Priests & Politicians – the Mafia of the Soul

“These politicians and these priests have been constantly in conspiracy, working together hand in hand. The politician has the political power; the priest has the religious power. The politician protects the priest, the priest blesses the politician – and the masses are exploited, sucked; their blood is sucked by both.”¹ Osho

You can also read more in the book: Osho, Priests & Politicians: The Mafia of the Soul

We are asking three questions:

One, if this is illegal, why is no one prosecuted?
Two, if it is legal, who made those laws?
Three, then whose action or inaction allowed those lawmakers to have that power?

The Unfolding Story – Updated Regularly:

Read the 2025 Edition HERE

June 8, 2026
I was jailed for speaking out about the treatment of workers at the Qatar World Cup. I am still being punished
The 2022 football tournament cost me my freedom for three years. This year, I’ve lost my passport, safety and perhaps more
“What I saw in a town called Al-Shahaniyah on the outskirts of Doha, the capital of Qatar, seven years ago broke every rule and human right in the book. Desperate, hard-working people were on strike for not receiving their salaries for two, four or six months. Salaries that rarely exceeded $300 (£220) a month, in one of the richest countries in the world at the time.
“They had no food, no drinking water and no money to survive on or send back home to their families. But what made the situation worse was that they were building something for each and every one of us: not a mansion, a private home, or a road in the middle of nowhere. They were building World Cup stadiums for Messi and Ronaldo to play in, and for me and you to enjoy the show.
“I was told by my superiors at the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy – the ones tasked with delivering and organising the 2022 Fifa World Cup Qatar – as their media manager, to put a spin on it, bend the truth just a little to match the narrative….
For speaking out, I was charged by a Qatari state security prosecutor with leaking defence secrets, conspiring with foreign countries to destroy the World Cup, among other charges. Eventually, I was convicted of the less serious charge of corruption and put in jail for three-and-a-half years, during which the UN working group issued an opinion rendering my detention arbitrary and my trial unfair.
Fifa chose not to intervene on my case, ignoring it just as they chose to ignore the toll of human lives and human suffering of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, instead declaring it “the best World Cup ever”.
“Four years on, with a new World Cup kicking-off this week in Mexico, the US and Canada, I thought I would be free to speak about what happened to workers and me at the Qatar tournament. I was wrong. Two weeks ago, I was stopped at Amman airport in Jordan, my passport was confiscated and was told by intelligence officers to cease any public mention of Qatar 2022, my case, or the workers’ conditions in Qatar immediately, or face the same fate I endured in Qatar: imprisonment.” – The Guardian

June 6, 2026
Video: Police Tussle With Diabetes Experts at ADA Meeting
— Researchers told they could no longer attend the annual scientific sessions
“Members of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) were escorted by police out of theconvention center in New Orleans during the organization’s annual meeting on Friday as they handed out copies of an editorial criticizing Trump administration changes to U.S. biomedical research.
“Among them was Steven Kahn, MBChB, the lead author of the editorial, which published online in late April in the organization’s flagship journal, Diabetes Care. Kahn is also the editor in chief of the journal.
“Kahn, Aaron Kelly, PhD, past ADA president Desmond Schatz, MD, Justin Ryder, PhD, Irl Hirsch, MD, and at least one other member were handing out printed copies of the editorial outside of a keynote speech given by an NIH official. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, was supposed to give the talk, but pulled out at the last minute, Kahn told MedPage Today.”…
“In a separate video provided to MedPage Today, Kahn and Ryder were shown outside of the convention center talking with police after they were escorted outside. Kelly, who was also outside taking the video, said they were “threatened to be arrested for handing out the editorial.”
“‘They physically grabbed us, forced us out of the conference center, and now are telling us we can no longer attend this meeting. They’re taking our lanyards,’ Kelly said.
“‘It really has come to this in America. Censorship is real,” said Kelly. ‘America needs to stand up. Scientists, stand up. Physicians, stand up.'” – MedPage Today

May 29, 2026
Vietnam moves its dead for Trump golf course
Project has become symbolically important for relations between Washington and Hanoi
“In the graveyard, in the Chau Ninh commune of the Hung Yen province, broken nameplates and half-burnt incense sticks now perch precariously on fallen altars. Some tombstones bear giant “X” marks to indicate the bodies have been moved.
“‘It’s because of this project people are forced to move,’ said Tran Minh Hai, a farmer who grows lilies. He cited a Vietnamese saying that calls for graves to be left in peace. ‘It’s a spiritual thing, people don’t want to disturb the graves.’ Some villagers are refusing to agree to exhumations.” – The Financial Times

