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Category: Politics

Trump’s diesel deal with Putin won’t help American truckers but it gives a huge boost for Russia

Trump’s diesel deal with Putin won’t help American truckers but it gives a huge boost for Russia

Phillips P. O’Brien writes: With the major story breaking yesterday of the US announcing the purchase of diesel fuel from Russia, followed by a Treasury Department announcement of sanctions relief on Russia (see details below), I am sending out this overview. This development is not only important but it is also indicative of a truth that many (most) people have been unwilling to admit for the last 21 months. The narrow story is the decision by the Trump administration to…

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Japan declares ‘a state of emergency in cyberspace’

Japan declares ‘a state of emergency in cyberspace’

Gizmodo reports: We haven’t quite reached the cyber apocalypse that artificial intelligence companies have warned their technology could unleash on the world, but we’re getting uncomfortably close to a catastrophe on a national scale. According to a report from the Financial Times, Japan is being hammered by cyberattacks, prompting regulators to search for ways to protect financial institutions from potentially devastating disruptions and leading the country to declare “a state of emergency in cyberspace.” Per the report, Japan’s ruling Liberal…

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How Elon Musk’s delusions of grandeur became other people’s reality

How Elon Musk’s delusions of grandeur became other people’s reality

Megan Garber writes: In December 2021, Elon Musk sat for an interview with The Babylon Bee, a conservative satire site. Having covered the typical topics (wokeness, free speech, Elizabeth Warren) and finding themselves with a bit more time to fill, the outlet’s then–creative director closed out the chat with a request. “The Babylon Bee is a Christian organization, and we’re a ministry,” he reminded Musk. So “we’re wondering if you could do us a quick solid and accept Jesus as…

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The biggest source of inequality in the U.S. that no one talks about

The biggest source of inequality in the U.S. that no one talks about

Rogé Karma writes: For 40 years, a huge number of rich business owners have taken advantage of a tax concept known as pass-through income. This anodyne-sounding technique allows millionaires and billionaires to exempt their fortunes from the corporate tax and shield large portions of them from income taxation, depriving the government of trillions of dollars in revenue, driving a huge amount of inequality, and creating a powerful political constituency opposed to reform. “This is arguably the most important development in…

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A blood-red tide is surging across Latin America

A blood-red tide is surging across Latin America

Andre Pagliarini writes: Contrary to the ravings of its most fervent reactionaries, Brazil counts its votes accurately and with remarkable efficiency. So when polls closed at 5 p.m. local time on Sunday, the mood on the left soured quickly. Presidential candidate and Rio de Janeiro Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father watched election coverage under house arrest because he attempted a coup four years ago, never trailed as the results trickled in. His allies running for governor and legislative posts—including his…

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The happiest countries in the world have the highest levels of trust. The U.S. ranks #23

The happiest countries in the world have the highest levels of trust. The U.S. ranks #23

Quartz reports: A single survey question produces the ranking most often cited as a measure of national well-being. Gallup World Poll interviewers ask people in more than 140 countries to picture a ladder numbered zero to 10. The top rung represents the best possible life for them, the bottom rung the worst. Respondents say which rung they stand on today. That question, known as the Cantril ladder, generates the scores behind the World Happiness Report. The happiest countries in the…

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Was Hegseth’s decision to carry out a live televised execution inspired by Charlie Kirk?

Was Hegseth’s decision to carry out a live televised execution inspired by Charlie Kirk?

Pete Hegseth’s announcement that former US Army major Nidal Hasan will be executed by a firing squad and that this will be televised, was made during an interview with far-right commentator, Jack Posobiec. In 2024, Posobiec took part in Charlie Kirk’s weekly panel discussion, ThoughtCrime: Charlie Kirk: "This is my problem with the death penalty, it takes too long, too many appeals. It should be quick, it should be public, it should be televised" https://t.co/GPJTiwQivI — Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) October…

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‘Medieval’ and ‘disturbing’: Hegseth plan to livestream execution elicits global condemnation

‘Medieval’ and ‘disturbing’: Hegseth plan to livestream execution elicits global condemnation

The Guardian reports: The US is facing worldwide condemnation over a “barbaric” plan to execute a disabled man by firing squad and livestream it to the public, with critics comparing the Trump administration to dictatorships in Iran and Afghanistan. The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at a military base at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, would be livestreamed on 3 December. The United Nations’ office of the high…

