Source: The Hill
“Briahna Joy Gray and Robby Soave weigh in on the passage of a foreign aid bill in the House, including attempts to oust Speaker Johnson for working with House Democrats to pass the package.” (04/22/24)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/4611501-rising-april-22-2024/
Source: Jacobin
by Boris Kagarlitsky
“In today’s Russian prisons, a sign of a prosperous and materially well-off cell is the presence of a television set, usually provided together with a refrigerator. For me, the television is less a source of pleasure than of torment, as I have already explained several times. The shrill, malicious voices of the propagandists literally pierce my ears, while the vulgar humor makes me want to vomit. But the television, which is constantly turned on, nevertheless has a positive effect as well. In scientific terms, it provides a window into the dominant discourse.” (04/22/24)
https://jacobin.com/2024/04/boris-kagarlitsky-multipolarity-social-change/
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“As we create new prosperity zones and digital collaboration spaces, two ancient institutions recommend themselves, at least symbolically.” (04/22/24)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/the-temple-and-the-brothel
Source: The Nation
by Michael T. Klare
“As I peered down inside a briefing tent at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, California, on March 5, a giant floor screen projected the back-and-forth maneuvers of ‘red’ (aggressor) and ‘blue’ (defending) forces across the western Pacific. Over and over again, air and sea assets of the red force (identified as a ‘near-peer adversary’ of the United States — a common stand-in for China) penetrated deep into ‘blue’ territory occupied by Washington’s allies, only to be repulsed or destroyed by blue’s own combat forces. In a scenario that can only be described as a modernized version of World War II in the Pacific, blue forces augmented their air and naval strikes with amphibious assaults to drive red invaders from islands they had seized at the onset of the exercise.” (04/22/24)
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/ai-military-power-war-china-taiwan-silicon-valley/
Source: Axios
“Columbia University canceled in-person classes on Monday following days of unauthorized pro-Palestinian protest on campus. Big-name colleges have been cracking down more aggressively on pro-Palestinian protests, which they say are getting increasingly intense and disruptive. Columbia President Minouche Shafik called the New York Police Department last week on pro-Palestinian activists, who set up an encampment again immediately after. NYPD arrested more than 100 people after Shafik requested their removal.” (04/22/24)
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/22/columbia-classes-virtual-protests
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“CIA To Zelensky: ‘Please Stop Stealing So Much.'” (04/22/24)
https://rumble.com/v4qwree-cia-to-zelensky-please-stop-stealing-so-much..html
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“When future historians go searching for the final nail in the US coffin, they may well settle on the date April 20, 2024. On that day Congress passed legislation to fund two and a half wars, hand what’s left of our privacy over to the CIA and NSA, and give the US president the power to shut down whatever part of the Internet he disagrees with.” (04/22/24)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/final-nail-in-americas-coffin
Source: Town Hall
by Sally C Pipes
“President Joe Biden recently unveiled his $7.3 trillion budget proposal for next fiscal year. He has pitched his plan as one that would ‘preserve Medicare benefits and the Medicare trust fund’. It’s a nice soundbite. But it’s not the whole story. The president’s budget would raise taxes without solving Medicare’s financial woes. … For years, Medicare’s Board of Trustees has warned of the imminent bankruptcy of the entitlement’s Part A hospital insurance trust fund. According to the latest projection, the fund will run out of money by 2031. That’s in part because the entitlement is growing. Roughly 26 million Baby Boomers will turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare through 2030. As a result, Medicare spending is expected to more than double in the next decade. Last year, Medicare spending was roughly $1 trillion. That number will reach about $2.1 trillion by 2034, according to a new projection by the Congressional Budget Office.” (04/22/24)
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A UN report into the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA has concluded it must do more to improve its neutrality, staff vetting and transparency. But the independent review also said that Israel had failed to back up a claim that many of the agency’s staff belonged to terror groups. Some of UNRWA’s staff were accused by Israel of involvement in the 7 October attacks and of being Hamas members. This led several countries to halt funding to the humanitarian agency. The new report says Israel has not yet provided ‘supporting evidence’ for its allegations. However it adds that the agency’s monitoring processes need to improve, and that neutrality-related issues persist despite the fact that the organisation has a ‘robust framework.’ The Israeli authorities have rejected the findings, claiming the report ignores the severity of the problem.” (04/22/24)
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“If you’re looking for further evidence that the world is recovering from the disruptions of pandemic policy, the Simon Abundance Index provides just that. After a brief retreat, the index once again portrays a world of cheaper commodities that contribute to human prosperity. Born from a famous 1980 bet between economist Julian Simon and doomsayer Paul Ehrlich, the index stands as testimony for Simon’s belief that the greatest resource is human ingenuity — although government intervention is perfectly capable of screwing up a good thing.” (04/22/24)
https://reason.com/2024/04/22/julian-simon-was-right-ingenuity-leads-to-abundance/