May 28, 2026
The White House Intervened to Get a $620 Million Deal for a Company Tied to Donald Trump Jr.
About three months before the Pentagon announced plans to lend money to Vulcan Elements, Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm took an undisclosed stake in the company.
“Interviews and Defense Department records reviewed by ProPublica show that the request to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to the firm linked to Trump Jr. was made by Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to President Donald Trump and a friend of Trump Jr.’s.
“Of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was considering funding at the time, Vulcan’s was the only deal initiated by a top aide to the president, said an official at the Pentagon who was not authorized to speak publicly.
“After defense officials got the White House request, they asked Pentagon staff to move at an unusually rapid pace, said another person who was involved in the deal at the Pentagon but not authorized to speak about it. The staff worked late nights and with little sleep to get the loan through in a matter of weeks, the source said.
“‘The call came from the White House: We have to get this done,’ the person said.” – ProPublica

May 24, 2026
The Guardian view on Erdoğan’s tightening grip on Turkey: the next election is already being decided
The removal of an opposition party leader and closure of a liberal university show an authoritarian democracy moving closer to one-man rule
“Turkey’s next presidential election is scheduled for 2028. Many think it will come sooner. But by the time ballots are actually cast, the outcome may already have been decided – especially after the last few days.
“On Thursday, an appeals court removed the head of the opposition Republican People’s party (CHP), Özgür Özel, by annulling its 2023 leadership contest. The 51-year-old was credited with reviving the CHP, which trounced the ruling Justice and Development party in 2024’s local elections. He was also one of the few senior figures not caught in a sweeping crackdown that has led to hundreds of CHP officials and politicians being arrested. Human Rights Watch says that the justice system has been weaponised against the opposition. A mass corruption trial opened in March, with defendants including the Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was arrested last year on the day that he was chosen as the CHP’s presidential candidate. He could face a sentence of more than 1,900 years if convicted on all counts.” – The Guardian

May 23, 2026
Not just the US: How 51 countries armed Israel during Gaza war
Israel imported military-related goods from six European countries despite arms restrictions.
“On January 26, 2024, the ICJ ruled that there was a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and ordered provisional measures. Crucially, it reminded all states party to the Genocide Convention, of which there are 153, of their obligations: to act to prevent genocide.
“But over the next 22 months, the killing continued. By the time a ceasefire was reached in October 2025, more than 70,000 people had been killed, with some 171,000 injured.
“Throughout that period, the weapons to Israel kept flowing….
“The five largest countries of origin for military-related goods entering Israel – the United States, India, Romania, Taiwan and the Czech Republic – all recorded increased shipments during the war.” – Aljazeera

May 22, 2026
Behind the Curtain: Trump’s unprecedented profit and protection
“Never in 250 years has America witnessed a sitting president shield himself and his family from tax scrutiny, after leveraging policies that benefit his own businesses and personal portfolios, as Donald J. Trump has done.
“Why it matters: This isn’t a hidden scandal. Trump has done this publicly and proudly. Last year, we called it the ‘most unprecedented presidency in 250 years.’
“In doing so, he has set a precedent — once so unfathomable as to be laughable — that it’s OK for presidents and family members to make billions off deals affected by government decisions, then use the Justice Department to secure lifetime protection from scrutiny of their past tax returns.” – Axios

May 21, 2026
Ebola responders say aid cuts by Western nations left them ill-equipped for outbreak
The sweeping aid cuts have left the Democratic Republic of Congo struggling to contain an Ebola outbreak despite its extensive experience with the disease.
“Medical personnel in the Democratic Republic of Congo know what it takes to get an Ebola outbreak under control. They have confronted 17 episodes of the disease in the past 50 years.
But this time, they say, they just don’t have the capacity.
“Sweeping aid cuts by the United States and other Western nations to Congo and the World Health Organization, which took effect last year, left frontline health agencies dangerously under-resourced as this Ebola outbreak erupted and spread with alarming speed.
“Aid groups and health officials say they lacked the staff, surveillance systems and emergency supplies needed to quickly detect early infections or contain the virus as cases surged in recent days.” – The Washington Post

