Going Rogue With Caitlin Johnstone

Every so often I like to write out a basic explanation of who I am and what I'm trying to do here. As an entirely reader-funded writer I think it's important to periodically lay out exactly what I'm about so that any patrons or would-be patrons can assess if this weird little project here is something they want to support. Reading by Caitlin Johnstone.

If you stand for truth, peace and justice in this world then it’s important not to make your happiness dependent on large-scale wins. Reading by Tim Foley.

Conventional wisdom about the outgoing Biden administration’s reckless escalations in Ukraine these past few days is that things will cool down once Donald Trump takes office, but Trump’s cabinet picks aren’t really selling this idea. Reading by Tim Foley.

What we all want, deep down, is a truth-based relationship with reality. We might not be aware that this is what we are seeking from life, but it is. And everything in our society is stacked against our ever getting it. Reading by Tim Foley.

We live in a civilization built of lies and abuse, powered by lies and abuse, and defended using lies and abuse. Even the most kindhearted and well-intentioned among us struggle to bring about positive change, because the very fabric of our society is stacked against truth and kindness. Reading by Tim Foley.

The International Criminal Court has formally issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. No such arrest warrants were issued for President Biden or any of the other western officials who’ve been backing Israel’s genocidal atrocities, which is a bit like a judge issuing a warrant for a mass murderer but not for the guy who gave him the gun and stood next to him handing him ammunition and drove the getaway car and lied to the police to cover up the crime. Reading by Tim Foley.

One of the very few good things coming out of the relentless nightmare happening in Gaza is that at long last the western world is getting a clear look at Israel. The real Israel. Reading by Tim Foley.

It’s so fun how the Biden administration is using its lame duck months to skyrocket hostilities between nuclear superpowers and we don’t even know who’s really making these decisions because the president’s brain is cottage cheese. Reading by Tim Foley.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Marco Rubio will be joining a long list of psychopaths as the next US secretary of state. A few of Trump’s cabinet picks might have a hard time getting past the Senate, but not Rubio. He’s the exact type of blood-guzzling swamp leech those creatures on Capitol Hill adore. Reading by Tim Foley.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Obama continued and expanded Bush's most evil policies. Trump continued and expanded Obama's most evil policies. Biden continued and expanded Trump's most evil policies. Now Trump is preparing to keep the streak going. The face at the front desk changes, but the corporation stays the same. Reading by Tim Foley.

They do not hate each other. They do not see one another as an existential threat to the nation. They are not enemies. They’re barely even opponents. When the show is over they hug and kiss like boxers after weeks of phony trash talk made solely to sell pay-per-views. Reading by Tim Foley.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Being pro-Israel is being pro-war, because the state of Israel cannot exist in its present iteration without nonstop US-backed military violence. Supporting Israel necessarily means supporting endless western military interventionism in the middle east. Trump supporters keep lying to themselves about this. Reading by Tim Foley.

Biden’s legacy is genocide, war, and nuclear brinkmanship. That’s all anyone should talk about when this psychopath finally dies. Anything positive he may have accomplished in his political career is a drop in the ocean compared to the significance of these mass-scale abuses. Reading by Tim Foley.

Israel is really struggling with how difficult its present circumstances make playing the victim. It keeps having to invent new abuses to be victimized by like the imaginary Amsterdam “pogrom” and the fake mass rape narrative that surfaced months after October 7, because it can’t sit comfortably in the role of victimizer while on trial for genocide in international courts. Reading by Tim Foley.

The only thing I like about Trump is exactly what so many empire managers hate about him: he gives the game away. He says the quiet parts out loud. He’s the only president who’ll openly boast that US troops are in Syria to keep the oil or lament that they failed to take the oil from Venezuela, or just come right out and tell everyone he’s bought and owned by Zionist oligarchs. Trump is the opposite of Obama, who was very skillful at putting a pretty face on the evil empire. Trump puts a very ugly face on a very ugly thing. He is a much more honest face to have on the empire. A crude, stupid plutocrat who is owned by other plutocrats is the perfect representative of that tyrannical power structure. Reading by Tim Foley.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Trump supporters are George W Bush supporters LARPing as Ron Paul supporters. They act like they're backing some anti-war figure who's taking a meaningful stand against the machine, when they're really backing a guy who spent four years rolling out longstanding neocon agendas. Reading by Tim Foley.