrum that increasingly resembles the panopticon. Instead of focusing on improving the quality of our lives in any measurable or meaningful way, elected officials have made themselves content with everyone being constantly observed and forced to operate under the perennial assumption of guilt.

Recently, some smooth-brained politicians have referred to our current predicament as a by-product of “Woke 1.0”, whatever that means. Modern “progressive” politicians are really doing their best to distance themselves from any grand gestures of progress. Instead, they’re choosing to double down on just how utterly impossible it is to make any material changes to our broken society.

“When Mamdani gives credit to (NYPD commissioner) Tisch or when Ocasio-Cortez dismisses a whole category of popular demands as “Woke 1,” they are reinforcing far right mythologies and lending tacit support to the punishment bureaucracy. Regardless of their intentions, they are telling the public that these far-right policies of targeting the poorest people in our society, arresting people, and deporting more people keep everyone safe. That’s blatantly not true.”

-Alec Karakatsanis, founder and executive director of the Civil Rights Corps, author of, Copaganda: How the Police and Media Manipulate our News, and publisher of the Copaganda Newsletter (a consistently excellent read)

The underlying issue with this kind of rhetoric is that it’s used to deflect attention from the very real crimes perpetrated by law enforcement, prison guards, bankers, pharmaceutical executives, billionaire tax evaders, polluters, and health insurance companies. Each of these populations cause far more death, injury, and harm to our safety than any crimes committed by poor people. For instance, the FBI figures for all property crimes combined in the US are dwarfed by estimates of corporate wage theft. This story is not new: elected officials use poor people or immigrants or “the criminal element” to distract from the wrongdoings of the most powerful groups in our society.

This overarching goal of distraction extends to the continuing violence taking place in Palestine using American tax dollars. This interview featured in The New Yorker puts the spotlight on a retired israeli colonel named Doron Meiner, who was arrested trying to protect a Palestinian community from israeli settlers in the West Bank. You might read that and think, “this guy sounds alright!”, but consider the fact that Palestinians have been trying to protect their own communities for decades, and instead of media interviews, all they’ve gotten is beaten, jailed, and killed at the hands of these lowlife settlers. Just this past weekend, some of these cowardly israeli settlers went so far as attacking and injuring a Palestinian woman along with members of an NBC News team reporting in the occupied West Bank.

Pay close attention, because this is what happens when we choose to ignore the dangers of zionism. Eventually, the barbaric violence will extend beyond those oppressed in the region and ripple out to impact anyone willing to speak up in defense of Palestinian liberation. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t speak out, but it would be foolish for anyone to travel to the West Bank and assume these settlers wouldn’t attack you too.

In related news, this morning, the new york times published an article quoting several former generals, intelligence officers, and even prime ministers of the apartheid state, who accuse settlers in the West Bank of committing ethnic-cleansing with the support of their disgraceful government. Anyone who has paid attention to Palestine for the past few years (or decades) could easily recognize the ongoing violence as ethnic cleansing, but I guess some people really needed to hear this information straight from the mouths of the apartheid-lovers.

Side Items

• Nepal Catastrophe: Last week, Nepal experienced one of the most horrifying natural disasters in recent memory, as flash flooding swept through narrow mountain valleys, claiming the lives of hundreds of people. The footage from the region is truly astonishing, a massive wall of water barreling down on people with nowhere to escape. Nepal is home to some of the highest peaks on the planet as well as some of the only remaining glaciers, making it particularly vulnerable to flooding and landslides. Of course, the glacial melt that led to this catastrophe has only become more common due to human-caused climate change. These natural disasters have a way of reminding humanity how small we are, and the scale of these disasters is only getting worse as our climate continues to be exploited and abused for capitalist gain

• Hidden Addiction: This article, featured on ESPN, highlights the uptick in gambling on college campuses and the dangers many college kids are facing. The chief medical officer for the Big Ten, Dr. James Borchers, says that gambling has risen to the top of the list of concerns for schools, alongside or even above alcohol consumption. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, please do yourself a favor and call or text (1-800-697-3738). For Gamblers Anonymous information and meetings near you, go to gamblersanonymous.org. Don’t fall into the trap my friends, you deserve better

• Farewell Salah: As we settle in for another Premier League season, Liverpool’s attack and the EPL as a whole will be different without the experience, technique, and expertise of Mohamad Salah, who will instead be playing in the Turkish league at Trabzonspor. I really enjoyed the linked piece, written by Zito Madu, who pays respect to the man who was called the Egyptian king, and after a pair of league titles along with a European title, and endless individual records broken, it’s safe to call him an African footballing legend

In honor of the World Cup coming to an end, here’s a brief breakdown of the winners and losers of this summer’s edition of the greatest sporting event on the planet:

• Winner: Cabo Verde aka Cape Verde, the honorable island nation that no one expected to perform, but who rose to the occasion and brought the game to their opponents, drawing with Spain and playing a wildly entertaining knockout game against defending world champions Argentina. They may have lost on the field, but their passion and dedication have undoubtedly won over the hearts and minds of people around the world

• Loser: The mighty footballing nation of Germany, who provided a truly underwhelming performance

• Winner: Belgium, who many wrote off as being ‘too old’ or ‘past their prime’, marched through to the quarterfinals of the tournament, embarrassing the US in hilarious fashion along the way

• Loser: The mighty footballing nation of Brazil, who failed to live up to expectations yet again, making it 24 years since they last won a World Cup

• Winner: Egypt, who made it further than we’ve ever progressed in a tournament, only losing to Messi (and the referee) after a dramatic game that finished 3-2. The results on the field are one thing, but make no mistake, the future of Egyptian football looks bright

• Biggest Winner: Capitalism, which successfully allowed corporations to profit off of the beautiful game in ways previously unexplored. From interrupting the game for the sake of “hydration breaks” that were really commercial breaks to charging exorbitant prices for the opportunity to watch a match, to introducing a halftime show to the final, this tournament was truly a blessing for anyone solely interested in profit margins and commodification (and Madonna, who is somehow relevant enough to be asked to perform on a global stage)

• Biggest Loser: The openly corrupt US men’s national team. Despite progressing to the round of 16, the hosts were humiliated by the Belgians, losing 4-1 in a match filled with controversy. This was perhaps the most embarrassing defeat for the US since…that whole Strait of Hormuz business a few weeks ago. The only real takeaway from the game was that you can be a billionaire tyrant who aspires to bribe the whole world, but when guys like Charles De Ketelaere and Romelu Lukaku decide it’s time for you to go home, go ahead and pack your bags friend

People around the world have enjoyed the late game dramatics, the inspirational stories, and the hilarious memes and commentary relating to the tournament, but as the games wind down, the truth of our status quo is hitting like a sledgehammer.

Contrary to popular belief, this sporting event hasn’t led to any improvement in the state of affairs here in America. In the past two weeks, ICE has murdered two more innocent people, a pattern that’s equal parts horrifying and unsurprising. If you’re dumb enough to give a toddler a loaded weapon, you can’t be surprised when their underdeveloped pre-frontal cortex decides to unload it. While calls for the abolition of the rogue agency have grown, I’m starting to think we may need to do more than just “abolish ICE”, these cowards need to be prosecuted and punished.

As things continue to get increasingly fascist on the home front, the situation in Gaza remains as bleak as ever. This fantastic article by Abdaljawad Omar delves into the toxic psychology of people living in the western world who desperately want to think of themselves as the ‘good guys’, despite the endless evidence to the contrary. Too many people repress the reality of the Palestinian genocide in order to protect the rotting fiction of their own moral innocence. Turns out, ignoring a catastrophe does not make it go away. The sooner we acknowledge the cost of our complacency, the better.

Side Items

• Diva Down!!: South Carolina’s least popular resident died last week, as senator Lindsay Graham was reported to have experienced heart problems resulting in his incredibly timely (long overdue?) demise. Graham was well known for being an unrepentant neoconservative with a spine so flimsy it’s a wonder he was able to stand up, a guy who never met a war he didn’t like or an oppressed population he didn’t want starved. After three decades in office, he leaves behind a hate-filled legacy of cowardice and ignorance, and he’ll be missed by absolutely no one. He also becomes the sixth member of congress to die in office this term alone (let’s pump those numbers up!). His senate seat will be filled by his sister until the next election, which makes perfect sense once you realize this country is built on nepotism and corruption

• Kentucky’s Senatorial Nightmare: Speaking of geriatric politicians; ding dong, the Mitch is (near) dead! Apparently, back in mid-May, Mitch McConnell, the dishonorable senator from Kentucky, was found unconscious, suffering cardiac arrest and was hospitalized. Despite the best efforts of major media outlets to ignore the obvious, it appears the turtle-esque senator is approaching the end of his mortal coil and will hopefully return to whence he came (not sure how turtles do in extreme heat, but probably not great). The 84-year-old senator’s term is set to expire on January 3, 2027, but the man in office may very well expire before then

• Maine’s Senatorial Nightmare: While we’re on the topic of scummy American politicians, Maine senatorial candidate Graham Platner found himself in yet another scandal in the lead up to the election in November. You may have heard about Platner in the past for his controversial decision to deploy 4 separate times to kill brown people overseas, or perhaps you’ve heard the controversial bit about his Nazi-adjacent tattoo, or maybe you weren’t familiar with him until the New York Times published an article describing his creepy and problematic treatment of women he was romantically involved with in the past. Now it seems his candidacy is finally being called into question, not for any of the aforementioned reasons, but because there’s a new accusation of sexual assault being made against Platner. Let a white man go overseas and murder brown folks, they’ll call him a war hero, but when that same white man lay hands on a white woman, suddenly he’s seen for the predator he always was

Sadly, 2.5+ years of genocide in Gaza doesn’t just evaporate because your favorite news outlet decided to stop reporting on war crimes. At present, Gaza remains largely sealed off, with many families still separated across borders, and while the news of ceasefire has encouraged much of the international media to look elsewhere, death, displacement, and deprivation continue to define daily life in Gaza. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory presented a new report to the UN Human Rights Council stating that, "The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces." This comes as no surprise of course, but further illustrates how far outside the news cycle Gaza has fallen.

Also in Gaza earlier this month, israeli finance minister && the ultimate scumbag Bezalel Smotrich announced that the apartheid state’s settlement administration had “completed plans” for three settlements in the north of Gaza and called on prime minister Benny the Netanyahooligan to approve them. Along the so-called “Yellow Line” that demarcates the apartheid state’s hold over areas of Gaza, cowardly occupation forces have pushed their cement markers further west, expanding their occupied territory.

The state of affairs in the West Bank isn’t much better, as reported by Channel 5 News and Andrew Callaghan himself. The willingness and courage to set foot in Palestine right now as an independent outlet is already impressive enough, but the testimonials are incredibly illustrative of what daily life is like in the occupied West Bank. Leaked documents surrounding the shambolic “Board of Peace” headed by Trump show the organization granting sweeping immunity to itself as well as the right to seize public property. Now, a group of private individuals are essentially openly looting Palestinians.

And while the world at whole has largely turned an already blind eye even blinder-er from Gaza, the global devastation now includes a devastating earthquake in Venezuela that has killed thousands and left many more unaccounted for. The already-struggling Venezuelan government has reported nearly 1,500 dead from the quakes as it faces continued criticism that its response has been inadequate and overshadowed by civilian-led efforts to rescue people still buried under collapsed buildings.

In response, the US government, the same government that seized almost $5 and a half billion of Venezuela’s oil revenue earlier this year, has offered approximately $150 million in earthquake aid while the UN estimates $6.7 billion in total losses. At this point it’s not really relief, it’s extortion at a government scale. Keep in mind the US also has $30 billion of frozen assets as people continue to suffer under rubble.

This is the same American government that was recently exposed to have permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico between 2023 and 2025. Apparently, the US drug enforcement administration took their jobs in a different direction, as agents repeatedly monitored shipments of fentanyl pills, but chose not to seize them, as federal prosecutors tried to bring bigger criminal cases against drug traffickers. Newsflash folks, the War on Drugs ended a long time ago, and the drugs won.