May 20, 2026
How to Get a Pardon in Trump’s Washington
Fast-talking lawyers and lobbyists promise to get white-collar criminals out of jail — for a fee.
“Josh Nass, a lawyer and lobbyist based in New York and South Carolina, shared a warning for those seeking clemency in Donald Trump’s Washington. ‘There are a lot of bad actors out there, promising prospective clients that they can get pardons,’ he said in the first of a series of phone calls starting in March. ‘You have people who are in desperate straits, and they get taken to the cleaners by people who wind up doing nothing for them.’…
“Nass has become one of the throng of lawyers and lobbyists who are selling themselves as pardon brokers. ‘The upside of these pardons is so great,’ he said. ‘People will do anything to get one.’
“Late last year, Nass successfully represented Joseph Schwartz, the owner of a chain of nursing homes who was serving a three-year sentence for a $38 million tax fraud at the federal prison camp in Otisville, N.Y., in his quest for a pardon from Trump. (On a federal lobbying disclosure form, Nass reported that Schwartz paid him $100,000.) Word of Nass’s success soon spread at Otisville, a common destination for those convicted of white-collar crimes, and he was inundated with prospective clients….
“The Schwartz pardon is one of more than 50 for white-collar offenders that Trump has doled out so far in his second term — well more than any other recent president. The quasi-royal quasi-selling of indulgences has created an extraordinary free-for-all as supplicants try to make their cases in any way they can. According to a tally by Elizabeth G. Oyer, who was the pardon attorney in the Biden administration, there are currently more than 20,000 clemency requests pending at the Justice Department, compared with about 5,000 at the end of the Biden administration. (The catchall term of clemency includes pardons, which invalidates a criminal conviction, and commutations, which free a recipient from prison but leave intact the conviction.)” – The New York Times

May 16, 2026
On Capitol Hill, a Sexual Harassment ‘Minefield’ Persists
Nearly 10 years after Congress instituted measures to make it easier for women to lodge harassment complaints, lawmakers and aides say the behavior is still rampant.
“Nearly 10 years after Congress instituted measures to crack down on sexual harassment by lawmakers and make it easier for women to lodge complaints about it, lawmakers and aides say the behavior is still rampant among Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill and often goes unaddressed.
“In more than a dozen interviews over the past month, current and former lawmakers and congressional staff members — many of them women who discussed sensitive workplace conditions on the condition of anonymity — said the power structure on Capitol Hill created a culture where questionable behavior by lawmakers was common, and reporting harassment was difficult.” – The New York Times

May 13, 2026
The Hantavirus Isn’t the Biggest Threat We’re Facing
The government’s destruction of our pandemic preparedness is.
“So while there is a lot of chatter out there about the risk of the Andes virus, with everyone now having an opinion on the relatively rare infection and its potential for further spread, the real story is the collapse of pandemic preparedness in this country—all the public health and scientific infrastructure that has disappeared, the purge of talent, experience, and expertise that was meant to keep us safe. A new outbreak is clickbait—everyone wants to get into the mix and get a piece of the action. Those I am truly interested in hearing from are the researchers, clinicians, and epidemiologists who work on hantaviruses and emerging diseases—many of them who have seen their grants from NIH, USAID, and other federal agencies cut. Hantavirus is not the coming plague, but one is surely coming for us in the future. We’ve never been as exposed and vulnerable as we are now for when that moment arrives. That is what should frighten you to your very core.” – The Nation

May 11, 2026
The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians
Male and female Palestinians describe brutal sexual abuse at the hands of Israel’s prison guards, soldiers, settlers and interrogators.
“In wrenching interviews, Palestinians have recounted to me a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women, and even children — by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency, and, above all, prison guards….
“They have built a security apparatus where sexual violence has become, as a United Nations report put it last year, one of Israel’s ‘standard operating procedures’ and ‘a major element in the ill treatment of Palestinians.’ A report out last month, from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, a Geneva-based advocacy group often critical of Israel, concludes that Israel employs ‘systematic sexual violence’ that is ‘widely practiced as part of an organized state policy.'” – The New York Times

