Tuesday, January 20, 2026

The Guardian UK:
"‘Brazen’ political influence of rich laid bare as wealth of billionaires reaches $18.3tn, says Oxfam. Governments opting for oligarchy while brutally repressing protests over austerity and lack of jobs, charity report says

The world saw a record number of billionaires created last year, with a collective wealth of $18.3tn (£13.7tn), while global efforts stalled in the fight against poverty and hunger. Oxfam’s annual survey of global inequality has revealed that the number of billionaires surpassed 3,000 for the first time during 2025. Since 2020, their collective wealth grew by 81%, or $8.2tn, which the charity claims would be enough to eradicate global poverty 26 times over.

But the authors reported that most governments were failing ordinary people by capitulating to the increasingly blatant influence of the rich. The past 12 months have seen youth-led uprisings against inequality across countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. But protests over corruption, austerity, unemployment and high living costs have routinely been ignored and instead harshly put down by governments, said Max Lawson, co-author of the report."
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/19/brazen-political-influence-rich-laid-bare-wealth-billionaires-inequality-poverty-instability-oxfam

-->The NYT doesn't pay much attention to billionaires, especially if it is negative. It's clearly the Empire's most important rag.

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Common Dreams:
"Trump Isn’t the First to Be Gifted a Nobel Prize He Didn’t Win—Joseph Goebbels Got One Too. In 1943, the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun gave his Nobel Prize for Literature to the infamous Nazi criminal.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s gifting of her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump raised eyebrows around the world Friday—but it wasn’t the first time that the winner of the prestigious award gave it away.
Last month, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the peace prize to the 58-year-old opposition leader “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

Machado joined a notorious group of Nobel Peace laureates who either waged or advocated for war, as she backed Trump’s aggression against her country. This has included a massive troop deployment, military and CIA airstrikes, bombing of boats allegedly transporting drugs, and the abduction earlier this month of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/machado-nobel-prize-trump

-->Machado's gifting wasn't widely reported on in the US media. It diminishes the Empire's credibility too much.

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Peace and Planet News:
"Jeremy Brecher’s newest report, co-published by the Labor Network for Sustainability and ZNetwork.org, argues that the US is facing an increased authoritarian threat under Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, characterized by executive overreach, suppression of dissent, and the use of state and vigilante violence.

In response, Brecher asserts that the country must look beyond conventional means and consider social strikes–large-scale, nonviolent withdrawal of cooperation, a tactic that has brought down authoritarian regimes around the world. He defines social strikes as mass actions that make society ungovernable by disrupting not just workplaces, but all political and social structures that enable tyranny.

By citing international and US examples, the report outlines how such strikes have been organized, what tactics they use, and how they might serve as a last line of defense if democratic institutions are further eroded. While success is never guaranteed, Brecher emphasizes that understanding these methods is essential to resisting a potential MAGA dictatorship."
https://peaceandplanetnews.org/

-->Too radical for the Empire's newspaper.

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Common Dreams:
"Canada, Stop Using the US to Launder Complicity With the Gaza Genocide. Canada, despite claiming to have imposed an arms embargo, continues to fuel the violence unabated, its factories producing fighter jet components, explosives, and munitions that move through US channels directly into the assault.

For decades, Canada has carefully cultivated a global reputation for principle, human rights, and moral clarity. However, that image is now cracking, and cracking fast. For too long, Canada has cloaked its inaction and complicity, rather spectacularly, behind political correctness. But as the global crises grow more brutal—and more visible—it has become harder for Canada to maintain this facade.

Canadians and people around the world are catching on to the gap between what the country claims to stand for and what it actually does. That gap is just impossible to ignore when it comes to the situation in Gaza. Since October 2023, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed over 80,000 Palestinians—and that figure represents only the confirmed deaths, excluding those trapped beneath the rubble. Experts have estimated that nearly 600,000 total Palestinians have lost their lives, including thousands of children, and nearly 2 million more have been displaced, an overwhelming portion of the strip’s population."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/canada-us-gaza-genocide

-->This story was covered by many Canadian media outlets. But in the US, there was hardly any coverage at all. The Zionists are still able to censor the US press.