Side Items

• Gwynocide Paltrow: Our Donkey of the Month award goes to Gwyneth Paltrow, who decided to take a break from hawking overpriced garbage to bored white women and starred in a new ad campaign for a luxury housing development…in israel. I’m not sure what would compel this former A-list celeb to stoop to this new low, but sometimes it’s nice to find out that the person you despise is actually a scumbag in real life. Vindication feels almost as good as a jade egg (only $66 plus tax!!) crammed where it doesn’t belong

• Prairieland Verdict: On July 4, 2025, 7 (seven) people protested Donald Trump’s ongoing war on immigrants by targeting the Prairieland Detention Center, an ICE facility located in Alvarado, Texas. These seven gathered at the detention camp for a “noise demonstration” and proceeded to vandalize cars as well as the delicate facility itself, spray-painting dangerous graffiti and setting off what the government describes as “commercial-grade fireworks” in a show of support for the people locked inside. When local police arrived, one of the seven, 32-year-old Benjamin Hanil Song, allegedly shot a police lieutenant in the neck, who would survive his wound. The police eventually recovered other firearms, as well as body armor and tactical gear and charged Song with attempted murder. But the rest of the defendants were also swept up not so much for what they did, but for what the government said they collectively are: a “North Texas Antifa cell.” One of the 8 (eight) people chared, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, wasn’t even present that night at the detention facility. He was instead convicted of ‘concealing documents’ - for moving a box of political literature. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. As the terrorist collective that the government claims they comprise, the Prairieland 8 were sentenced to a combined 450 years in federal prison. Not great news for anyone interested in protesting anything deemed anti-fascist…This serves as an important reminder that the net of what’s considered “out of bounds” is expanding constantly and rapidly

• All-American Idiot: It’s not often I’m left in awe of the insults written online, especially when they’re directed towards an individual I also despise, but this “analysis” of mediocre World Cup analycyst Alexi Lalas had me gagged. The author generously describes our shared foe as, “the life of the party at the party no one enjoys attending (lol), the “big personality” who’s always misjudging the size of the room (got him). He’s corporate America’s idea of a fun guy (ouchie), the type of workplace “character” whose business trip hangover never stops him from being first at the hotel breakfast buffet, hair wet, Untuckit shirt untucked (oddly specific, but got him againnn). He would absolutely dominate karaoke night at a conference on infrastructure finance (stray shots flying). If only this were the limit of Alexi Lalas’s actual impact on the world, our culture would live in blessed ignorance of his existence.” Wow, truly poetic. These are the poetic words of AAron Timms my friends, and it only gets better

• Defund Predators: The Ottawa chief of police recently described an internal work culture of sexually predatory behavior across pretty much the entire police force. According to their boss, some of these piglet officers are “seeing a woman at a coffee shop, coming out of a gym, driving next to them, getting their license plates and running them on the system” thereby turning extensive police databases into “their own way to meet women.” Another reason to “back the blue” I suppose

• World CUPdate: The worldwide tournament of the beautiful game has been underway for two weeks now, and every day brings more excitement and controversy. By this point, less than 30 of the 48 original competitors remain, and favorites like France and Argentina have not disappointed in destroying every team they’ve faced. Paraguay, Cape Verde, Egypt and Canada have surprised with their runs and qualification into the knockout rounds, but don’t be shocked if your chosen underdog makes a tragic and heartbreaking exit in the coming weeks

The US government has decided not to host the Iranian national team for this World Cup, despite the fact that every one of their games take place on American soil. Naturally, this is because the US government is currently (DEFINITELY NOT) at war with Iran. The big brains over at FIFA came up with the brilliant solution of basing the Iranian team in Tijuana, Mexico, juuuust south of the border, and having them fly out to their matches on gameday. Nevermind that these are professional athletes trying to bring their home nation some hope and joy in a time of absolute madness. Throw those boys on the next Frontier flight and pray there aren’t any delays.

For those interested, The Guardian put together their guide to this World Cup, providing a deep dive into every team’s strengths, weaknesses, and listing every one of the 1,248 athletes set to compete. As we approach the month-long competition, it will be interesting to see how the geopolitical conflicts we’re currently witnessing continue to impact the ordinarily-welcome distraction of athletic competition.

World Cup or not, the genocidal apartheid state of israel continues its barbarism uninterrupted. Their relentless brutality in Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Iran, and anywhere else they desire continues, killing countless innocent people day after day with the backing and full-fledged support of the American government. And if supporting the apartheid state wasn’t already enough, it appears the American government wants to further intertwine itself with this shameless nation of depraved war criminals.

A new section of law in the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, would give the apartheid state unprecedented access to American technology and would force the US military to integrate israeli defense technologies into our own military supply chain. This would provide the apartheid state with even more leverage over America’s defense priorities than they already have. Advocates for the apartheid state are desperately seeking ways to preserve and escalate American support for our colonial pet project in Palestine in ways that don’t rely on defending their murderous policies or doing their bidding in front of the cameras.

Relatedly, today marks 100 days since the US and its apartheid-obsessed pet attacked Iran, killing thousands of civilians, setting off the global energy crisis we’re witnessing and upending financial markets (the outcome making the most headlines). The apartheid state continues to utilize its incredibly unique interpretation of what constitutes a ceasefire where apparently everyone else ceases so that they can continue to fire.

“That’s basically the Israeli understanding. They do this in Gaza, they do this in Lebanon… UNIFIL recorded more than 12,000 Israeli ceasefire violations in Lebanon in the one year following the signing of that fall 2024 ceasefire.”

-Mohamad Elmasry, professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

Despite the fact that Trump claimed this would be a quick and easy military operation, we’re 100 days in without any end in sight. During these 100 days, more people have been killed in Lebanon than in Iran, the war’s original target, which should say something about the priorities of the attacking parties. According to preliminary figures, at least 3,593 people have been confirmed killed in Lebanon, with another 3,468 killed in Iran. And all for what? Are any of us somehow safer now that Lebanon is in shambles? Is gas cheaper because of our continued bombing in Iran? Is your portfolio doing better now nerd? Nope, all of this is in defense of an indefensible apartheid colony.

On the home front, things don’t look much better. Protesters have been engaged in an ongoing action outside Delaney Hall, a private prison in New Jersey currently housing immigrants detained by ICE. Detainees launched a hunger strike last month, according to Cosecha, an immigrant advocacy group. The detainees issued a number of handwritten letters from inside the prison with their demands, including improved living conditions and better medical care. Detainees in ICE detention across the country have alleged medical neglect for serious and chronic conditions, and they have announced hunger strikes at other facilities.

Beyond the horrors of war and the injustices of immigration detention, the priorities of our elected officials continue to contradict the wellbeing of the American people. The worker bees over at Bloomberg reported that in April 2026, over the course of one (1) month, spending on data center construction in the US was more than $50 BILLION. At present, spending on data center construction exceeds spending on all public transportation infrastructure, including airports, marine terminals, and all mass transit. As Ed Zitron writes in his newsletter, “AI data centers are ruinously expensive, requiring billions in upfront funding with operating costs so high that they, at best, run at a loss for the first five or six years of service, if they ever recover their original costs at all.”

Of course, there are plenty of other arguments against the continued expansion of these data centers, beyond the financial cost, including their harmful environmental impact, their greedy water usage, and the fact that they’ve somehow joined the apartheid state as the highest priority for our tax dollars. The bottom line is, the priorities of the American government could not be more divergent from the needs of the American people.

Erin Brockovich, the environmental advocate and inspiration behind the excellent Julia Roberts film, has launched her latest project, Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting, helping address one of the fastest-growing environmental concerns today: the expansion of data centers across the country. Her website is compiling complaints from across the US to create an interactive map of data center projects that have been proposed, are under construction, or are already operational. While the map isn’t exhaustive, she has already received almost 4,000 reports from people about data center developments in their communities in nearly all 50 states.

Side Items

• No Ragrets: Some of the cities that signed contracts with the surveillance giants Flock and their army of traffic cameras are unsure how exactly to cancel their contracts, leading them to literally covering the cameras they paid for. It’s always a good idea to think twice before signing a deal with the devil

• Mormon Lego Shenanigans: This might sound a little crazy, but over the past few weeks, a YouTuber named “Reckless Ben” has been sharing a story involving Mormons, police corruption, and $200,000 worth of stolen Legos. This story originates in Oregon, but traces back to Bricks and Minifigs, a LEGO resale chain headquartered in Utah. Long story short, the store is alleged to have stolen an old man’s $200k Lego collection without properly compensating him. The owner of Bricks and Minifigs is apparently connected with the local police and has had Ben arrested on four separate occasions so far, each time on charges ranging from stalking to trespassing

Airstrikes courtesy of the apartheid state have been a daily occurrence in southern Lebanon, with at least 19 killed just yesterday, including four women and three children. The daily attacks haven’t slowed down since the apartheid state invaded southern Lebanon and bombed the capital Beirut, despite the current existence of a supposed US-brokered ceasefire. So far more than a million people have been displaced in Lebanon, with some taking shelter in tents along roads and the Mediterranean Sea. This is what the apartheid state wants, a growing collection of tent-dwelling refugees that can be methodically removed from their homes.

Suffice to say there’s a lot going on, not to mention the World Cup that’s supposed to kick off here in three short weeks. In a nation governed by pedophiles, idiots and corrupt criminals, we’ve got a leader who recently ensured that his finances are forever immune from IRS review and a congressional body that’s almost entirely bought and paid for by the aforementioned apartheid state. I’m sure an international soccer tournament is exactly what we need to get everyone back onboard here.

You’d think all the perpetual violence taxpayers are implicitly funding would satisfy the bloodlust of the American public, but evidently you’d be mistaken. Earlier this week, two teenagers in San Diego attacked the local Islamic center, killing three innocent members of the Muslim community before ending their own pathetic lives. The heroic martyrs included two community elders, Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad, as well as the security guard responsible for protecting the mosque, Amin Abdullah, each of whom played an active role in distracting and preventing the attackers from reaching the mosque’s Islamic school, which had more than 140 children present.

To hear a 9-year old kid like Odai Shanah describe how he was feeling as he waited and hid with his classmates in a closet, it’s clear there is something profoundly wrong with this country. Every key ingredient that went into creating our current state of rampant Islamophobia has turned into broader American policy; mass surveillance has become as simple as Flock cameras, watchlists and false imprisonments have expanded, and the militarization of police has led to death and destruction in communities across the country.

Politicians regularly run on being anti-Islam and win, and flavorless whites from Bill Maher to Randy Fine have been building careers around hating Muslims and built multi-million dollar enterprises without breaking a sweat. Any politician that dares stand against the apartheid state is ousted expeditiously, as Thomas Massie demonstrated this week. But every mainstream media outlet would have you believe that the real issue we need to eradicate is antisemitism, or anything that could be deemed justified criticism of the apartheid state.

Meanwhile, the New York Times was making waves again recently after one of their writers published an “opinion” piece that highlighted the depravity and regularity of sexual torture visited upon Palestinians detained in the apartheid state. Nicholas Kristof, the Jewish author, shares details on the widespread sexual abuse committed by israeli prison guards, soldiers, settlers and interrogators against Palestinian men, women, and children. Naturally, people were up in arms arguing against this article, claiming the author's sources were biased and untrustworthy. What’s crazy to think about is that if Kristof lived in Gaza or the West Bank, the apartheid state’s military would’ve just announced that he was ‘aiding terrorism’ and blown him up with guided missiles, the same as they’ve done to countless Palestinian journalists over the last three years.

As we’ve collectively witnessed the genocide in Gaza and now spreading into Lebanon, more and more American Jews are having a hard time reconciling other core features of their identity with support for the apartheid state. While it’s undoubtedly a good thing for people to question their beliefs, sometimes the questions really aren’t all that hard. For example: Do you think it’s good or bad to kill tens of thousands of innocent children? It seems like a simple, straightforward question at first, but wait for the twist…the kids are Palestinian. Not so easy now huh??