May 10, 2026
Crucial progress has been made to stop women and babies dying in childbirth – now that is being reversed.
Success in bringing down maternal mortality is being thwarted by devastating cuts in foreign aid. On International Mothers’ Day, chief international correspondent Bel Trew reports from the Central African Republic, while Nick Ferrisin London examines the data.
“Hard-won successes in efforts to stop women and babies dying in childbirth have faced a serious setback with recent cuts to foreign aid – and the trend is now reversing in some countries, new figures show.
“Significant progress in tackling preventable maternal mortality across the globe had seen the rate decline by 40 per cent in the last two decades.
“However, the latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests this progress has slowed in recent years, and recent aid cuts by the US, as well as other countries including Britain, will start to reverse those crucial gains.” – The Independent

May 10, 2026
A Quietly Radical Experiment in Criminal Justice
“The American criminal justice system is notoriously plagued with racial and gender bias, crippling caseloads and asymmetrical justice. Tough-on-crime policies have often led to a revolving door of incarceration, a system in which success or failure is charted largely by recidivism rates.
“Mohala Wahine stands out for its holistic approach. There are the big needs of drug treatment, domestic abuse education, schooling, job training, and counseling, but the court also helps with navigating tasks like obtaining driver’s licenses, Social Security cards, free mobile phones and housing. As a result, probation officers for Women’s Court have far fewer clients in their caseloads than do their counterparts elsewhere — around 30 each, rather than 200.” – The New York Times

May 10, 2026
America’s pastor pipeline is collapsing
“U.S. Master of Divinity enrollment at accredited schools under the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) fell 14% from 2020 to 2024.
“Graduate-level and college-level enrollment at Catholic seminaries were down significantly in the 2024-2025 academic year, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University said.
“Black Protestant enrollment in ATS Master of Divinity and professional M.A. programs fell 31% from 2000 to 2020.
“State of play: Churches are trying to fill pulpits as older clergy retire, congregations shrink and burnout rises.
“More than 4 in 10 clergy surveyed in fall 2023 said they had seriously considered leaving their congregations since 2020, per Hartford Institute data reported by The Associated Press.
“The leadership crunch comes as the U.S. saw 15,000 churches close last year and as a record 29% of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated.” – Axios

May 10, 2026
Congress’ biggest reckoning since #MeToo
“Congress is going through its biggest reckoning over sexual misconduct since the #MeToo movement rocked Capitol Hill in 2017 and 2018.
“Why it matters: Nearly a decade after lawmakers instituted reforms around sexual harassment, new allegations are exposing what members and staffers say remains an open secret: a culture of bad behavior on the Hill.
“‘It’s complete bullsh*t,’ one House Republican told Axios. ‘Like you have all these guys sleeping with their employees, and nothing happens, and everybody knows what’s going on.’ – Axios

May 8, 2026
The US could soon make it easier to execute people with intellectual disabilities
A supreme court decision will determine whether the cruel, unconstitutional execution of people with intellectual disability becomes even more prevalent
“The supreme court will soon rule on Hamm v Smith, an Alabama death penalty case that could significantly increase the number of people with intellectual disability who are executed. In this case, Alabama is fighting to execute a man named Joseph Smith. Smith’s five IQ scores – 72, 74, 74, 75 and 78 – all fall around the bottom fifth percentile of the population.” – The Guardian

May 5, 2026
Thanks to Trump and Netanyahu, everyone now wants to go nuclear
After waging a war on the pretext of stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the US and Israel have ignited a new arms race
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and successive US presidents have spent the better part of the past three decades warning that a nuclear-armed Iran would threaten the whole world. Now, thanks to the illegal US-Israeli war, Iran may have to go nuclear by claiming self-defence.
“After all, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Israel would justify its clandestine nuclear weapon programme, which dates back to the 1950s, by claiming Arab states wanted to exterminate it. Well, what did US President Donald Trump post on Truth Social recently? ‘A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.’
“And, talking about extermination, what Israel has been doing in Gaza and southern Lebanon speaks for itself.” – SCMP

May 5th 2026
F.D.A. Blocked Publication of Research Finding Covid and Shingles Vaccines Were Safe
The agency’s scientists and data contractors reviewed millions of patient records for studies that were pulled back before release.
“The studies, which cost millions of dollars in public funds, were conducted by scientists at the agency, who worked with data firms to analyze millions of patient records. They found serious side effects to be very rare….
“The withdrawal of the studies is the latest step by the administration to try to limit access to vaccines. It has sharply cut research funding for vaccine development, released unvetted information casting doubt on vaccines, and blocked other information supporting their safety, most recently a paper on Covid vaccine effectiveness by career scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” – The New York Times

