Global
The world’s reigning crime syndicate, Izramerica, threatens to end an ancient civilization, while 8 million march against the mad king. Media-assisted teen suicide is a complex issue with very fine people on both sides. Hegboy wants no more of this Black and female General nonsense, which makes sense, as the military’s prime directive is to squash efforts to rise up against straight white male Christian domination. The National Park Service usurpers continue to ensure historical ignorance among park-goers, and AIPAC et al are laundering their election-buying donations through shell PACs. There oughta be a law. Against PACs.
Everyone hates Israel now, which is as it should be. But we all need to understand that Israel has never acted alone.
If Israel were acting alone, it would be an asshole with a pointy stick instead of an asshole with an attack helicopter. The west gave it the attack helicopter.
An asshole with a pointy stick is not much of a problem. The world is full of assholes with pointy sticks. Get yourself your own pointy stick and you can deter their aggressions without much difficulty.
An asshole with an attack helicopter can ruin everyone’s day. He can fuck everything up and kill whoever he wants — even people who have pointy sticks. He doesn’t need to negotiate with anyone. He doesn’t need to be polite or diplomatic. You just have to give him whatever he wants or he’ll fly over there and chain gun you and your family.
The US and its allies are responsible for ensuring that Israel remains an asshole with an attack helicopter instead of an asshole with a pointy stick. They’ve created this situation where Israel doesn’t have to get along with its neighbors like any other normal country on the planet, and can instead exist in a perpetual state of war.
During my most recent appearance on Judge Napolitano’s Judging Freedom on Wednesday I expressed the view that the ongoing ceasefire between Washington and Tehran was a scam designed to support Israeli interests in the region and to give both Tel Aviv and the White House breathing room to prepare for the next major assault on Iran. I based my judgment on several aspects of the story being circulated by the White House and the tame media. First of all, it is being suggested that the US acceptance of the proposal for a ceasefire put forward by Iran through mediators in Pakistan was arrived at without discussions with Israel. In other words, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had no preview of it nor hand in it.
Trump and Republicans in Congress are – and have been – advancing a budget for the country that reduces assistance for ordinary citizens. This is glaringly obvious in Trump’s budget proposal for 2027, a budget that likely will be approved by Republicans in Congress. It is a budget that overwhelming favors military spending. It would not be so bad if citizens generally were in sound financial shape, but many are not. There has been an “affordability” problem across the country for most of Trump’s second term.
The sun rose today over the Strait of Hormuz not as a symbol of a new beginning, but as a spotlight on a global powder keg. For those of us here in Ohio—mothers, grandmothers, and advocates who have spent lifetimes fighting for the constitutional rights of our loved ones—the news from the Middle East isn't just a headline. It is a warning.
The Blockade: A New "Epstein War"?
We are watching a naval blockade unfold that feels dangerously familiar. The administration has labeled Iran’s transit fees "world extortion," using our Navy to intercept ships and block oil that has already been paid for by nations like China. They call it "Freedom of Navigation," but when the gates are locked and the warships are positioned, it looks less like freedom and more like a siege. We have to ask: At what cost? We have grandsons. We have adult children. We have a lineage that has survived Jim Crow, systemic barriers, and centuries of fighting just to exist with dignity. We cannot afford another "Epstein War"—a conflict built on backroom deals and elite interests where the "loss of life" is always borne by the families who have already given too much.
Perhaps nowhere other than American is there such a prurient fascination with women’s breasts. In the cultural landscape, they are stared out, celebrated, deified, legislated against, and commodified in a way no other female body part is.
Audio: PLASTICS!! with DIANNA COHEN / Reduce Reuse Recycle REFUSE
This Week’s “California Solartopia” welcomes the legendary Dianna Cohen, founder and Chief Vision Officer of the Plastic Pollution Coalition ( https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/ ) for a deep discussion of how to protect our Earth and our bodies from this ubiquitous stuff.
With co-host “Sunny” Wasserman, Dianna walks us through her powerful campaign to prevent and find alternatives for the petroleum-based products that permeate our planet.
Dianna’s passions for art and activism have vastly improved our collective health and ability to survive on this planet, and her powerful presentation skills make for a great Solartopian interview.
With co-hosts Kevin Kamps and Tatanka Bricca, our show is produced by Myla Reson and Engineered/edited by Gary Scott for KPFK and the Pacifica Network. With Dianna Cohen we are proudly joined by another uniquely impactful guest we will always welcome back.
Amidst Donald Trump’s wild Mideast War declarations, the tech billionaire push for nuclear reactor suicide has escalated with the shock relicensing of California’s two nuclear power plants at Diablo Canyon, now being pushed by the state’s “liberal” Governor Gavin Newsom, who has also joined Trump in their all-out attack against renewable energy.
Together Trump and Newsom are pushing decrepit, virtually uninsured, militarily indefensible nuclear power plants whose drastic deregulation may now rival the dangers posed by any bombs Iran could produce
They also make no economic or ecological sense.
Despite the latest tsunami of “Nuclear Renaissance” hype, atomic power plants are losing bigly to the worldwide surge in renewable energy. Solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal, and epic advances in battery storage continue to make the green alternative to fossil fuels and nuclear reactors—big and small—a far cheaper, safer, cleaner, more reliable, more job-producing alternative.
Four local groups — Baladna: Palestine Society of Columbus, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at The Ohio State University, People’s Defense Committee (PDC), and the Columbus New Labor Committee — held an afternoon rally and march in Columbus, Ohio, for Lebanon, Palestine, and Iran at the Goodale Park Gazebo.
The organizers stated that Israel launched a suicidal assault on Lebanon last Wednesday, killing at least 254 people and injuring 1,165 more. As of Saturday, Israel continues to target heavily populated areas as well as ambulances, medics, and hospitals — all clear war crimes.
Israel even bragged that it had hit, last Wednesday, more than 100 targets in South Lebanon, Beirut, and the Bekaa Valley simultaneously within 10 minutes. The Israeli Defense Forces indiscriminately bombed heavily populated areas throughout Lebanon without warning. These are war crimes committed with the help of our tax dollars.
Over 1.1 million Lebanese have fled their homes due to fighting in the south of the country and Israeli bombing of Beirut's suburbs.