Mind you, this whimsical apartheid state that has so many Jewish-Americans scouring the depths of their souls for answers is the first nation to have an ethnicity-based death penalty since Nazi Germany! Hell of an accomplishment guys. As Palestinian MP Mustafa Barghouti explains it, “Even the apartheid regime in South Africa did not dare to say that if a black man kills a white man, he will be executed. But if a white man kills a black man, he will not be.” This is what our elected representatives are lining up to endorse folks.

Side Items

• Kars4Kids Controversy: Unfortunately, there’s really no way for me to describe the following controversy without sounding like a crazy antisemite. The popular TV/radio jingle produced by Kars4Kids will no longer be broadcast in the state of California, after a state judge determined last week that the charity’s ads amounted to false advertising. Basically, Kars4Kids purports to take donated cars and sell them to benefit children in need, but they failed to mention that they’re funneling about $45 million annually to organize trips to the apartheid state for teenagers. Kars4Kids is used to fund Oorah, a Jewish non-profit that runs summer camps in the tri-state area and arranges gap year trips to the apartheid state for 17 and 18-year-olds. Oorah also apparently used $16.5 million funneled from Kars4Kids to buy a building in the apartheid state to really leave their mark. The revelations surrounding this case have led to my discovery of the charity’s mascot, a human dressed as a literal bundle of cash called “Fiveish”, as well as this incredibly unfortunate video of Fiveish being chased through the streets of the apartheid state by a group of Orthodox Jews. It’s a truly tragic coincidence that in their attempt to fight back against what they likely thought was an antisemitic prank, these guys did kinda end up being a big group of very blatantly Jewish dudes chasing an anthropomorphized stack of money…what a world we live in

• Chud The Bozo: Last week, a guy named Dalton Eatherly was arrested outside a Tennessee courthouse for shooting another man. This story wouldn’t be news if Dalton aka “Chud the Builder” hadn’t recently made a habit of racially antagonizing Black people in public for the sake of clicks and views. The 28-year-old streamer now finds himself in custody as he faces an attempted murder charge, among other felonies. Because we live in the worst country imaginable, a crowdfunding effort to support Mr. Eatherly has already collected more than $250,000 in donations, although I’m not sure how much that translates to in a modern prison commissary

• The Struggle to Protest: I really enjoyed this New Yorker piece by Jay Caspian Kang, who is as talented a writer as we have at present, as he highlights some of the reasons why all our protest efforts feel so futile in the face of the violence and destruction we’re witnessing

As it stands we’re poised on the brink (in the midst?) of a massive mistake of a military operation in Iran, living in the most heavily-armed and poorly regulated country in the modern world. The Trump administration seems to think they can run a war on the weekends, balancing mass murder and the markets to avoid upsetting the balance too much, but after several weeks, the plan seems to be unraveling at a rapid pace.

I frequently come back to the documentary, “Hypernormalization”, which packs quite a punch as it explains the contradictory and predatory nature of modern society. The term was birthed late in the Soviet era, when people became aware that their system was failing but couldn’t imagine any alternative to the status quo. Society, both politicians and citizens alike, resigned themselves to at least maintaining the facade of a functioning society. Over time, this mass delusion became a self-fulfilling prophecy and everyone accepted it as the new norm, thus hypernormalization.

The film argues that in the aftermath of the global economic crises of the 1970’s, western governments, financiers and technological utopians gave up completely on trying to shape the complex “real world” and instead established a simpler “fake world” for the benefit of multi-national corporations propped up by neoliberal governments. Our constant distraction is worked into this math and we are persuaded to focus our attention on award shows & viral sports moments, while ignoring an apartheid state openly attempting to kill journalists and expand a genocidal colony. Maybe if we don’t look, we can pretend it’s not happening. The ongoing forced displacement of over a million people in Lebanon is impossible to call anything other than ethnic cleansing, on a scale larger than the Nakba, so perhaps it’s better not to call it anything at all.

Think back, has there been any significant antiwar protest over the past several weeks or months? I wonder why so many young people might be hesitant to get outside and voice their displeasure. There are certainly anti-war activists and organizations out there, but the repression they’ve faced, particularly if they spoke out against a certain apartheid state, has been so stringent that much of their work has been fragmented to the point of nonexistence. The critical mass needed to even protest effectively just isn’t there anymore because Americans ultimately are an obedient and easily-distracted people.

Even this kind of observation is a form of nostalgia for a time when democracy in this country was more real and participatory; a simpler time when markets didn’t fully dictate every decision and being online was an active choice. Now there’s no one left to persuade or pressure anymore, and there’s no real “public opinion” that matters. What an utterly inert, lethargic, and pitiful excuse for a society we occupy.

In just the past week, one of the president’s top counterterrorism officials, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, resigned dramatically, issuing an open condemnation of the Iran War. He said: “I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives.” Kent goes on to specifically highlight the influence of the apartheid state on Trump’s moronic decision to engage militarily, specifically blaming, "high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media" for encouraging the conflict.

And while the apartheid state drags us to the doorstep of World War III and extends its reach to the highest offices of power, it also continues to demonstrate its lifelong commitment to violent occupation. A comprehensive UN Human Rights Office report details the absolutely asphyxiating impact of the apartheid state’s laws, policies and practices on every aspect of daily life for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The report warns that the apartheid state is currently violating international law that requires states to prohibit and eradicate racial segregation and apartheid, featuring this interesting little detail:

The apartheid-protecting fascism has already extended stateside, as a New Jersey woman who took part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University was finally released after more than a year spent in a federal detention center in Texas. The case of Leqaa Kordia, held for more than a year without being charged with any crime, demonstrates the harsh reality of being incarcerated in a system that’s intentionally convoluted and structured to protect zionists. Meanwhile, outlets will conveniently fail to report the israeli government apologizing to literal rapist soldiers caught on film, all because some people were too mean to them. A sick joke of a society.

Side Items

• Cuban Blackout: The US is actively overseeing the electrical grid failure of millions of people in our immediate vicinity, as punishment for simply daring to be Cuban. Earlier this month, Trump was caught on tape talking crazy, as always, arguing that Cuban leadership was on the verge of collapse and claiming that he expected to have the honor of “taking” the country, whatever that means. Be on the lookout for another coup on the horizon

• Cesar Chavez Revelations: An investigation by the new york times (lowercase out of disdain for the outlet) found extensive evidence that Cesar Chavez, one of the most revered figures in the Latino civil rights movement, and co-founder of the United Farm Workers organization, groomed and sexually abused numerous girls who worked in the movement. It’s a pretty horrifying revelation made worse by the way Chavez has been venerated and singularly celebrated for so many years

• Praireland Trial: On July 4th of last year, about a dozen protesters held a noise demonstration outside the Prairieland ICE facility in Texas. Naturally, police showed up and escalated the situation, and the result was a lot of shots being fired. In the aftermath, one of the protesters was charged with attempted murder, but 18 others got swept up in the case, some who weren’t even present at the protest! A jury eventually convicted 7 people of materially supporting terrorism by being in attendance at the demonstration. This case and the related Prairieland convictions carry a pretty scary message: if your ideology puts you in opposition to the state, there’s now a legal framework for making your opposition a federal crime. If you’ve ever worn black to a protest, used Signal to chat with people, or even carried a first aid kit, a federal jury has now decided that these actions can all be evidence of supporting terrorism. Welcome to fascism folks

• The US and its apartheid state sidekick were duped into blowing up a bunch of drawings of Iranian military equipment (funny, but false)

• The apartheid state has suffered no casualties or lasting damage from incoming Iranian missile attacks (also false)

• An Iranian soldier riding a magic carpet was able to take down an enemy plane using a machine gun (can you imagine??)

Obviously most of these claims are absurd enough for any thinking person to disregard immediately, but we have to keep in mind that many of the people in charge of the American military have an IQ lower than the number of Fast and Furious films made in Hollywood. All it takes is for Trump to see a video of an Iranian on a flying carpet to further escalate this already disastrous war. Meanwhile, the White House has been engaging in its own kind of meme warfare, as its official social media account shared an AI video comparing the ongoing airstrikes in Iran to a bowling alley, making light of the war and trivializing the fact that people (including Americans) are paying for these policy decisions with their lives.

It’s kind of insane to know that an entire war was started with no case made to the public, no timeline dictated, no clear goals or objectives, no congressional vote, and no discussions about funding. Our political leaders will spend 18 months trying to decide whether or not to forgive student loans, but the literal billions of dollars spent on war aren’t even worth a conversation. Half the American public can’t be bothered to keep track of what’s happening, and the other half have become geopolitical experts overnight. People want to talk about the importance of the Strait of Hormuz, but these same people couldn’t find Iran on a labeled map.

This whole fiasco is just vibes and bombs, but I guess this is what World War 3 looks like; a state of endless warfare that doesn’t necessarily involve armies battling it out on the ground. This new kind of war is unbound by time and increasingly even borders, with at least 18 different countries directly involved in the Iran war (so far).

This week, more than 100 children were killed along with hundreds of others in Lebanon as the apartheid state continues its historic tradition of indiscriminately bombing anyone within reach. Much of the western media has completely ignored the escalation, despite the fact that an estimated 10% of the Lebanese population has already been displaced. The hope is that Western media will quickly move on and treat Lebanon and Iran the same way they’ve treated Syria and Yemen and Somalia and Gaza and so many others; not in paying attention to the daily atrocities, but by reporting on page 15 that another strike occurred today.

Many in the western media imagined World War 3 as a nuclear war or a series of prolonged ground engagements, similar to the Second World War. But in the modern era of drones and air power, that’s not at all what it looks like. Members of congress can say they oppose a hypothetical boots-on-the-ground war that hasn’t happened, but that doesn’t mean much when they’re willing to ignore the war that actually exists.

Meanwhile, as every major news organization tries to manufacture consent and find justification for attacking Iran, outlets like Rolling Stone are publishing absolutely insane dispatches from inside Tel Aviv’s bomb shelters, highlighting the absurdity of apartheid lovers huddling underground and having rave dance parties while their supposedly-underdog genocidal nation is under attack.

As the parasitic apartheid state pathetically paints itself as the perennial victim, it is also doing everything in its power to protect the prevalently perverse actions of its so-called “protectors”. Earlier this week, the Israeli military said it was dropping charges against five soldiers who were caught on video sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee. The horrifying assault, which was aired by Israeli news, depicts soldiers taking a prisoner into an area they blocked off with shields in an apparent attempt to hide their actions. These cowards assaulted the Palestinian prisoner and sodomized him with a knife, causing multiple injuries, only to be seen as national heroes.

The whole world may have moved on from the genocide in Gaza, but that doesn’t mean it’s over. Every week brings news of more violence, expanded occupation, and deprivation of basic human needs. Ignoring the crimes of the apartheid state only dooms us to their continuation.

Side Items

• Sports Gambling Pandemic: The Atlantic took a break from sanitizing war crimes for the apartheid state and decided to give one of their correspondents $10,000 for the express purpose of gambling on sports. Needless to say, he lost every cent, which seems like a skill issue to some degree, but does speak to the fact that any of us could become a degenerate gambler if we make a few simple mistakes. The whole article is worth a read, but this quote really stood out to me: “Practically overnight, we took an ancient vice - long regarded as soul-rotting and civilizationally ruinous - put it on everyone’s phone, and made it as normal and frictionless as checking the weather. What could possibly go wrong?”

• Mississippi Mass Grave: Not sure how this story didn’t get more attention, but a mass grave was discovered in Mississippi containing 215 bodies buried in unmarked graves behind a jail outside of Jackson. This has obviously left the community in disbelief, as the families of the victims were never notified of the deaths and now find their loved ones buried in graves marked by just a metal rod and a number. There are untold horrors being hidden across this country.

• Real Estate Revelations: Three Israeli-Americans, including two who were among the most prominent real estate brokers in the country, were convicted this week of engaging in a years-long conspiracy to sex traffic women and girls, some of whom were drugged before they were assaulted. Oren, Alon, and Tal Alexander were some of the top figures in New York's luxury real estate business, and all of them were found guilty on all counts earlier this week. I’m sure their national origins are probably just a coincidence…

In the past few days, American aircraft carriers positioned themselves in the Middle East, well within striking distance of Iran. On Saturday, America and its favorite apartheid-loving pet launched what they called “preemptive” airstrikes that killed Iran’s leader, the 86-year old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They followed this up with more “preemptive” attacks across Iran, killing hundreds of people so far, including more than 160 girls, most of them aged between 7 and 12, at a school in Minab in southern Iran.