April 28, 2026
North Korea Confirms Suicide Rule for Soldiers Ukraine Captures
“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un confirmed a policy that requires soldiers to commit suicide on the battlefield to avoid capture, while fighting Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Kim praised soldiers who had “self-blasted” in order to defend the great honor, saying they died a heroic death.
“The disclosure follows reports that North Korean troops captured by Ukraine were required to kill themselves to avoid becoming a prisoner of war.” – Bloomberg

April 17, 2026
Media coverage of violence against women reaches ‘dismal’ low, report finds
Analysis finds stories citing terms of misogynistic abuse fell to 1.3% of global online news in 2025
“Media coverage of violence against women and girls and misogynistic harassment is at a ‘pitiful’ low, despite a proliferation of high-profile cases of men abusing women and children, and a rise in AI-assisted violence against women and girls, new research shows.
“An analysis of 1.14bn online stories published worldwide between 2017 and 2025 found that the proportion of articles that include terms relating to misogynistic abuse dropped to a ‘dismal’ 1.3% of all global online news in 2025, the lowest level in that period. Coverage peaked at 2.2% in 2018, the height of the #MeToo movement. In Africa, where multiple conflicts have involved extreme levels of sexual violence, coverage sank to a nine-year low of 1.18% in 2024.
“‘It is shocking, particularly considering the scale of the problem and the ways in which violence against women and misogyny have been weaponised by authoritarian actors as part of the rollback of rights,’ said Prof Julie Posetti, the chair of the Centre for Journalism and Democracy at City St George’s, University of London. ‘It signals a failure by the press … how little progress we’ve made and how far we have to go.'” – The Guardian

April 26, 2026
The cost of 76 years of US wars, from Korea to Iran
Al Jazeera breaks down the human and financial cost of decades of US-led wars and its latest war on Iran.
“Since the 1950s, US-led wars have killed millions of civilians and tens of thousands of military personnel.
“According to an analysis by the Cost of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs, US-led wars since 2001 have directly caused the deaths of about 940,000 people across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other post-9/11 conflict zones.
“The graphic below breaks down the estimated number of civilians killed for every US soldier in the Korean, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars….
“According to the Pentagon, the Trump administration spent $11.3bn during the first six days of the war, [with Iran] with an estimated $1bn subsequently spent on the war every day until the April 8 ceasefire….
Cancian calculates that in addition to the $11.3bn spent on munitions, an additional $1.4bn should be added for combat losses and infrastructure damage and a further $26.5m for support costs, bringing the total for the first six days to $12.7bn….
“According to figures from the Costs of War Project, the 20-year Afghanistan war cost an estimated $2.3 trillion, averaging more than $300m per day, while the eight-year Iraq War, which began in 2003, cost an estimated $2 trillion, averaging about $684m per day.” – Aljazeera

April 17, 2026
Hegseth Says Climate Change Is ‘Crap.’ The Military Is Still Bracing for It
Climate is now a verboten topic in the Pentagon, but the battle against storms, fires, floods and rising seas hasn’t stopped.
“In a March 2025 memo to military leaders, Hegseth called climate change a “distraction” from fighting wars, ordered that references to it be removed from mission statements and barred any environmental initiatives from being included in the Future Years Defense Program, a strategic plan.” – Bloomberg

April 4, 2026
Populists will regret doing God
A movement founded on loucheness is making an electorally risky turn towards religion
“I am looking at a photo of Donald Trump, taken in the Oval Office on March 6. Around him are 20 pastors. A few are laying hands on the wartime leader. All are praying with him. No one’s eyes are open. On this holiest of weekends for some readers, it would be bad manners to make fun of such a tableau. Also, in fairness to the president, he exudes all the enthusiasm of a cat being bathed. The prayer stunt is not for himself, but for voters. Just don’t assume that it will work.” – Financial Times

March 29, 2026
Why Marriage, for So Many, Is Less Appealing Than Ever
“As of 2023, the last data available from Pew Research Center, there were about 111 million single adults ages 18 and up in the United States. That was a sizable increase from 70 million in 1990.
“There is now consensus among researchers that after years of a steady decline in marriage rates the institution has lost its luster for many.
“’I used to say we didn’t know if marriage was being delayed or foregone,’ said Richard Fry, a social and demographic trends researcher at Pew. ‘I think the evidence is pretty clear now. It’s not just that adults are delaying marriage.’ Increasingly, he said, they are dismissing it.” – New York Times