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Amnesty International:
"The Trump administration’s anti-rights campaign is turbocharging harmful trends already present, gutting international human rights protections and endangering billions across the planet, Amnesty International warned today upon launching its annual report, The State of the World’s Human Rights.

This 'Trump effect' ghas compounded the damage done by other world leaders throughout 2024, eating away at decades of painstaking work to build up and advance universal human rights for all and accelerating humanity’s plunge into a brutal new era characterized by intermingling authoritarian practices and corporate greed, Amnesty International said in its assessment of the situation in 150 countries.

'At this historical juncture, when authoritarian laws and practices are multiplying the world over in the interests of very few, governments and civil society must work with urgency to lead humanity back to safer ground.' " -Amnesty International’s Secretary General
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/04/global-human-rights-crisis-trump-effect-accelerates-destructive-trends/

-->One might think this is a big story, the world order collapsing. But few US media outlets reported to this story. Again, a big win for the Israel Lobby.

Tuesday, January 06, 2026

The New York Times:
"Trump's Attack on Venezuela Is Illegal and Unwise."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/opinion/venezuela-attack-trump-us.html

-->The NYT always plays it safe when it come to encouraging US imperialism. For the last 25 years, the newspaper has criticized Chavez, Maduro, and all things Venezuelan. Has the NYT ever run an article that favored the Bolivarian Revolution? Or how about a neutral article, admitting that its leaders were trying to do something right for its people? Like the Guardian in the UK, Venezuela has always been portrayed as this barbaric state, in need to some sort of military intervention. How loudly the NYT cheered when the Pentagon would find the latest opposition candidate? How out of touch these papers are about socialist leaders in Latin America. 

Venezuela marks the boundaries of freedom of expression in our national media. Has our "newspaper of record" ever printed anything favorable about Nicaragua or Cuba? Has England's well known newspaper, The Guardian? We know that the NYT has supported 10 our of 12 US-backed coups in Latin America since 1954 (Truthdig).

I think that both newspapers support US imperialism without questioning Pentagon logic. In fact, both papers are the propaganda instruments of the empire. Neither would ever dare go against their imperial paymasters.  

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Common Dreams:
"Trump spent 2025 doing everything in his power to demolish our invaluable Social Security system itself.

The walls of the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, which lies blocks from the US Capitol, are decorated with stunning New Deal-era murals. The most famous of these murals, 'The Meaning of Social Security,' depicts life before and after Social Security. The mural shows the best of America, what we can do when we all come together to build our Social Security system. Thanks to Donald Trump, “The Meaning of Social Security”—along with everything it represents—is now in grave danger.

The Trump administration is making moves to demolish the Wilbur J. Cohen Building, inevitably destroying 'The Meaning of Social Security' in the process. Trump plans to take a wrecking ball to this key piece of Social Security’s history, just as he did to the east wing of the White House. But this is about more than just a mural. Trump spent 2025 doing everything in his power to demolish our invaluable Social Security system itself."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-destroy-social-security

-->The NYT is very careful with this crisis in Social Security. One one side it pretends to be in favor of working people and their right to retire. On the other hand, the Stock Market can't wait to get its hands on this last asset that the common people own. Time after time, Wall Street interests are put ahead of protecting the crown jewel of the New Deal. When is the last time that you read anything about the billionaires' assault on Social Security? The NYT is all the news that Wall Street wants you to read.

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Aljazeera:
"Israel faces mounting global condemnation as a ban on dozens of international aid organisations working to provide life-saving assistance to Palestinians in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip has come into effect. On Thursday, a group of 17 human rights and advocacy organisations in Israel condemned the prohibition, saying it 'undermines principled humanitarian action, endangers staff and communities, and compromises effective aid delivery'.

'Israel, as the occupying power, has an obligation to ensure adequate supplies to Palestinian civilians. Not only is it failing to fulfill that obligation, but it is also preventing others from filling the gap,' the groups said.