Take a second and think about that. Had it been Russia or Iran or (God forbid) Palestine that killed over 160 schoolgirls, it would’ve been the biggest news story in the world for months. But because it was the US and its genocidal ally conducting the atrocity, somehow it’s not even newsworthy. When asked about the attack, our brainless “secretary of war” Pete Hegseth, a man with more alcohol than blood flowing through his veins, had this to say:

In response, Iran has launched targeted strikes aimed directly at the weak points of their adversaries, including American military bases across the Middle East. So far, the US State Department has ordered the evacuation of all non-essential personnel and families in six nations, including Kuwait and the UAE, as the fallout spills across international boundaries. American fighter jets are still lined up on active runways in the apartheid state, just waiting for orders, and despite Trump’s wishes, there’s no “off ramp” in sight. Make no mistake friends, we’re facing another endless ‘military engagement’, and the countdown to open warfare is no longer being measured in months or weeks, but hours and minutes.

There’s more than a few issues with engaging in another long-term military action (aka illegal war) in the Middle East. Apart from the obvious ethical and legal problems, this country simply isn’t prepared. Despite all the tough talk and bold rhetoric from American leaders, the American military really isn’t built like that, if we’re being honest with ourselves. For instance, one of the main aircraft carriers, the USS Gerald R Ford (the most expensive ship ever built by the US Navy) apparently has a shortage of functioning toilets. I promise this is not a joke. There aren’t enough functioning toilets for the 4,600 sailors onboard, and the poopy problem is growing worse every day.

We could talk about the issue of imperialism or the mixed up priorities at the core of all this, but at this point what does it matter? Sure, it would be cool if the US took care of its own citizens and rebuilt its crumbling infrastructure, but that’s just not going to happen. The people making policy decisions are either completely oblivious or willfully ignorant of the actions they are sowing, so we can’t really be surprised when the time for reaping comes around. The endless horrors we witnessed in Gaza over the past 2+ years really blew a hole in our moral universe and now anything and everything can slide right through.

Separately, Pakistan’s Minister of Defense Khawaja Muhammad Asif has announced that Pakistan is now at war with Afghanistan, so it looks like we’re getting an undercard fight to go along with the main event. I’m really not trying to make light of the situation, it’s just getting hard to keep track of all the ways things are falling apart.

Apart from the outbreak of regional hostilities, an NPR investigation found that the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump. The one thing we can definitively say about the attacks on Iran is that they have distracted everyone from the Epstein atrocities. I’m not saying it’s the main reason Trump decided to greenlight this operation of epic failure, but it may have been a contributing factor. And all it required was taking us all to the brink of another war with no end.

Side Items

• Royal Arrest: Last week, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, aka the overly-sweaty former prince of England and literal brother of their king, was arrested on suspicion of “misconduct in public office”. The sleazy scumbag got arrested on his 66th birthday as police said they were investigating allegations that he had shared confidential material with Jeffrey Epstein. Days later, Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the US, was also arrested and quickly released on bail after a misconduct probe relating to his ties to the scumbag pedophile ‘financier’. So far, these high-profile arrests are the only noticeable consequences, and there’s been no equivalent reckoning with our elected officials here in the States

• CJNG Downfall: Last week, the Mexican government killed one of the world’s biggest narco-kingpins, known as “El Mencho”, setting off an outbreak of cartel violence across our southern neighbors. The killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes was the highest-profile attack against cartels since the recapture of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán a decade ago. All these decades later, and the so-called “War on Drugs” rages on

• Ramadan Kareem: With all the ongoing drama and controversy, I almost forgot to wish a blessed Ramadan to all those celebrating. The holy month is halfway over by now, but I sincerely hope we all benefit from it, Muslim or not

With each passing day, the broadening scope of the Epstein-related horrors continues to grow and infect facets of our lives previously considered safe. Scrolling online for 10 minutes these days will have you convinced that 9/11 was an inside job and that aliens are among us and Covid was preplanned and ISIS was always just a US/israeli project, and that the global elite are a bunch of devil worshipping pedophiles and cannibals. Now that there’s growing evidence that the rich and powerful were indeed engaging in horrific criminality, I imagine these have gotta be hard days to be a conspiracy theorist.

Despite the ongoing revelations, we’re somehow supposed to just carry on with our daily lives like nothing is wrong? Sadly, in spite of our current dire straits, it appears many people have yet to come to terms with the unfortunate reality that every day features some scandal that 20 years ago would’ve been a career-ending global headline. Our culture has sunk to incredible depths of complacent cruelty and moral degeneracy beyond imagination.

You might look around at the shambolic state of affairs and wonder how exactly we got here. One major contributing factor was the Citizens United decision. Before Citizens United, the supreme court case that irrevocably reshaped the modern political environment, was passed in 2010, billionaire scumbags spent less than $20 million on the 2008 presidential election. That number sounds absurd nowadays. In 2012 that number jumped to $231 million, and it only continued to jump over the following three election cycles (roughly $682 million in 2016, $1.2 billion in 2020, and $2.6 billion in 2024). That’s a lot of money being thrown around by people with no interest in the wellbeing of humanity. With that in mind, it becomes easier to understand what got us here.

As we consider how we arrived at this junction, this country is quietly deporting Palestinians arrested by ICE to the occupied West Bank by private jet, with two such flights taking place so far since the beginning of 2026. These deportations are being conducted in coordination with the authorities of the apartheid state, of course, who have resumed their genocidal provocations without any consequences.

According to an investigation by Al Jazeera, civil defence teams in Gaza have documented thousands of Palestinians who have “evaporated” since the genocide began in October 2023. This isn’t meant figuratively, the apartheid state literally made a habit of using thermobaric bombs in Gaza which created temperatures up to 3,000 Celsius and are banned under international law. The heat from these bombs was so hot they vaporized nearly 3,000 Palestinians. Vaporized. Thousands of Palestinians who left behind no remains other than blood spray or small fragments of their flesh. This is the level of depravity we’re up against.

We can’t stand by and simply observe, distracting ourselves to death. Don’t pity the moth for mistaking a lamp for the moon when we constantly confuse a screen as representative of the world. Remember that your joy isn’t an act of resistance if it’s generating revenue for the very systems oppressing you or putting money in the pockets of the people pulling the strings.

A revolution is long overdue, and it’s important to remember that revolution begins with yourself. An egg broken from the outside is food; broken from the inside, it’s new life. That’s where the saying, “the revolution will not be televised” originated from. It’s not about TV or movies or entertainment of any kind, it’s the idea that before you can change your actions and redirect your energy, you must first change your internal assumptions and ways of thinking.

Side Items

• It’s Over Folks: The Super Bowl took place last week, followed by this weekend’s NBA All-Star festivities, further solidifying the realization that the good old days are far behind us. I remember a time when these sporting events brought along a sense of excitement and anticipation; the halftime show, the slam dunk contest, even the commercials! But in the wake of America’s favorite holiday, the main takeaway was pretty much that the entire American economy is being propped up by AI, weight loss drugs, cryptocurrency and gambling. To top things off, Ring, your favorite neighborhood surveillance tool, generously offered to turn every neighborhood into an AI-fueled surveillance state under the guise of “helping you find your lost dog”. But worse than any advertisement we might’ve seen was the football being played…what a pity

• Likud James: Meanwhile, during the events surrounding this weekend’s NBA All-Star game, LeBron James gave an interview mentioning how he’s heard “nothing but great things” about the apartheid state that’s been actively committing a genocide for the past two and a half years. I would love to know what kinds of great things Mr. James has been hearing while we’ve all been busy watching Gaza get blown to bits. We’ve certainly fallen a long way from upstanding athletes like Muhammad Ali who took principled stances not because it would make them money, but because “I just love freedom and flesh and blood of my people more than I do the money.”–Muhammad Ali (1971)

• Flappy Bird: Does anybody remember the game "Flappy Bird”? It was one of the early viral mobile games, in the same era as Temple Run and Doodle Jump. The story behind the simple, yet addicting game is truly remarkable and inspiring. It was initially developed by a 28-year-old Vietnamese guy living with his parents who programmed the game over a single holiday weekend in his bedroom. He used free ad monetization and just wanted to make a few hundred bucks a month. The game sat untouched in the App Store for eight months before it went viral. With zero money spent on marketing, the game grows uncontrollably and within weeks it tops the charts in over a hundred countries, hitting 50 million downloads, and generating $50,000 per day in pure ad revenue. This developer is suddenly making $18 million annualized from a game he built in three days. So what does he do next? He kills it. He gets online and announces that he feels guilty that people are playing it too much, and he deletes the game. Not because Apple forced him. Not because Nintendo sued him. Not because a competitor acquired him. The guilt was ruining his sleep, so he made a choice and prioritized his inner peace. That’s real wealth

And the terror has never been more evident. We’re simultaneously seeing a continuation of the genocide in Palestine, an uptick in the brutality of repressive government forces at home, and periodic (and heavily redacted) revelations into the depravity of the global elite who, all along, have apparently been engaging in the most horrifying crimes imaginable. It’s enough to make you want to bury your head in the sand and simply go about your daily life, not out of apathy, but because the feeling of powerlessness is so paralyzing that even ignorance appears blissful. Don’t give in to that urge my friends, keeping our eyes and hearts open is the only route to achieving justice, no matter how unreachable it can seem.

Months after the supposed ceasefire was announced, the apartheid state of israel is still dropping bombs on Palestinians whose only protection is the tents they’ve been forced to live in. Think about how obscene that is for a second: billions of dollars of the most sophisticated weaponry on the planet; fighter jets and laser-guided munitions and unmanned drones and the list goes on, all wielded against unarmed and innocent civilians living in tents with nowhere to run or escape, let alone resist the onslaught.

While much of the global media has moved on and stopped paying attention to the war crimes taking place in Gaza, The Nation dedicated their website to providing continued coverage, declaring this past Tuesday “A Day for Gaza” and running multiple pieces written by people in and from Gaza. It’s critical we pay attention to these stories, even as we’re inundated with instances of police misconduct and Epstein-related criminality. Don’t forget that the people in Gaza are still struggling to survive and recover from the most well-documented crime against humanity in recent history.

Meanwhile, the New York Times (a rag of unrivaled disgrace) has somehow doubled down on their pitiful attempts at journalism, publishing an opinion piece from world-renowned moron Thomas L. Friedman comparing ICE agents to Hamas. Imagine how smooth your brain has to be to witness an occupying force gassing and shooting protestors, but calling the ones who get killed “terrorists.” The self-inflicted brain injury required to publish this column without comparing ICE to the IDF is almost impressive. It further establishes how committed outlets like the NYT are to upholding the disgraceful status quo, no matter the cost.

Much like the IDF, the scumbags dedicated to patrolling our borders have always been perfectly happy to use disproportionate force to get their way. Whether it’s arresting innocent people, ignoring established laws, or even killing protesters, these morons are cut from the same despicable cloth. Don’t forget that border patrol agents were on horseback whipping Haitians in front of cameras during the Biden administration. The racist brutality of these cowards is nothing new, it was just easier for some people to turn a blind eye when their team was in power.

If somehow Gaza wasn’t enough to convince you of the stinking moral rot at the core of practically every elite institution in the western world, that demon Jeffrey Epstein was stupid enough to document and confirm our suspicions. As more documents are revealed and the scope of the depravity continues to grow, it becomes more obvious why the war crimes in Gaza had no impact on the hearts and minds of the people in power. It’s not just a preference for an apartheid state over the self-determination of Palestinians, it’s a deeper malignant apathy for the lives of so many thousands of people.

For anyone still making the hopeless case that, “this isn’t about politics, it’s about basic human rights”, my brothers and sisters, what do you think politics has always been about? Being someone who’s “not really into politics” in this day and age sounds a lot like someone saying they’re “not really into personal hygiene”. It’s not exactly a hobby, but you should still shower regardless because it’s a basic part of being a human being around other human beings.

