Global

The words 'killed', 'injured', 'maimed', and the like often lose a great part of their meaning when they are repeated so relentlessly.

Take, for example, a headline like: "13 Palestinians Killed in Gaza, Others Wounded." Though many of us can still feel a deep sense of sadness over such a tragedy, the news itself becomes less shocking over time.

According to figures produced by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Israel has killed and wounded a total of over 250,000 Palestinians since the start of the genocide in 2023.

The tally is updated daily because the killing never stops.

On July 23, six Palestinians were killed in Gaza. A day earlier, 13 were killed, and the day before that, nine others were killed, and so on.

I watched the late night yucksters like Jon Stewart and Seth Meyers get a bunch of cheap guffaws out of Trump’s supposedly inept attempt at comedy at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. But Trump’s performance was at a level that took him a step above comic geniuses, beyond even Andy Kaufman and Lenny Bruce.

Throughout the evening, President Donald Trump mangled one lame-ass joke after another. The audience of not-too-clever journalists didn’t get it, while Trump was enjoying every minute of it, holding them captive, as he assaulted them with deliberately unfunny jokes he pretended he hadn’t seen before. The performance was dragged out with what-the-hell-is-he-talking-about bitching and complaining.

Every time a joke face-planted, he would comment on it, “Who the hell wrote this?…Is this funny? …  Who the hell would think this is funny?,” even pretending he doesn’t get his own punch lines.

This is known as a meta-performance, the highest level of conceptual humor.

In a previous article, I argued that opposing the war against Iran by the United States and Israel is not equivalent to supporting the Islamic Republic. This distinction remains essential because the current conflict has increasingly been presented as a choice between supporting foreign military intervention or defending the Iranian regime. Such a binary obscures a more fundamental reality: one can simultaneously oppose external military aggression and reject the authoritarianism of the Islamic Republic. The continuing war has not only intensified regional instability but has also exposed deep ideological divisions within the Iranian opposition itself. While these groups have long shared opposition to the Islamic Republic, the conflict has revealed profound disagreements over the causes of the war, the responsibility of different actors, and the political consequences that may follow. Debates that once focused primarily on Iran's political future have increasingly shifted toward competing interpretations of the war itself.

July 31 @ 8:00 pm EDT
Free online - Register here

Film showing of “When ICE Melts – Testimonies from The front Lines”
119 minutes (2026) by Kipp Hedges

Joining the panel after the film will be videographer Kipp Hedges and St. Paul labor historian Peter Rachleff

In this US premier screening of “When ICE Melts, Testimonies From The Frontlines” by videographer Kipp Hedges, we hear of the voices of trade unionists, historians and members of the community in Minneapolis and St. Paul about what happened in the fightback against ICE, the plan of the Fascist Trump government to crush the people of the City. They talk about why Minneapolis was targeted, how people organized to defend the immigrant community and why the unions and trade unionists became involved in fighting back against the ICE terror tactics.

We open our GREEP zoom 275 with PATRICK REYNOLDS whose anti-tobacco activism has saved millions of lives over the decades.  Patrick comes from the RJ Reynolds cigarette empire, making his activism even more remarkable.

We then welcome “T”, the protective pseudonym of a truly great election protection activist who cuts to the core of the mega-cash pollution that put Donald Trump in the White House.

With radio host LYNN FEINERMAN we take a closer look at the corruption that imperils our democracy.  From JOHN STEINER, JULIA FIEDLER and "T" we also hear about the "bucket full of holes" that the Democratic Party perennially passes off for feeble policy.

We hear further from STEVE CARUSO, MIKE HERSH, DOROTHY REIK, DOUG CRAGOE and others about the ins & outs of a truly insecure electoral system.

From TATANKA BRICCA we refer to the “World Cup” of global democracy that needs to be won.

Sliding into the energy issue, we hear from the great KARL GROSSMAN and KEVIN KAMPS on the catastrophic collapse of the nuclear power issue, especially at Michigan’s Palisades reactor and the two at Diablo Canyon.

President Donald Trump met with both President Volodymyr Zelenski of Ukraine and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Tuesday in private sessions lacking the usual fanfare, photo ops and press releases. The men were in town to participate in the funeral services for recently departed Senator Lindsey Graham, who was a great friend of and might be described as a co-belligerent with both nations!

As of now, little is known regarding exactly what went on during the closed-door meetings, though there will presumably be leaks or actual revelations of what went on in the next few days. The sessions included key administration players like Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as well as Chief Negotiator Steve Witkoff and several congressmen, but both Trump and Netanyahu were reportedly pleased by the result.

Republicans in the House Ways and Means Committee have begun a witch hunt against BreakThrough News — and it's up to all of us to fight back.

We now face a Congressional subpoena demanding financial records, internal communications, and other documents. This subpoena is not a criminal charge or part of any criminal investigation. That's because our only "crime" is journalism.

For years, BT has been a leading voice in independent media, daring to tell the stories that corporate media ignored. When the Palestine solidarity movement emerged as a force in US politics, we were there. When ICE flooded the streets of Minneapolis, we were there. Whether it's in Cuba or the Congo, we have stood by our commitment to tell the truth and hold the powerful accountable for their crimes.

Now, the powerful are trying to silence us — and it won't stop there. This attack isn't just about our outlet. This is an attack on freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Fundamentally, it's an attack on all of us. That's why we all need to speak up with one voice.