Israel has revoked the operating licences of 37 aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, and the Norwegian Refugee Council, for failing to comply with new government regulations. The new rules require international NGOs working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to provide detailed information on staff members, as well as their funding and operations."
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/1/israel-faces-widespread-condemnation-as-ngo-ban-comes-into-effect

-->I couldn't find this story in the NYT. In fact, few media outlets covered it at all. The genocide of the Palestinians is still the empire's secret.

Thursday, January 01, 2026

Drop Site News:
"DOHA, QATAR—'If President Donald Trump wants to achieve stability in the Middle East, he should put an end to Israeli interference in U.S. policy toward Palestine, senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told Drop Site. 'Instead,' Meshaal said, 'the U.S. should enter into a genuine process of direct negotiations with Hamas and other Palestinian political factions aimed at establishing friendly, bilateral relations.'

'Unfortunately, one of the problems with the U.S. administration is that it prioritizes Israel’s interests more than the United States’ own interests. Even Trump’s people—MAGA—came to realize that Israel is a burden on them, restricting and harming U.S. interests.

'I am simply calling on the American people and the U.S. administration to judge based on America’s interests, not Israel’s' Meshaal said. 'If they look at us even for a moment in a fair and impartial way, they will see that the Palestinian people are oppressed under occupation, and they have the right to resist—unless America steps in and forces Israel to withdraw, in which case we would thank America.' He added, 'When the world fails to help you, you have no choice but to resist the occupier until you force it to withdraw.' ”
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/hamas-leader-khaled-meshaal-interview-trump-maga-united-states-support-israel-gaza-netanyahu

-->How refreshing to hear from Hamas. It's too bad it has to come from dropsitenews instead of a larger media outlet. Of course, our mainstream media is little more than pro-Israel propaganda. It wouldn't cover this story.

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The Intercept:
When Oregon music teacher Susan Lewis logged onto a Zoom meeting with her boss one afternoon in August 2024, she thought she would be preparing for a sixth year teaching at Valley Catholic School. Instead, she lost her job.

Lewis was shocked, she recalled in an interview with The Intercept, as were her colleagues and students. The school did not give any explanation for why they did not renew her contract. Unbeknownst to Lewis, the pro-Israel blacklist organization StopAntisemitism had recently launched an online campaign against her, framing her social media posts about the genocide in Gaza as 'using her platform to spread vile antisemitic hate online.' ...

Lewis is one of at least 400 people StopAntisemitism has taken credit for getting ousted from their jobs in its online crusade, which has drawn widespread attention for targeting more prominent figures — including right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson, progressive actor-turned-activist Cynthia Nixon, and the popular children’s educator Rachel Accurso, known by her stage name Ms. Rachel. Lewis."
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/20/stopantisemitism-israel-blacklist-teacher-job-firings/

-->This firing reflects what happened during the McCarthy Era. Instead of "Communism," we now have ardent Zionists accusing the rest of being antisemites.

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Common Dreams:
"More than 40 advocacy groups on Monday called on Wikipedia editors and the Wikimedia board of trustees to reject efforts by the web-based encyclopedia’s co-founders to censor the site’s entry on the Gaza genocide.

After months of internal debate, editors of the Wikipedia article titled 'Allegations of genocide in the 2023 Israeli attack on Gaza' renamed the entry 'Gaza genocide' in July 2024, reflecting experts’ growing acknowledgement that Israel’s annihilation and siege of the Palestinian exclave met the legal definition of the ultimate crime.
'Their efforts deny the documented reality of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and contradict the broad consensus among genocide scholars, international human rights organizations, UN experts, and both Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations,' the groups continue. 'In doing so, Wales and Sanger are engaging in attempted censorship and genocide denial.' ”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-wikipedia

-->Wikimedia is pro genocide! Its founders are Zionists. This story wasn't covered in The NYT, which has its own problems for supporting Israel for the last 50 years.