Side Items

• Real Journalism: This fascinating article tells the story of Walpole State Prison in Massachusetts, at one point described as the most violent prison in the country, and what happened when the guards decided to go on strike in the 70’s. Spoiler alert: the inmates didn’t riot and go insane with bloodlust, but rather, they developed a system of self-governance that disproved the idea that everyone incarcerated is some wild animal just waiting to attack

• “The Rip” Review: Netflix decided to partner with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to drop the worst, most obnoxious piece of copaganda in recent memory with the release of their new film “The Rip”. The movie tells the story of a group of cops who stumble upon a massive stash of cartel cash and grapple with the decision of turning in the money or keeping it for themselves. A realistic depiction would show the cops keeping the money, killing a few random bystanders, and happily retiring to free up more time to play Candy Crush, but Netflix had other ideas. I give the movie a solid 2.5/10, not totally unwatchable, but unbearable nonetheless

The cowards and morons tasked with patrolling our nation’s borders literally got away with murder twice this month (so far). First they killed Renee Good, a mother shot through the windshield of her car for the simple crime of not following the arbitrary orders of these idiots. Her murder sparked outrage across the country, with many Minnesotans fuming that ICE is even present in their neighborhoods. Eventually, their anger resulted in a general strike held in Minneapolis on Friday. Tens of thousands of people came together and protested justifiably against the rogue agency, but their demands would be neither acknowledged nor respected by those in power. Despite the ongoing abuse of power, the people of Minnesota continued to do their best to navigate the horde of fascist piglets that have descended upon them.

Yesterday, ICE agents murdered another man, Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who bravely intervened to try and protect a woman who was filming the illegal actions of ICE agents. Once again, people in Minnesota took to the streets to voice their displeasure, and once again, it appears we are unprepared to meet the moment. Ask yourself; If 50,000 people marching in the street doesn’t stop ICE agents from emptying their guns into innocent protesters, then what will? I believe it’s well past time we thought of more impactful protest methods than chants and posterboards.

It would be a mistake not to also mention that these two highly-publicized murders (both captured on video) are not the only deaths at the hands of ICE. Just weeks ago on New Year’s Eve, Keith Porter Jr, a 43-year-old father of two, was shot and killed by an off-duty ICE officer outside his apartment complex in Los Angeles. An LAPD spokesperson (an unrepentant swine) said after the murder that Porter had fired gunshots into the air, likely in celebration of the new year. The off-duty immigration officer was “forced to defensively use his weapon” while responding to this so-called “active shooter”, and the rest is well-known history. Porter’s actions might’ve merited a ticket or even an arrest if you’re a dedicated bootlicker, but instead of paying a fine or facing a judge, the ICE agent, who was not charged with any local law enforcement duties, served as judge, jury, and willing executioner, subjecting Porter to a death sentence.

Call it reactionary if you like, but I believe it’s important to recognize things as they are. ICE as a government agency is a paramilitary organization actively carrying out a state-sponsored campaign of ethnic cleansing. There’s really no two ways about that. So far they’ve killed at least two people in Minnesota without a hint of remorse, and if anything, they seem to be escalating every day. Immediately after Renee Good was murdered, the vice president of this garbage heap stated that the offending officer has “total immunity” for murdering an American citizen. It’s interesting because usually the “total immunity” thing only applies when Americans kill black and brown people overseas, so it looks like another instance of the imperial boomerang visiting us here at home.

In the aftermath of Pretti’s murder, Minnesota governor Tim Walz activated the national guard, which might come as a relief to anyone unfamiliar with the national guard. Historically, they don’t have the greatest track record in terms of protecting innocent civilians from law enforcement officers. Only time will tell how this decision will affect ICE operations in Minnesota, but somehow I doubt we’ve seen the last of their abuse of power.

For those curious, ICE is currently operating under a set of “use of force” policy documents that were last updated by the Biden administration. These policies place absurd power in the hands of ICE agents, who only require the perception of a threat in order to use force. Trump didn’t create some lawless agency, he simply inherited it. I doubt we’ll ever see any real investigation into these murders, but on the off chance that we do, the policies put in place under Biden legally justify these killings. Just something to consider next time we imagine what things might be like under a different president.

As journalist Prem Thakker correctly points out, the cinematic masterpiece Ice Age (released March 15, 2002) is older than the murderous immigration agency ICE (established March 1, 2003). These cowards aren’t invincible, they’re just hiding behind a gun and a mask, no different than a thousand iterations of villains. There are simply too many Americans who have enjoyed luxury and decadence for so long that they genuinely lack the imagination to conceive of how bad things can get, and how quickly. No matter how many times they try to convince you, this country isn’t God’s special, shiny nation of chosen people. Bad things can happen here, and we’re watching them happen every day in real time.

The people in power don’t want you to pay attention to what’s happening in Minnesota, because they don’t want anyone getting ideas about how to effectively organize and resist. Do yourself a favor, keep your eyes open and make sure you can defend yourself, whatever that looks like.

Side Items

• Big Freeze: I understand it’s January, but it’s really cold fam. North Carolina is cold and snowy, New York is cold and snowy, Chicago, which is normally cold and snowy this time of year, is actually frigid and frozen over. Do your best out there and be safe my friends, don’t drive unless you have to and keep an eye out for ice (and ICE)

• Spanish Train Crash: Spain has experienced several tragic train crashes in the past weeks, including a high-speed rail collision that killed more than 40 people and injured dozens more in southern Spain. Transportation officials are at a loss trying to understand how one high-speed train jumped the track and collided with another going in the other direction

• Betar Disbanded: New York Attorney General Letitia James said that her office reached a settlement with the pro-apartheid state group Betar US over their ruthless harassment of pro-Palestinian activists over the past few years. The legal settlement will see the far-right zionist group gradually shutter its operations in the state, much to the benefit of humanity. The attorney general’s investigation “uncovered an alarming and illegal pattern of bias-motivated harassment and violence designed to terrorize communities and shut down lawful protest.” Amazing that it only took two (2) full years to officially disband this group from operating in exactly one (1) state

• Bone Collector Caught: A Pennsylvania man was arrested and charged with over a hundred counts of abusing dead bodies when police found him leaving a graveyard with a totally inconspicuous crowbar and burlap sack. Further investigation revealed that the man had human bones and skulls visible in the back seat of his car. Jonathan Gerlach was charged with 100 counts each of abuse of a corpse and receiving stolen property, along with multiple counts of desecrating a public monument, desecrating a venerated object, desecrating a historic burial place, burglary, trespassing and theft. This guy was basically addicted to robbing graves, further confirming that new varieties of strange and wicked are being unlocked every day

Last week, under the orders of FIFA Peace Prize recipient Donald Trump, American troops attacked Caracas, Venezuela, bombing multiple locations before capturing and kidnapping President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a bold (and entirely illegal) nighttime raid. It appears Trump is desperately seeking his own “Zero Dark Thirty” moment, and with the assistance of dozens of unidentifiable Delta Force operators, it appears he got just what he wanted.

For those keeping score at home, apparently the president can now kidnap a leader from a sovereign country and drag him a thousand miles away into our judicial system, and people will call it “justice”. There’s no need to involve congress in this pesky war business anymore, no need to justify these illegal actions, and no explanation necessary. Instead, Trump simply gave the order and watched things unfold, as plenty of Americans provided cover, saying these actions are not only justified, but necessary to “protect democracy” or “liberate the people of Venezuela”. Kinda interesting how these same politicians will turn around and sanction the International Criminal Court for trying to arrest a war criminal actively committing genocide.

Setting aside momentarily the subject of this highly-publicized arrest, consider the dangerous precedent this sets for the international community. It’s beyond time for us to understand that all these so-called due processes are, in reality, complete bullshit. What we’ve witnessed is a naked exercise of power that demonstrates how the people in charge just don’t care as much as they used to about building up a facade of justification.

Was Maduro a dictator? By many metrics, and according to many of his countrymen, yes. Was he an immediate threat to the US? Almost certainly not. Does Venezuela have the largest untapped oil reserves on the planet? Funny you should ask. Do we think the presence of oil factored into the decision to invade and detain the leader of Venezuela? I’m not sure I can even dignify that question with a response. The people claiming that the violence in Venezuela has nothing to do with oil are probably the same people who still believe in “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. Sometimes I’m jealous of people with such minimal brain activity, I imagine it’s a truly blissful existence.

The difficult reality is that Gaza and Venezuela are both mirrors reflecting the potential future of the Global South under an imperial system that no longer feels constrained by legality or shame. 20 years ago, when the US wanted to manufacture a reason to invade a country for its natural resources, they had to draw up a map and do a little presentation at the UN. Now the idiots in charge just throw together any combination of buzzwords like “immigration”, “drugs”, and “democracy” and voilà, instant manufactured consent.

Meanwhile, as we watch the situation continue to develop in Venezuela, things are far from resolved in Gaza. Months after a ceasefire was announced, innocent Palestinians are still being targeted and killed on a daily basis, with nothing resembling accountability for the offending apartheid state. Media outlets like Rolling Stone are keeping busy publishing articles about how important music was for the Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The article mentions how these hostages were subjected to all sorts of horrors, including sexual abuse, a point that’s been debunked countless times, but makes for great reading I guess.

If you thought 2026 would be different than 2025, you may be in for some hard truths. It appears we’re in for a long year my friends.

Side Items

• Greenland Next Up: The historically overlooked island of Greenland seems to be the next territory Donny Trump hopes to annex. The self-governing territory of Denmark has rejected Trump’s advances so far, but if there’s one thing Trump is known for, it’s never taking “no” for an answer (not a compliment, but rather a reference to his numerous accusations of sexual impropriety). Greenland sits just off the northeastern coast of Canada, with the majority of its territory lying within the Arctic Circle. The island’s location makes it important to the defense of North America as well as North Atlantic shipping lanes. Only time will tell if Trump decides to deploy the helicopters and commandos to seize this territory

• Happy Anniversary: Five years ago this week, we witnessed one of the most absurd and hilarious moments of modern US politics, when hundreds of angry idiots decided to storm the US Capitol Building to protest the results of the presidential election. On that fateful day, the world watched as one of the most prominent symbols of US political power descended into chaos. Pretty remarkable that it only took five quick years for Trump to return to power and begin exporting this same brand of leadership to other countries

• Another One: Northern California representative Doug LaMalfa, a seven-term congressman and a consistent Trump supporter, died this week at the age of 65. His passing reduces the republican party’s narrow control of congress, as there are now 218 republican seats compared to 213 for the democrats. LaMalfa will probably be missed, but not by me

I was recently informed by a friend that Merriam-Webster and the hardworking folks down at the dictionary have appropriately chosen ‘slop’ as the word of the year for 2025. For those unfamiliar, ‘slop’ is defined as, “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” How fitting.

Much of our modern society revolves around this so-called ‘slop’, whether commercial, political, or for entertainment purposes. The deluge of slop this year included ridiculous AI videos, cheesy and destructive propaganda, fake news that some people mistook for real, junk AI-written music, and plenty of “workslop” reports that did nothing but waste time. One of the key elements of slop production and distribution is a lack of complexity and the ease of consumption. For that reason alone, I’d say the dictionary people really hit the nail on the head with this one.

The past year has allowed us to exist in a time and place where the closest thing we have to a shared cultural experience is the periodic drops of the Epstein files. The continued dangling of criminal evidence is a timely reminder that, conspiracies aside, our country truly is run by a collection of deviants and predators beyond our imagination. The scandal that continues to unfold illustrates just how useless all the conspiratorial thinking is. We’re witnessing real life Pizzagate being exposed on a weekly basis, implicating celebrities and major political figures in both parties as well as those at the highest levels of power, including the British monarchy. Everyone sees it, knows about it, and is in on ~The Secret~ to some degree, but it doesn’t really seem to matter at all.

In the end, nobody gets arrested, nobody gets justice, nothing really changes. All the secrecy and hidden messaging weren’t even necessary. The rich will remain above the law because, in truth, they control the law. But these Epstein-related crimes aren’t just another tax evasion scandal or routine public embarrassment; we’re talking about a level of criminality that should be evil enough to topple the US government, as every administration since (at least) the Clintons has been aware of this and done nothing. The evidence suggests that the majority of our political leaders are predators or enablers at a minimum.

