The United States and Israel murdered the supreme leader of Islam.[1]

How is that OK? How is it so OK that people can casually mention that they approve of murder in otherwise polite conversation? I guess some people just need killing? What the hell kind of a morality is that?

If you were to accept this, then you’d have to at least have intimate knowledge of the person whom you’ve condemned, no? But people don’t know the first thing about the Ayatollah; they know only that they’ve been ordered... [More]

These are three interviews I’ve watched with Scott Ritter, who is entirely in his element.

Israelis will begin to leave on their own

There is a lot of great military analysis in this video but an interesting point that Ritter and Alkhorshid make is that many, many Israelis are quite well-off and quite privileged. Many of them have options outside of Israel. These people will not long suffer the deprivation of a country at war with a real enemy, and will begin to leave. These demographic... [More]

Introducing Stanislav Krapivnik

This is a good analysis by someone I’d never heard before. His take is mostly the same as other analysts, though his point of view is unique, in that he’s a former U.S. Army officer with Russian roots. He moved to Russia from the U.S. over 20 years ago and is fluent in Russian.

Iran War Spreading: Russia Gets Involved by Neutrality Studies | Pascal Lottaz | Stanislav Krapivnik (YouTube)

Stas pointed out that,

• The U.S. has started a holy war by killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It’s akin to killing the Pope. And they’re celebrating it, practically parading his head... [More]

I couldn’t help but notice when the article Malignant Dawn by Bill Murray (3QuarksDaily) started out with the following rather naive and incredible statement,

“How would the United States handle the rise of the rest? The debate was usually about what the US would do to keep things steady – to maintain equilibrium. No one saw the US as the disruptor. But as it turns out, it’s the chief enforcer who is changing the script.”

It is flabbergasting to read something like this from an author I’d thought to be somewhat... [More]

Two weeks later and people are still talking about Mark Carney as if he were some sort of leftist hero. Don’t bother watching his speech. It’s self-serving trash that boils down to: We are only dissatisfied with a system once it starts being disadvantageous to us. The exploitation of others never bothered us in the least.

FULL SPEECH: PM Carney’s Most Inspiring Remarks at Davos — Greenland, Trump Tariff Threats | AQ1B by DRM News (YouTube)

He never names the U.S. or Trump. He just complains that things are hard for his poor country, which is accustomed to being one of the predators but is now scared that it... [More]

Inside, The Valley Sings by Nathan Fagan & Natasza Cetner (Vimeo) is a fifteen-minute video of rotoscoped animations of prisoners and prisons, with a voiceover by multiple prisoners. They explain their lives inside. The first explains that he was sentenced to 34 years in prison at 16 years old. He lived in Angola prison in Louisiana. The film is also available on YouTube, as linked below.

Inside, The Valley Sings | Award-Winning Documentary Short Film by Short of the Week (YouTube)

Another “spent 22 years and 36 days total in solitary confinement.”.

Later, he said,

“When they came to take me out of the cell… My vocal cords... [More]”

The article CBS censors “60 Minutes” report on torture of immigrant detainees by Patrick Martin (WSWS) writes,

“The leaked version of the “60 Minutes” segment is devastating. The courage of the men who testified is remarkable, as is the compassion of the students and human rights advocates who helped them, and the determination of Alfonsi and her team of journalists to bring this information to the public. The segment exposes the blatant lying and inhuman callousness of the Trump administration, particularly... [More]”

The EU, casting its eye about for more thought­crimeThis is an excellent interview with what is presumably the first of many Swiss people to be sanctioned by the EU for thinking unapproved thoughts and having unapproved opinions out loud. He’s been accused of supporting Russia, which, like, it’s a free country, right? Oh no. It is absolutely not a free country.

I wrote recently at more length about this in Hung out to dry by Switzerland, in which I reported on an interview with Nathalie Yamb, who is another Swiss citizen upon whom the fiery eye... [More]

This is a great discussion. At 26.5 minutes, it’s relatively compact. They discuss, among other things, Vivek Ramaswamy’s having come down to Earth to realize that his party will not accept him as a real person.

Millennial White Men DISCRIMINATED Against? (w/ Vijay Prashad) by Briahna Joy Gray (YouTube)

At about 18:00,

“I mean, there’s real racism but also for political reasons. It’s very useful to believe that groups rise or fall because of their kinds of intrinsic ability, because then they don’t have to spend money on any policies to try to create any kind of equality. Right?... [More]”

The article Walz Pulls Out: Score Another Another One for Racism, Coupled with Democratic Party and Media Ineptitude by Dean Baker (CounterPunch) is yet another well-written lament in a long list of laments about the utter lack of resistance to the grinding propaganda machine buoying the Trump administration.