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Federal judge shuts down Trump DOJ’s nationwide voter roll crusade, even in states that cooperated

Federal judge shuts down Trump DOJ’s nationwide voter roll crusade, even in states that cooperated

Democracy Docket reports: In a major ruling Friday, a federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s nationwide voter roll campaign, delivering a damaging blow to the Department of Justice’s effort to obtain states’ unredacted voter rolls, compare them against federal data and pressure states to remove voters it deems ineligible. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan vacated what DOJ internally called its “list maintenance project,” finding that the department exceeded its statutory authority and violated federal law. The ruling goes far…

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U.S. imposes sanctions on ICC hours after former judge wins Nobel Peace Prize

U.S. imposes sanctions on ICC hours after former judge wins Nobel Peace Prize

Reuters reports: US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed sanctions on the ​International Criminal Court on Friday, hours after one of its former judges won the Nobel Peace Prize, putting Washington on a diplomatic collision course with European allies. The court denounced the ‌move as an “assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order,” and called on its 125 member states to take action to defend it. “The Court cannot stand alone. Its…

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‘Nobody is listening to us’: On the school protest frontline, I heard why France’s students feel disowned

‘Nobody is listening to us’: On the school protest frontline, I heard why France’s students feel disowned

Alexander Hurst writes: When adolescents protest that the government is failing to uphold their right to an education, and the government’s response is to send in riot police, the government has lost the plot. People outside France may have spent the past week watching the student protests in Paris and other cities, and thought, “Well, France has a long tradition of insurrection” or, “That’s just the French being French.” But the situation that has provoked the high-school walkouts and teenage…

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Trump’s former defense secretary sees no end in sight for Iran war — to the benefit of China

Trump’s former defense secretary sees no end in sight for Iran war — to the benefit of China

CNBC reports: The U.S.-Iran war could drag on for years, putting America at risk of overlooking China’s rise to power, according to President Donald Trump’s former defense secretary. During a panel discussion at LSEG and Eurasia Group’s GZERO Summit in London, Mark Esper said on Thursday he saw the conflict continuing “well into 2027,” with a possibility that it could be handed to the next U.S. administration in three years’ time. “At some point, we will reach a point where…

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Oil prices jump as Iran steps up tanker attacks, hurricane threatens U.S. Gulf production

Oil prices jump as Iran steps up tanker attacks, hurricane threatens U.S. Gulf production

CNBC reports: Crude oil prices rose sharply Thursday, as Iran ramped up its attacks on tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz and Hurricane Isaias threatened U.S. offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, gained 4% to close at $104.28 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures advanced 3.6% to settle at $91.49 per barrel. Nine tankers have come under attack in and around Hormuz over the past week, jeopardizing the recent recovery in crude…

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‘Neither war nor peace’: Palestinians in Gaza on existing amid disease, despair and ruins

‘Neither war nor peace’: Palestinians in Gaza on existing amid disease, despair and ruins

The Guardian reports: Ahmed Ishtaiwi has six chairs. They are cheap and plastic and battered, but they are among the 43-year-old driver and mechanic’s most valuable possessions. Ishtaiwi lives in a tent near Deir al-Balah in central Gaza with his two daughters. Their former home is far to the north, in the now ruined town of Beit Lahiya, uninhabitable and impossible to reach. “When I sit on those chairs, I remember sitting in the garden at home, having breakfast and…

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Hegseth wants Americans to watch Nidal Hasan’s execution — the first military execution since 1961

Hegseth wants Americans to watch Nidal Hasan’s execution — the first military execution since 1961

MeidasTouch Network reports: Hegseth has promised a public execution, while the Army’s official notice offers only the bare machinery of a death warrant. The Pentagon and Army have declined to provide reporters details about the firing squad’s personnel, its procedures or the location on the base where Hasan would be executed, according to an Associated Press account published Wednesday. The Trump regime has supplied a date. It has not supplied the rules. The prospect of a public execution would place…

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Most voters say Trump, Congress don’t take AI risks seriously, poll finds

Most voters say Trump, Congress don’t take AI risks seriously, poll finds

Reuters reports: Most US voters think President Donald Trump’s administration and Congress are not taking the risks of AI seriously enough and want the government to ​write new regulations for the technology, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. The six-day survey, which ended on Monday, showed that wide swaths of the electorate see AI as ‌a major threat to American jobs, underscoring growing skepticism of the technology from voters across the political spectrum. The fast-advancing technology has become a matter…

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