As we continue to wait for the miracle of unattainable justice, the rest of the world continues to disintegrate. Despite the reports of a ceasefire agreement being reached months ago, the news out of Palestine remains as grim as ever, and any hopes of rebuilding a free Gaza must grapple with the apartheid state’s refusal to stop killing innocent Palestinians. The continued violence has given outlets like the New York Times an opportunity to ask the burning question of why Palestinians are still getting murdered, despite the fact that there’s a “ceasefire”. The apartheid state’s public slaughter of a wedding party in Gaza last month brought the total number of Palestinians murdered during this ‘ceasefire’ to over 400. But unsurprisingly, much of the world has already moved on and forgotten about the Palestinian people.

2025 was a year of intense lows and unpredictable highs. We witnessed Zohran Mamdani winning the election for mayor of America’s largest city, on the same day that we learned of the passing of ol’ Dick & Balls Cheney, truly the funniest possible outcome. A major architect of the modern world was betrayed by a heart that wasn’t even his and slipped from this world into an undeservedly peaceful death. A man like Cheney really deserved hyperviolent and long-overdue justice, but the world we live in today would never allow it. In honor of Dick’s demise, over the past month I’ve been waterboarding hundreds of random innocent people while claiming they were hiding weapons of mass destruction. It’s what the crusty old bastard would’ve wanted.

Despite these dismal state of affairs, 2026 still has the potential to be a great year. Picture the scene: America’s largest city is now called Mamdanistan; Friday prayer is required of all city employees, pork has been outlawed across the metropolis, and the Statue of Liberty is clad in a tasteful headscarf. This is the NEW New York, and the haters are absolutely seething. If you’re reading this and you live in the city, congrats and welcome to the fold of Islam! For those of us watching from afar, waiting patiently for our own brave protectors to come out of hiding and rescue us: Sometimes we have to build our own Mamdanistans.

Do your best out there my friends.

2025 Superlatives

• Things I Enjoyed Watching in 2025: This could include any number of films, but honestly the thing I most enjoyed watching this year was Liverpool crushing Tottenham at the tail end of the 2024-2025 Premier League season. It was the game that sealed the 20th league victory for the Reds, made even sweeter by the tens of thousands of fans lucky enough to witness the momentous occasion

• Things I Didn’t Enjoy Watching in 2025: Apart from the endless war crimes perpetrating by the apartheid state in Gaza, it was probably the first film I watched in 2025, the award-winning Emilia Perez, a truly groundbreakingly-garbage movie. Similarly, the War of the Worlds remake starring Ice Cube is almost impressive in how bad it is. There’s no shortage of visual slop to consume

• Things I Enjoyed Hearing in 2025: I really enjoyed this track by Turkish artists Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek. No clue what any of the lyrics mean, as the song’s entirely in Turkish, but I’m willing to bet it’ll keep you nodding along. If that doesn’t do the trick, give this bouncing track from Canadian/Syrian/Lebanese band Kazdoura a listen. Kazdoura means “to stroll” in Levantine Arabic, which is appropriate given how this song will have your feet tapping

• Things I Didn’t Enjoy Hearing in 2025: Honestly, hard to say, with so many options to choose from. I could say Lil Wayne’s latest album, Tha Carter VI, a collection of the worst musical choices by a past-his-prime artist incapable of self-awareness. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention country music’s favorite insufferable scoundrel, Morgan Wallen, who dropped a 37-track album titled, “I’m The Problem”, which is less an album title and more just an objectively true statement. Finally, it wouldn’t be an honest list without briefly mentioning Taylor Swift, who dropped yet another stinker as part of her continued efforts to elevate the plight of mediocre white women

Palestinian health officials announced that in the days since the ‘ceasefire’ was established, dozens of Palestinians have been killed across Gaza, including children. This appears to be the standard expectation going forward, whereby the apartheid state will continue to slaughter innocent Palestinians with no repercussions from the international community. So the Palestinians lucky enough to have survived the genocide now get to occupy the liminal space between feeling overwhelmed by the scale of crimes committed against them and being unable to trust that their nightmare has truly ended.

The Guardian reported that at least 135 mutilated Palestinian bodies that were returned to Gaza in the past weeks were traced to Sde Teiman military prison, a place notorious for torture and deaths in custody. That the apartheid state is murdering and torturing people in its prisons is no surprise, but the lack of reaction from the wider world is disheartening to say the least. It seems many people only needed to hear news of a ‘ceasefire’ in order to stop paying attention.

This is the status quo that we are left to accept in the United States. Our political representatives are too self-absorbed to bother addressing any of the issues we’re facing. The folks with the power to change things in Washington DC are too busy making sure the government stays inoperable to make any effort towards acknowledging or resolving the difficulties we face. Sadly, the mainstream media isn’t doing a good enough job illustrating just how dire things are. If the current government shutdown continues for much longer we’re looking at hundreds of thousands of people going hungry because their SNAP benefits won’t pay out. There are a thousand things our elected representatives could be doing to make our lives easier, but instead they have chosen to do nothing.

Last weekend featured another edition of the periodic ‘No Kings’ demonstrations, which saw hundreds of thousands of Americans take to the streets to express their discontent. My curiosity surrounding these “No Kings” actions was initially high, but has since dwindled as I’ve realized that there’s not really any demand being made by participants. All these thousands of Americans got outside with their clever signs and eye-catching outfits, but to the best of my knowledge there hasn’t really been a unifying message, beyond the obvious recognition that Trump = bad. If this is the best we can conjure as a mass protesting movement in the United States, we are beyond cooked.

There are people still wondering how Trump supporters are able to ignore his madness and fascist misbehavior, but in the words of historian Robin D.G. Kelley, “If you were able to overlook a genocide and cast a vote for Harris, you already know how a conservative was able to overlook Trump’s extremism and vote for him.”

Side Items

• Louvre Robbery: An audacious group of thieves conducted a calculated and precise robbery of one of the most prominent museums in the world last weekend, getting away with several pieces of “priceless” jewelry from Paris’ Louvre Museum. In a bold morning raid at the iconic tourist trap, the robbers allegedly used a crane positioned on a truck to get into the Galerie d’Apollon, a first-floor wing of the museum that houses the precious crown jewels of the French Republic. The robbers broke a window, used an angle grinder and chainsaws to break into two display cases, and escaped on motorbikes in less than ten minutes. Salute to these hard-working folks, proving that there are still people out there dedicated to their craft

• Pardoning Scamtos: Last week, Trump decided to commute the sentence of former congressman George Santos in his federal fraud case. Santos, you may recall, was less than three months into serving a seven-year sentence in federal prison, which kinda makes me think he didn’t get the chance to atone or learn from his many mistakes. When CNN’s “State of the Union” asked him if he planned to pay back his donors, Santos said he would “do my best to do whatever the law requires of me.” Long story short, that man learned no lessons and it’s safe to say he ain’t paying anybody back

• Football Drama: English politicians are up in arms over the latest instance of alleged antisemitism; denying the violent fans of an israeli football team from attending a match in Birmingham next month. British and israeli leaders have come together to criticize Birmingham City’s decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from the upcoming Europa League match against Aston Villa. Just last year, Maccabi fans rampaged through Amsterdam, attacking bystanders and creating a generally chaotic atmosphere that led to the arrest of multiple fans. Despite the fact that this ban on Maccabi fans was made by Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group, the UK government has said that it is still working to override the local authorities. The government also said it would offer police extra resources to minimize the risk, but the danger these fans pose is so severe that it’s estimated that special riot police would have to be drafted in from around the country if the ban is reversed. Prime minister Keir Starmer said, “The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.” I guess he just forgot to mention that the role of football fans is to behave themselves and NOT attack opposing fans…

After almost exactly two years of the most brutal violence regularly displayed and viewed by the public, a ceasefire agreement has finally been established between Palestine and the apartheid state. Following the announcement of the ceasefire agreement, tens of thousands of Palestinians were observed trekking back to Gaza City as the apartheid-defending military began its initial withdrawal.

Earlier this week, Hamas released all 20 of the remaining living hostages, mainly israeli soldiers who were captured on Oct. 7, 2023. In exchange, buses of freed Palestinian prisoners made their way into Gaza and the West Bank, part of the 1,900 prisoners being released by the apartheid state. Details of the hostage exchange and possibilities of a permanent ceasefire has people buzzing, but the uncertainty and future implications remain unclear. Some israeli leaders have openly pledged to continue fighting for the return of deceased hostages whose remains are in Gaza, likely buried forever under the rubble of thousands of destroyed homes and buildings. And of course we’ve learned from previous experiences that a ceasefire with a bloodthirsty settler-colony is far from guaranteed to hold.

Naturally, one of my big fears now is the most obvious risk with negotiating a ceasefire with a genocidal apartheid state. There’s literally nothing and no one to stop Netanyahu and his death cult from resuming their ethnic cleansing campaign once they get all their hostages back. Indeed the violent attacks on Gaza have not stopped, only slowed down. Trump came in, took some pictures, made his case for the next Nobel Peace Prize, and can now move on to his next misadventure.

And so it goes; leaders of foreign governments are keeping busy designing the “day after” plans and drawing up what the revitalized version of Gaza will look like from a safe distance, while Gazans return to destroyed neighborhoods that remain under attack and are continuously denied a voice in shaping their own futures. People in Gaza are returning to their old homes to find nothing but rubble and dust, because it wasn’t just houses and businesses and schools and hospitals and personal possessions that were destroyed over the past two years. It was also memories and history and art, lost forever from one of the oldest areas of human civilization. Countless pieces of our story as a species have been erased in the name of settler colonialism.

Just last week, as news of the ceasefire was first being publicized, Saleh al-Jafarawi, a prominent Palestinian journalist and activist, was abducted and executed by members of the Doghmush clan, an anti-Hamas military group that was operating within Gaza with israeli support. One thing that’s for certain, every single time there’s a chance for a momentary truce, israel will escalate its bombing of starving people in tents righhhhhttt up until the last second, making sure to get their money’s worth. The targeted murder of al-Jafarawi is no different, as they simply waited until the last moment to have collaborators carry out their dirty work. It’s something everyone in the wider US media either ignores altogether or acknowledges but shrugs off as routine and part of the plan.

The real question with these ceasefire agreements then, is whether the time has finally come when the Euro-American enemies of the Palestinian people believe that stopping this holocaust is the only way to preserve their beloved zionist genocide colony, which has become recognizable and despised all over the world. If that moment has come, then they might put some restraints on the apartheid state for its own sake. In any case, what’s clear is that none of the conditions relating to this ceasefire were motivated by a shred of concern for Palestinians, but solely by how to preserve the zionist colonial project and imperial outpost in Palestine. Whatever happens, the global uprising and sustained support of Palestine needs to continue and grow. That is the Palestinian people’s strategic depth and protection from these apartheid-inclined cowards.

After two years of the apartheid state obliterating Palestinians across Gaza, mass media and political representatives continue to use the wrong language (or perhaps it’s the right language for them and they all really are just that racist). This helpful go-to guide offers tools for all of us to better narrate and engage on Palestine ethically and responsibly. From best communication practices for countering disinformation to fostering ethical reporting and centering Palestinian agency, this one-stop manual empowers all of us, from activists and artists to journalists and policymakers, to communicate on Palestine with integrity. So you can check yourself for complicity and talk about this erasure effectively.

Some people would like you to believe that October 7, 2023 was somehow uniquely brutal and personal, but that the apartheid state spending decades killing Palestinians from the sky is somehow justified. In reality, this all started long before 2023, and the apartheid state has never had any issue demonstrating exactly how brutal they’re willing to be. They’ve had dogs maul disabled people to death, they’ve sniped children in the head, they’ve targeted every manner of public figure in Palestine, whether athlete, journalist, medic, activist, you name it. For the past two years we’ve witnessed in vivid detail how the zionist entity will sacrifice tens of thousands of innocent lives for the sake of self-preservation.