I don’t really care about Tim Walz. He’s an empty suit. For God’s sake, he was nominated as a vice-presidential candidate to the even emptier suite of Kamala Harris. That he’s bowing out of a re-election campaign... [More]

Lee Camp’s show Unredacted Tonight is getting better and better with each episode. This was a brilliant report, tightly reported, chock-full of excellent information, hilarious. No notes.

UNREDACTED: The Crazy Truth of US Coups in Latin America / US Police Kill More People Than You Think by Unredacted Tonight | Lee Camp (YouTube)

From the show description:

“In this episode of Unredacted Tonight, Lee Camp traces a modern history of U.S. intervention in Latin America—covering major regime-change operations, covert actions, and military interventions from the 1950s onward. With sharp political comedy and rapid-fire historical... [More]”

The article We’re all just content for ICE by Ryan Broderick (Garbage Day) writes[1],

“They are tightening the noose and there is very little room left for any kind of meaningful protest. Minnesotans over the weekend organized massive demonstrations, with thousands of people marching through the south side of Minneapolis several days in a row. But there was no law enforcement there, nor were there any ICE officers (at least in uniform). No one to whom they could direct their anger at. As for local leaders, Rep. Ilhan Omar spoke... [More]”

Glenn Greenwald’s analysis of the shooting of Renee Nicole Good is nearly 30 minutes and it’s all 100% worth watching. It’s a very well-thought-through and well-presented analysis of the culture of violence in the U.S.[1]

Minneapolis ICE Shooting: Glenn Shares His Thoughts by Glenn Greenwald (YouTube)

Glenn discusses the sickness of a society that cheers violence, that celebrates death. He begins by talking about Renee Nicole Good’s utterly senseless death, which, for the sake of argument, we won’t even call an alleged murder, because nothing has been officially alleged... [More]

FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul grabbed him for an interview as he was exiting a small, local event at his high-school alma mater. He exuded a calm fury, the same passion he’s always had against injustice.

I’ve included a partial transcript of the following ~8:00 video below. He made the following chilling, if obvious point about halfway through.

“I spent 17 months in Southeast Asia while the draft dodger was playing golf. Right? You know how I know we’re a third world country? Because in third... [More]”

“You are at the mercy of these faceless bureaucrats.”

This hits a little too close to home. How long before someone finds this blog and puts me on a list? Will my bank in Switzerland freeze my account as well? Granted, I’m not a black woman like poor Nathalie, so I have more rights.

This is just a public-service announcement that the reason they want you to do everything on your phone, on-line, and in the cloud is so that they can then track every last little thing you do.

And then they will... [More]

This is another cover-up of a shooting by federal military deployed in the U.S. Being white does not protect you. Historical privilege does not protect you. Only obeisance to the regime might protect you.

The umbrella has gotten smaller. You used to be standing under the umbrella, watching it rain on black and brown people. Now, It’s raining on people who have the right skin color, but the wrong thoughts, maybe the wrong gender.

This is Gaza.

NEW EVIDENCE SHOWS TRUTH BEHIND ICE SHOOTING by HasanAbi (YouTube)

The cop shot her because she was an uppity... [More]

Lesson 1: Resistance is futile

The lesson Switzerland can learn from the attack on Venezuela is that it can just stop investing in the military because its military is useless in this day and age.

It’s wasted money.

While there are theories that Caracas didn’t use any of its anti-aircraft missile batteries because they were paid off, it’s also just as likely that they realized that they can’t use them without dying.

What are you gonna do when those Chinooks drop into your national... [More]

This is yet another excellent interview, this one with John Kiriakou, who, like Ben Norton, is extraordinarily well-informed and extremely capable of imparting his knowledge. Lee Camp does a very good job of feeding him questions and topics.

LIVE: Former CIA Officer John Kiriakou on Venezuela, 9/11 & More! by Lee Camp − Unredacted Tonight (YouTube)

I learned the following about the mission to kidnap Maduro,

• The U.S. had zero casualties. Kiriakou says that that wouldn’t have been possible without complicity on the part of at least some Venezuelans, who were almost certainly on the CIA payroll.[1]
• He... [More]

Ben NortonThe following video is an excellent interview with Ben Norton, a fluent Spanish-speaker who has spent a lot of time in Venezuela, reporting and investigating economics and politics. He knows a lot of people there, and has many friends there. He says that the opposition in Venezuela, which on the tip of everyone’s tongue in the U.S., is negligible in Venezuela. They have no real presence, not even online. They are very marginal.

Those are the two parts of the narrative that are being pushed... [More]

Vijay Prashad is brilliant, and he’s brilliant in this video. He discusses how he knows Maduro personally, that the guy was a bus driver and union leader before he was asked to step in for him by Chavez, who was dying of cancer. Maduro’s wife is in the general assembly, as well.

