Going Rogue With Caitlin Johnstone

You cannot become a high-level pundit, politician or political operative in either mainstream party without being an evil piece of shit. It's part of the job description, because the job requires you to make excuses for the abuses of a globe-spanning empire which is fueled by human blood. Reading by Tim Foley.

The assassin appears to have been able to successfully escape after the killing, so nothing is known about what their motives were. Rightists are braying for civil war and demanding sweeping new authoritarian measures to crush what passes for the political "left" in the United States these days, based on nothing but vibes and feelings. Reading by Tim Foley.

Recent hours have seen too much Israeli depravity to write about, including an assassination strike in Qatar to sabotage peace talks, a second drone attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla, and a Guardian article featuring an IDF sniper who discussed killing civilians like a trophy hunter talking about game animals. Reading by Tim Foley.

A drone appears to have struck a boat from the Global Sumud Flotilla while it was docked at a Tunisian port on its way to bring aid into Gaza, temporarily starting a fire. Nobody on board was harmed. The boat was reportedly crewed by the same activists who had attempted to sail to Gaza on the Madleen this past July, including Greta Thunberg. And it is here worth noting that Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir recently said that Global Sumud Flotilla activists must be designated as terrorists and treated accordingly, in order to "create a clear deterrent" against foreign parties attempting to bring aid into Gaza by sea. It is no mystery who the prime suspect is in this attack. Reading by Tim Foley.

In a sense all I'm ever really pointing at here is the importance of taking responsibility. Taking responsibility as westerners for the suffering and destruction inflicted upon the world by the western power structure that we live under. Reading by Tim Foley.

In the UK a terrorist is someone with a cardboard sign saying "I support Palestine Action". In the US a terrorist is a Venezuelan suspected of drug trafficking. In Israel a terrorist is someone resisting occupation. Reading by Tim Foley.

He hung up a sign that said Secretary of War, snapped a picture for the socials, shut the door, took a swig of Jameson straight from the bottle, then sat down and fondled the revolver in his desk drawer like a little boy playing with his penis. Visions of cruise missiles danced through his head, aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines and tiny middle eastern bodies blown to bits by glorious inventory. Mushroom clouds flashed in his eyes as he caressed the trigger with an index finger. "They call me the Secretary of War," he said. "They call me the Secretary of War." He did not feel the robins in his chest or hear the red-winged blackbirds trilling in his hair. The electricity of the flesh was a stranger to him. Exuberance was a deadbeat dad who never called. Outside the Pentagon walls a cicada roared unnoticed and the grass sang ancient hymns to the sun god. People bustled in and bustled out, their minds buzzing with Palantir porn, their lips casting spells of Raytheon and ruin. Under the rubble of a fa

Make no mistake about where the moral authority stands here. This isn’t something we need to be on the defense about. It’s something we need to be on the attack about. Reading by Tim Foley.

You always see Israel apologists saying "If Hamas lays down its arms there'll be no more war, if Israel lays down its arms there'll be no more Israel." But really the exact opposite is true. If the Israelis lay down their arms, a genocide ends. If Hamas lays down their arms, Israel's planned ethnic cleansing of Gaza happens quickly and without resistance. Reading by Tim Foley.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, UN human rights experts, Israeli human rights groups like B'Tselem, and the overwhelming majority of genocide scholars all agree it's a genocide. The debate is over. The hasbarists lost. Reading by Tim Foley.

This is just what happens when bad people in your life reveal an ugly truth about themselves. If you learn that someone in your life is cool with their government supporting a genocide, you can just sort of let your feelings and natural inclinations lead the way on that. Reading by Tim Foley.

To be racist is to admit that you are a dull, vapid person. It's an admission that you are so intellectually, emotionally and spiritually shallow that you can only enjoy and connect with other human beings in the most superficial of ways. There is no depth to you. There has been no growth in you. You are stunted. You have been wasting your time on this planet instead of maturing and expanding your connectedness with the gift of human life. Reading by Tim Foley.

As if we didn't have enough ugliness in the world right now, Trump has deployed warships near Venezuela's coast, prompting Caracas to ready drone and naval patrols for conflict. Reading by Tim Foley.

Saying "I support a two-state solution" does not release you from your moral obligation to ferociously oppose a genocide backed by your own government. Reading by Tim Foley.

We don't need to rescue western civilization from outside forces, we need to rescue ourselves from western civilization. Reading by Tim Foley.

Israelis who say "the Arabs hate us because of our religion" are as self-evidently moronic as the Americans who said "they hate us for our freedom". In both cases the answer is no, dipshit, they hate you because of the horrific things to do to them. Reading by Tim Foley.

4. In what way would it benefit Iran to orchestrate antisemitic attacks in Australia? 5. In what way would it benefit Iran to "undermine social cohesion and sow discord" in Australia? 6. Please explain how orchestrating antisemitic attacks in Australia would advance Iranian interests more than the interests of some other state, like, say, just for example, Israel? Reading by Tim Foley.

They simply look at the actions of October 7 from the prism of their own experience as a comfortable western suburbanite on the other side of the world and think, “I would never conduct such an attack; I am much too virtuous and compassionate.” No you’re just too comfortable and coddled, and you’re too much of an emotional infant to consciously put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Reading by Tim Foley.

The truth is that this is a propaganda narrative which has been debunked by some of the most pro-Israel, pro-establishment sources you can imagine. Reading by Tim Foley.

They claimed that Israel has a phenomenally low civilian-to-combatant casualty ratio, then Israel's own data proved that civilians comprise the vast majority of those killed by the IDF. They denied that Israel is starving Gaza, then the IPC came out with a report saying that Israel is starving Gaza. They tried to claim that the skeletal children we're seeing in Gaza looked that way because of pre-existing conditions, then the Israeli press published an extensive report showing that children with no pre-existing conditions are being starved. They tried to deny that Israeli soldiers were massacring civilians at aid sites, then the Israeli soldiers themselves told the Israeli press that they were being ordered to massacre civilians at aid sites. Never forget all the monsters who tried to gaslight you and convince you that you are crazy and hateful for saying these things are happening. Never, ever forgive them. Reading by Tim Foley.