Oct. 7, 2023 will be noted in history for a long time, not as some fleeting violent outburst or a flashpoint of Palestinian barbarism, but as the exact date that Palestinian resistance seized control of its own narrative and forced the world to take a long hard look in the mirror. The lesson learned is permanent; the illusion of an international world order has disappeared, and it’s clearer than ever that dignity is forged in fire, not handed down from Geneva or New York. Salute to every brave martyr lost in the pursuit of liberation, those who fought in the tunnels and among the ruins. They are the ones who made Gaza, still under siege, still undefeated, the heart and horizon of every struggle against colonial occupation.

It’s embarrassing that politicians are still rushing to condemn Palestinian resistance after we’ve spent the past two years being shown exactly what it was that Hamas has been fighting against. If you’re not paying close attention, people will have you believing all sorts of nonsense.

Side Items

• Tennessee Explosion: A mysterious blast took place in rural Tennessee last week that leveled an explosives plant and was felt for miles around. 18 people were reportedly killed and authorities say no one in the immediate vicinity survived as everything was literally blown to smithereens. All that was left was a smoldering wreck of twisted and charred metal and burned-out vehicles at the Accurate Energetic Systems plant, which appears to supply and research explosives for the military. Pretty suspicious stuff

• Israeli Failure: Turns out, we probably spent too much time complaining that FIFA and other sports governing bodies have been slow to reject the apartheid state from participating in their competitions. All this time we didn’t really need these athletic organizations to do much, the Israeli national football team is garbage enough to captain their own demise. In the past week, the zionists were humbled by the Norwegian and Italian teams, losing two games by a combined score of 8-0 (how embarrassing). I’m almost certain these losses were promised to the chosen people 3,000 years ago

• Decision 2.0: LeBron James, a basketball legend that stands unparalleled in the modern game, took time last week to put on his salesman hat and tarnish his own legacy. The man some refer to as king was hocking liquor like a desperate youngster, using the framing of his original Decision to confuse fans into thinking he might be announcing his retirement. Instead, James found an innovative way to cheapen The Decision as well as his own future: The Decision, in the most tacky way imaginable. We desperately need to bring back the idea that cashing in is selling out, and that selling out is loser behavior

Worse still, there are multiple confirmed reports stating, with no denial from the apartheid state, that they’re severely brutalizing their prisoners, including the famous Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, after abducting her in international waters. No word from Sweden so far. No expelled ambassador, no sanctions, no discernible reaction whatsoever. For years, people have translated testimonies of Palestinian prisoners detained in the apartheid state being fed rotten food and forced to drink toilet water, but now that there are Europeans saying it, suddenly it’s believed, suddenly people start asking themselves, “I wonder what the Palestinians are going through?”

There was some good that came of the flotilla, if only for the Palestinian fishermen who were able to take advantage of the distraction and cast their nets briefly without immediate threat of being murdered. There was also the story of one boat, the Mikeno, that was reported to have evaded the israeli maritime blockade and to have stopped inside Palestinian territorial waters near Gaza’s coast before contact with the vessel was lost. This would mark the first time since israel imposed a naval blockade on Gaza back in 2009 that an unauthorized humanitarian mission has reached closer than 70 nautical miles from the territory.

On the other side of the world, Donny Trump kept busy by laying out his plan for endless peace in the Middle East. Without further ado, here’s the comprehensive plan of a sociopathic orange felon to end the ongoing “Gaza Conflict”: If you don’t feel like reading it, that’s entirely understandable. I’ll discuss some of the finer points below.

One of the conditions of this proposed deal relates to the release of hostages from both parties. Once all Israeli hostages are released from Gaza, the apartheid state claims it will release 250 life sentence Palestinian prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after October 7th 2023, including all the innocent women and children detained in that context. Furthermore, for every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, the apartheid state will release the remains of 15 deceased Gazans. This is a pretty straightforward admission that israel is holding (at minimum) 15x the hostages that Hamas are holding.

Another condition of the comprehensive deal is for Gaza to become demilitarized, with members of Hamas voluntarily disarming. Let’s not overlook an important point here: The reason the apartheid state needs to make such a demand is that the resistance to its genocidal evil, after two full years under attack, and the total backing of Western barbarism, the apartheid state STILL hasn’t been able to defeat the Palestinian resistance (the same of course can not be said about israel’s opposition to hospitals and babies).

As Palestinian author Ali Abunimah reminds us, “You can coexist with zionism just as much as you can coexist with a house fire. Either you extinguish it or it consumes you.” History has shown us that any surrender by Palestinians is also a guarantee of death. Zionists, time and time again, have shown that they just can’t resist the urge to kill Palestinians. The only options given to Palestinians, by their murderers no less, are what kind of death they will accept.

Nevertheless, the critics of the apartheid state are seeing results for their brave sustained efforts. Last month, Microsoft announced that it had terminated the genocidal Israeli army’s access to technology it was using to store vast collections of intelligence on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza. This decision comes as a direct result of an investigation by The Guardian into Unit 8200, the apartheid state’s elite cyber warfare unit, which found that the military was housing intercepted recordings of millions of mobile phone calls by Palestinians on Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure. Of course, Microsoft continues to work with other military units of the apartheid state, and the army was reportedly planning to transfer the data it had been storing on Azure over to Amazon’s cloud servers as part of Project Nimbus, which was also exposed last year.

In the Netherlands, hundreds of thousands of people turned out to protest the actions of the apartheid state, flooding the streets in their red outfits. In other BDS news, Reebok became the latest sports brand to realize just how toxic the apartheid state’s brand is, as they recently announced their withdrawal from sponsoring the israeli football association. In our lifetime we have seen irreparable damage done to the reputation of the apartheid state, and hopefully in our lifetime we can see the end of the apartheid state altogether.

Side Items

• Shifting Blame: After almost a week, the government shutdown continues, as federal agencies and workers remain suspended in uncertainty. Democrats are insisting on renewing subsidies to cover health insurance costs for millions of households, while Trump wants to preserve existing spending levels as he believes his opponents will have to fold because of the number of jobs and federal infrastructure and energy projects being put at risk. While they play their game of pointing fingers, the effects of the government shutdown are playing out for all to see

• RIP Jane Goodall: We lost a real one last week. One of the world’s preeminent primatologists passed away last week at the age of 91, leaving behind a legacy of compassion, curiosity, and care for our planet. “We are the most intellectual species to walk the planet, but we’re not intelligent. (Talk to ‘em Jane!!) If you’re intelligent you don’t destroy your only home.” I actually fist-bumped Jane Goodall once upon a time, she came and gave a short lecture at my high school, so that’s a small piece of history I’ll always remember. Hopefully Harambe welcomes her warmly into the afterlife

• Clown College: Northwestern University has joined the lowly ranks of absolute bozo institutions after it was revealed that students have been blocked from enrolling simply for refusing to engage in a bogus “antisemitism training”. The training in question manages to equate criticism of the apartheid state with antisemitism and compares critics of the apartheid state to the literal leader of the KKK David Duke. The training also claims that Israel was founded “on British land”, which is a dangerous mistake to make. If your school requires students to watch a video that equates opposition to genocide with antisemitism, you are not a legitimate academic institution, you are a pro-genocide institution and as such, should be boycotted and ridiculed

• One Nation, Under Attack: The scandals are really piling up at a concerning pace. The same day we found out a black man was framed for murder by the police down in Lafourche Parish, LA, we wait for details on another black man’s lynching (Trey Reed) which is being covered up by the police over in Mississippi. This week we witnessed dozens of masked and armed federal agents backed by a real life Blackhawk helicopter descending from the sky onto a Chicago apartment building, handcuffing everyone including kids, and checking everyone for outstanding warrants and immigration status. This is the America we occupy now

• Diddy Sentenced: The former hip-hop/reality TV mogul who’s been revealed to be a massive scumbag creep was finally sentenced last week, receiving a sentence of barely four years in prison. With the time he’s already served and the probability of early release for “good behavior”, it’s likely that Puffy will be patrolling the streets once again in just a couple of years. As an ardent abolitionist, I strongly feel that this lowlife belongs behind bars for far longer, but this serves as yet another reminder of how unjust and corrupt the American correctional system really is

A number of participating ships were unable to continue sailing with the flotilla, including one called The Family Boat, which suffered a major engine failure after being attacked by the apartheid state near the Greek island of Crete. Al Jazeera is providing regular updates on the progress of the flotilla as well as interviews with some of the brave volunteers on the journey.

According to Israeli news reports, the flotilla will be intercepted by members of the Israeli naval commando unit Shayetet 13, who will force activists to abandon their vessels for Israeli ones. Those who don’t leave their boats and allow themselves to be deported will be arrested. Their empty vessels will then either be confiscated or sunk. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s criminal menace of a national security minister, has said that he intends to treat all activists as “terrorists” and put them through the justice system accordingly. These coming days will illustrate how much the Israeli response goes to plan.

As we watch and wait for the typical violent reaction of the apartheid state, the leader of this genocidal colonial project made a trip over to visit the UN general assembly meeting in New York City. Netanyahu took the opportunity to criticize members of the international community for having the audacity to call out his crimes. While the bloodthirsty bozo used his UN platform to chastise nations that accuse him of committing atrocities, Doctors Without Borders announced that they are suspending medical work in Gaza City due to the uncontrollable violence of the apartheid state, including airstrikes and tanks attacking in close proximity to their facilities. Think about just how bad things have to be for an organization like Doctors Without Borders to call it quits.

Side Items

• RIP Assata: Assata Shakur, the infamous Black liberation activist who escaped this sinking ship for Cuba decades ago, passed away last week at the ripe age of 78. Shakur was an inspiring resistance figure, with an endless catalogue of motivating quotes, but in her autobiography she famously said, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win,” and “We have nothing to lose but our chains.” Keep these ideas in mind as you move about in this increasingly-repressive landscape. By all means, make trouble for the clowns doing the repressing, but do so with a healthy amount of caution

• More Mass Shootings: It seems like every day brings news of yet another episode of gun violence, and things really seem to be unraveling at a rapid pace here in the US of A. Yesterday a 40 year old white guy who once served in the military decided to attack a Mormon church in Michigan, killing four people and wounding a few more before police killed him. Separately, a lone gunman attacked the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Dallas, TX, killing one detainee and critically injuring two others before taking his own life. The public reaction from Trump and his circus has been predictable, blaming the “far-left” for the radical violence that aims to destabilize and overthrow the government through agitation and terror

• Don’t Look Now: Last week, Trump signed a national security directive identifying “anti-Christian”, “anti-capitalist” and “anti-American” views as indicators of radical leftwing violence, which is probably not great news for publications like this newsletter. Calling his asinine order the ‘National Security Presidential Memorandum 7’, this not-so-subtly-fascist piece of legislation is being referred to as “NSPM-7”. It’s noteworthy that Trump also recently designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, meaning that anyone carrying that label in the future will most definitely be heavily prosecuted, all because they’re labeling themselves as anti-fascist…how telling

• Kimmel Returns: Less than a week after being “cancelled” by the ‘woke’ mob on the right, Jimmy Kimmel returned to his regular spot as late-night television’s least funny personality. Kimmel took the opportunity to clarify that he was not actually trying to make light of the killing of conservative activist/frequent racist Charles Kirk. The whole debacle set off a heated national discussion about freedom of speech and the president’s ability to police the words of citizens, journalists, and even comics (the real oppressed population). Lost in this enlightened conversation was the fact that Mahmoud Khalil was thrown in prison for 3 months for protesting the Israeli genocide. In fact, the same day ABC pulled Kimmel off the air (for two whole episodes!) a judge upheld Khalil’s deportation. As we mourn the clear violations of the first amendment we need to give fair credit to Joey Biden and the democratic party for helping crack down on student protestors and pro-Gaza speech in order to cover for what most of them now have to admit is indeed a genocide. Ol’ Joey walked so Trump could run all over our allegedly inalienable rights

“Today, to revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution, I state clearly as prime minister of this great country that the United Kingdom formally recognizes the state of Palestine. We recognized the state of Israel more than 75 years ago as a homeland for the Jewish people. Today we join over 150 countries who recognize a Palestinian state also.”