Venezuela: What Just Happened? With Vijay Prashad, Andreína Chávez and José Luis Granados Ceja 📱 by Katie Halper (YouTube)

Maduor was elected president. The Wikipedia on the 2024 Venezuelan national election is one of the longest ones I’ve ever seen, and is filled with wishy-washy language that lets the reader believe that there is cold,... [More]

At least it’s easier to stay on top of things this time. You don’t have to dig down to get to the truth. The press conferences are more open and to the point. You don’t have to ask yourself what they’re really saying. They’re saying it. What they’re saying is horrible enough. If they’re lying to cover up something even more horrible and illegal, it almost doesn’t even matter.

Try and stop us

The U.S. President just says that the U.S. owns other countries, like Venezuela. It’s not true in... [More]

The article Oil Tanker Seized by Liz Wolfe (Reason) writes in such a weak way about piracy. This is neither surprising for the author nor the publication.

“Over the weekend, the Trump administration seized two oil tankers. […] U.S. forces boarded a Panamanian-flagged commercial vessel, owned by Hong Kong’s Centuries Shipping, off the coast of Venezuela. They had no seizure warrant, which doesn’t appear to have gotten in their way.”

This is why Liz Wolfe and Reason can’t be taken seriously as a news organization,... [More]

Tucker Carlson : War, Peace, Trump, and the Constitution. by Judge Napolitano − Judging Freedom (YouTube)

This is a good interview. The Pareto Principle is quite strong, though. I can agree wholeheartedly with at least 80% of what both of them said. I can find little with which to disagree in their discussion of Israel, Russia, China, Venezuela, Iran, Syria. They are both staunch supporters of freedom of speech, due process, no collective punishment, judge the individual, not the group. These are all good things.

The remaining 20% is, however, very important and requires a bunch of follow-up... [More]

The weekly newsletter Roaming Charges: Kill, Kill Again, Kill Them All by Jeffrey St. Clair (CounterPunch) writes,

“The double-tap strikes are appalling and illegal, but Hegseth is merely following the bloody path Barack Obama blazed. Obama’s drone assassination team even had a name for wounded survivors they would target for a second kill strike: squirters. According to David Shedd, Obama’s former acting director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.”

“We used double-taps all the time. You would get the initial signature off of a... [More]”

If you’ll recall, just 2½ weeks before the kidnapping, Trump Declares Closure of Venezuela’s Airspace by Dave DeCamp (Scheer Post),

““To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

“It’s unclear if the declaration means that the US will impose a no-fly zone on Venezuela, which would be an act of war. Such a step or any military strikes on Venezuela would be illegal... [More]”

I queued this article in November of 2025 but never published it. The context has suddenly become much more relevant, so I’m clearing my queue of anything related to Venezuela.

At first, I thought it was kind of hilarious that the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to a Venezuelan. You know, because Trump wants one of the damned things so desperately, and he hates Venezuela, so it really seemed like a stick in his eye.

Hoo-boy was I wrong. The Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 was awarded to... [More]

I queued this article in October of 2024 but never published it. Since Israel and the U.S. are gearing up to attack Iran again, it’s time to clear out the backlog.

The article Biden escalates toward disastrous war against Iran by Andre Damon (WSWS) writes,

“Iran surrounded by US basesUsing Iran’s attack on Israeli military infrastructure Tuesday as a pretext, the White House has effectively given Israel carte blanche to carry out an illegal attack against the most populous country in the region.

““We’ll be discussing with the Israelis... [More]”

I queued this article in September of 2024 but never published it. It’s still quite topical as, 15 months later, Venezuela’s president has been kidnapped, Israel’s genocide against Gaza continues, and Israel is gearing up for another run at Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Iran.

Vijay Prashad offers an in-depth analysis of the history of Hezbollah, as well as the more recent history in the region. He particularly emphasizes that Israel is, by all reasonable definitions, the terrorist state, as... [More]

I queued this article in September of 2024 but never published it. The linked video is no longer available on YouTube nor can any trace be found of anything with that name on either DuckDuckGo (Bing) or Google because search engines apparently don’t index Rumble.[1] I’ll leave the link to YouTube, though, so we can all enjoy the big black hole provided by Google.

What Interest Does the U.S. Have in Who Governs Venezuela? by Glenn Greenwald (YouTube)

In the video, Greenwald discusses how the U.S. is... [More]

They: Maduro was a dictator.

Me: Fuck off.

They: What?!? Don’t you care that Maduro wasn’t a nice guy?

Me: No. Nothing you think you know about Venezuela is true. Nothing you think you know about Maduro is true.

They: But the Venezuelans…

Me: You don’t care about the Venezuelans. You care about low gas prices.

They: But Venezuelans are celebrating…

Me: The only people greeting the U.S. as liberators are oligarchs, plunderers, and assholes. Or the clinically deluded. Like you.

They:... [More]