-Keir Starmer, career overachiever//lowlife leader of the UK

In response to these nations recognizing Palestine, the prime minister of the apartheid state and unapologetic scumbag Benny Netanyahu said, "A Palestinian state will not be established…For years I have prevented the establishment of this terror state despite enormous pressures both from within and from outside. We did this with determination, and we did it with political wisdom." I guess he failed to mention that they also did it with a whole bunch of occupation, murder, and torture, but that’s beside the point.

Meanwhile, as these nation states quibble over whether or not to recognize the existence of Palestine, the UN released yet another report proving that Israel has been and continues to conduct genocide in Gaza. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry's report says, “It is clear there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.” The UN’s Genocide Convention requires proof of just ONE "prohibited act with genocidal intent" to establish genocide, but instead they messed around and found the apartheid state guilty of FOUR separate but equally heinous categories:

1. Killing Palestinians (pretty obvious sign of genocide)

2. Causing Palestinians serious bodily and mental harm (plenty of photo and video evidence to support this one)

3. Deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy them (not sure where the argument against this)

4. Imposing measures to prevent Palestinian births (I’m thinking bombing hospitals and preventing baby formula from entering Gaza would qualify)

The UN also found that Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant personally incited genocide - meaning the genocidal intent goes all the way to the top of the malignant apartheid state. In other words, what we’ve seen over the past two years is textbook, systematic, intended genocide according to the UN's own investigation.

And at long last! After 716 days of the most obvious war crimes and daily atrocities being broadcast in 4K ultra HD to any device with connectivity, ol’ Bernard Sanders has finally dug deep in his crusty old soul and found the courage to call this what it is. In a pathetically spineless statement that makes no mention of the decades of ethnic cleansing, occupation, and apartheid undertaken by Israel against Palestine, Bernard still finds a way to claim that the apartheid state has a “right to defend itself”.

Somehow Bernard believes that killing tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians has something to do with Israeli self-defense. It took Bernie entirely too long to acknowledge this genocide, and while I appreciate some of his painstaking effort to recognize it for what it is, it's unfortunate that he still feels the need to parrot some of the apartheid state’s propaganda used to justify it.

I’m all for welcoming people to the right side of history when they finally come around and recognize the crimes of the apartheid state, but I’m lying if I say there’s no judgement. This article from The Nation emphasizes the importance of holding folks accountable for their inaction and inattention with regards to what has happened in Gaza for the past two years. Of course it’s important to accept people to the movement for Palestinian liberation, but we can never forget who took months and years to be convinced of what reality holds.

Side Items

• Sanitizing A Legacy: Ta-Nehisi Coates continues his streak of being one of my favorite intellectuals of the modern era, writing for Vanity Fair about the ongoing sanitization of Charlie Kirk and his absolutely hateful legacy. Coates ends his piece by asking the question, “If you would look away from the words of Charlie Kirk, from what else would you look away?” Meanwhile, the clowns that comprise the US senate unanimously approved a resolution designating October 14, Charlie Kirk’s birthday, as a National Day of Remembrance, so you better believe I’m slandering some cowards on October 14 in his honor

• Fascism Rising: The past week has featured countless examples of our so-called democratic government targeting students, talk show hosts, and even academic institutions to punish people for not showing the commensurate deference to a dead white supremacist. It’s evident that in the US, the ruling class controls the media as well as the political representation. There is no “state-controlled media” per se, it’s all capital-controlled. The media serves the capitalist class and the state is simply used as one of its many tools, not the other way around. As we fall deeper into full-blown fascism, capital will consolidate control over every aspect of life (politics, media, economy, and even culture) to reinforce its power

• More Like Robert Deadford: The iconic old actor passed away last week at the age of 89. Nothing against the guy, but the joke was too juvenile to pass up, sorry Rob

This past week also featured a retired general from the apartheid state proudly stating that more than 10% of Gaza’s 2.2 million population have been either killed or injured thus far in the genocide – “more than 200,000 people”. His admission is particularly notable since this figure matches closely to the current numbers provided by Gaza’s health ministry, a source that Israeli and American officials have consistently dismissed as ‘Hamas propaganda’.

This article from the BBC details how the ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’, the Israeli-American partnership responsible for the daily massacre of desperate Palestinians, employs members of an anti-Islamic US biker gang called “Infidels MC”. These are the individuals tasked with providing ‘security’ at the deadly Gaza aid sites. Infidels MC was originally set up by US military veterans and members see themselves as modern-day Crusaders, using the Crusader cross as their symbol. That these morons would be employed as US contractors and placed in charge of overseeing the distribution of Palestinian aid is a direct indictment on America’s treatment of the people of Gaza.

Similarly, this article from The Guardian provides details on Daniel Raab, a murderous IDF sniper from Chicago who targeted and killed a family in Gaza. In the article, Raab brags about how he killed an unarmed boy in Gaza, then killed his brother when he tried to retrieve the body, and finally killed their father who tried to retrieve his two dead sons. The psychopathic disregard with which this coward reflects on shooting dead innocent civilians in Gaza is indicative of a military force wholly lacking any discipline, morality or ethics.

Interestingly, Raab is also featured in this article from more than five years ago, highlighting how unwelcome he felt at his college campus and claiming that his university doesn’t care about Jewish students. In one article, he paints himself as a fragile Jewish student who feels unsafe on campus, because everything is antisemitic and everyone is plotting against him. But in the second article, he’s suddenly Goliath, raining death on unarmed Palestinians from a safe distance.

One day this genocide will end, and cowardly perpetrators like Daniel Raab will try to reintegrate into broader society as if they didn’t know any better. It’s our collective responsibility to keep a sharp memory and to hold these loathsome characters accountable for their war crimes.

Meanwhile, attempted comedian//prominent scumbag Jerry Seinfeld was a guest at Duke University last week, introducing a former Israeli hostage who was abducted at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023 and was invited to Duke’s campus to “share the story of his spiritual journey during 505 days in captivity”. Naturally, Seinfeld couldn’t help but take the opportunity to denounce the “Free Palestine” movement as ‘antisemitic’.

“‘Free Palestine’ is, to me, just — you’re free to say you don’t like Jews. Just say you don’t like Jews. By saying 'Free Palestine,' you’re not admitting what you really think. So it’s actually — compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here, because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ Okay, that’s honest.’"

-Jerome Seinfeld, famous for a forgettable TV show and his love of underage girls

Side Items

• Protect Ya Neck: Right-wing fascist mouthpiece//Beavis & Butthead cosplayer Charlie Kirk got absolutely obliterated last week at a public speaking event in Utah, absorbing a high-powered bullet to the general neck region and dying an incredibly graphic and public death. Kirk was well known for being an unrepentant Islamophobic, white supremacist, misogynistic, sociopathic, gummy-mouthed bigot, and his violent murder was the rare combination of ironic and serendipitous. He frequently argued that deaths from gun violence were simply the prudent price of having a second amendment that permits American gun ownership. In the immediate aftermath of his timely demise, there were plenty of public figures who rushed to condemn this kind of “political violence” as un-American and unacceptable in our country. How interesting that such violence can be graciously bestowed upon so many countries and innocent citizens the world over, often with the blessing and funding of the US, but when a taste of that violence is visited upon a mediocre white contrarian, now all of a sudden everyone gets weepy. The days after his murder involved a lengthy manhunt for his killer, eventually resulting in the capture of a white 22-year-old man. Many will say they wouldn’t wish this sort of downfall on their worst enemy, but I personally feel like y’all need better enemies. The guy honestly died doing what he loved; spewing hateful vitriol to impressionable college students. Sometimes the consequence of years of bigoted and racist rhetoric might just take the shape of a high-powered bullet…oh well

• Anyways…: On the same day that Kirk was killed, a 16-year-old kid shot two of his classmates at a high school in Colorado before fatally shooting himself. The perpetrator was a big fan of conspiracies, antisemitism and white supremacy, so him and Charlie Kirk should have plenty to talk about when they link up in the blazing depths of the underworld. There have been dozens of school shootings this year in the US, and not one of them has warranted the president lowering flags to half mast as he did for the death of Mr. Kirk…how telling

• Nepalese Fallout: In the wake of last week’s protests that upended the established/corrupt Nepalese political order, the nation’s new prime minister has urged her fellow citizens to “get together to rebuild the country”. The escalating protests and ensuing violence resulted in the deaths of at least 72 people and injured hundreds more. Sushila Karki, the Himalayan nation’s interim prime minister, said yesterday that the country must prioritize listening to its young citizens, an evergreen piece of advice for any leader of any country

As more countries take steps to officially recognize a Palestinian state, Alaa Salama writes that the world should forget about symbolic statehood and focus its attention on recognizing and countering Israeli apartheid. This global political theater of “recognizing a Palestinian state” really only serves to create the illusion of action, but it delays the real remedies which are sanctioning and isolating the apartheid regime.

Back in 1948, when the first Palestinian refugees were forcibly expelled from their homeland by zionist militias, many who fled carried their house keys as a symbol of the homes they hoped and planned to return to. Now, as another wave of Palestinians are forced from their land in Gaza, many sense, or know, that nothing of their homes will remain if they’re ever able to go back. This article features five Palestinian women talking about the priceless objects they took with them as they left their homes and lives behind. It’s both devastating and eye-opening to read what these objects are and to recognize the significance they carry for people who have lost everything else.

Also in the news this week, The Voice of Hind Rajab is a new film that debuted last week at the Venice Film Festival to a lengthy standing ovation. The film shares the details of a child murdered by the zionist military, but it elicits complicated emotions in me. It kinda feels like making a movie about the horrors of the concentration camps while the gas chambers were still operating. Obviously this story is worth telling, it’s incredibly important to raise awareness, but the apartheid state continues its genocide of Palestinian children like Hind with complete impunity everyday.

I can’t help but compare this film and its reception to No Other Land, the documentary on illegal West Bank annexation which won an Oscar last year. It’s another incredible film that tells a story people need to know, but I ask myself what did it change for Palestinians? One of the films co-directors was beaten and detained after the Oscar win, another contributor was shot dead. Hollywood applauded for a few minutes, then moved on without much pause. So far, storytelling hasn’t stopped the violence.

I brought these thoughts up with someone close to me over the weekend and they mentioned that this type of critique isn’t exactly helpful without an alternative solution or approach, which I unfortunately do not have. Obviously these stories need to be told and anyone learning about the genocide of Palestinians is for the betterment of fighting this struggle, it’s just hard for me to place genuine value on the West’s celebratory gestures towards these films when our government continues to materially and ideologically support genocide. We’re watching films made by and about murdered Palestinians alongside raw footage of their deaths. Meanwhile, our government is working overtime trying to convince us that what we’re seeing isn’t actually happening.

Side Items

• Typical Seal Misbehavior: Last week it was revealed that US forces murdered a bunch of North Korean fishermen in a failed attempt to infiltrate the country and plant surveillance devices. This story is honestly pretty wild, even by US military standards. Basically Trump sent Seal Team 6 into North Korea without any sort of prior authorization. Their secret operation went sideways pretty much immediately, when a fishing boat was at their landing site. The brave and dependable Navy Seals then proceeded to kill everyone on board, sink the bodies, and flee. Congress wasn’t informed until recently, but this fiasco actually took place back in 2019

• Nepal Killing Protesters: Police in the Nepalese capital city of Kathmandu opened fire on anti-government protesters earlier today, killing at least 19 people and injuring several more. Tens of thousands of protesters were out in the streets to express their anger against a government decision to block most social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Protesters initially pushed their way through barbed wire and forced riot police to retreat as they surrounded the Parliament building. Police first fired tear gas and water cannons but were outnumbered and eventually had no choice but to murder the protesters I guess

• NBA Scam Unveiled: Last week, investigative sports reporter Pablo Torre shared the findings of his deep dive report on apparent salary cap circumvention from the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard. According to Torre’s bombshell findings, an NBA team owner has been using a bankrupted green investment fraud pit called Aspiration to secretly lure players into signing for the Clippers, managing to sneak players like Kawhi an extra few million dollars under the radar