March 29, 2026
Full network of clitoral nerves mapped out for first time
“Almost 30 years after the intricate web of nerves inside the penis was plotted out, the same mapping has finally been completed for one of the least-studied organs in the human body – the clitoris…..
“Cultural taboo around female sexuality has held back scientific investigations and the clitoris did not even make it into standard anatomy textbooks until the 20th century. And in the 38th edition of Gray’s Anatomy in 1995 it was introduced as just ‘a small version of the penis.’
“A Melbourne urologist, Helen O’Connell, says the clitoris has been ignored by researchers for far too long. ‘It has been deleted intellectually by the medical and scientific community, presumably aligning attitude to a societal ignorance,’ she said….
“‘This is the first ever 3D map of the nerves within the glans of the clitoris,’ said Lee. She is amazed it has taken so long, considering a similar level of knowledge regarding the penile glans was reached back in 1998, 28 years ago.” – The Guardian

March 27, 2026
Trump’s ‘God Squad’ Will Weigh Gulf Oil Drilling Against the Survival of Endangered Whales and Turtles
Citing national security, the Trump administration wants to exempt all federally regulated offshore oil from protections for endangered animals—even if it could cause their extinction.
“The Trump administration is turning to the nuclear option on endangered-species protections in the name of national security.
“A rarely tapped panel nicknamed the ‘God Squad’ will meet Tuesday to discuss whether overriding Endangered Species Act regulations for all federally regulated fossil fuel operations in the Gulf of Mexico is more important than preventing the extinction of several imperiled species. That includes sea turtles and a whale species down to its last 51 individuals.” – Inside Climate News

March 26, 2026
It Was One of the Cold War’s Greatest Crimes. No One Has Paid a Price.
“Mr. Lumumba’s overthrow and assassination was one of the Cold War’s great crimes — a conspiracy involving White House officials, C.I.A. spooks, U.N. diplomats, Congolese separatists, and, yes, Belgian envoys. It cut short the life of a young and charismatic leader, installed a kleptocratic dictator in his place and set what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo on a ruinous path from which it has never entirely recovered.” – The New York Times

March 17, 2026
Admiral’s Comments Undercut Pentagon’s Cluster Munition Policy
The first Trump administration defended cluster munitions as ‘legitimate,’ but on Monday, Adm. Brad Cooper condemned them as ‘inherently indiscriminate.’
“In a video posted on social media on Monday, Adm. Brad Cooper, the leader of U.S. Central Command, condemned a recent Iranian cluster munition attack on Israel.
“Calling them ‘an inherently indiscriminate type of munition,’ Admiral Cooper said the ‘Iranian regime’ had launched ‘a reckless attack against civilian neighborhoods in Tel Aviv.’…
“The first Trump administration, however, defended the use of cluster munitions in a policy that remains in effect today.” – The New York Times

March 17, 2026
Inside the Supply Line Delivering American Guns to Mexican Cartels
A surge of weapons is flowing from the U.S. to Mexico. These firearms — sourced from gun shops, shows, websites and apps — are funneled across the border to fuel the country’s most violent crimes.
“The 17-year-old sat in a hotel room, running a high-stakes logistics hub from his smartphone. He scrolled through listings of weapons for sale on WhatsApp and fielded requests like a call-center operator, dispatching orders in real time: Kalashnikovs, AR-15-style rifles and lots of ammunition.
“The pace of business has become relentless, said the arms smuggler, the Arizona-born son of a local cartel cell leader. Though still in high school here in Phoenix, he is now handling as many as 200 firearms orders a week, roughly double what he shipped to Mexico before President Trump returned to the White House and pressed for a crackdown on the cartels.
“Moving the weapons into Mexico is easy, he said, despite increased surveillance and enforcement on both sides of the border. ‘No one stops you unless you run a red light,’ he said.
“As the Trump administration pushes the Mexican government to do more against drug cartels, an unintended beneficiary has emerged from the U.S. pressure campaign: the weapons smugglers who supply guns to the Sinaloa Cartel, the criminal powerhouse behind much of the fentanyl flooding American streets.” – The New York Times

March 14, 2o26
Epstein Files: What Are We Missing?
Katie Couric interviews The Atlantic’s Sarah Fitzpatrick
“Our team feels like it’s really important to continuing to continue covering the Epstein story because there’s so much speculation that that this war was an effort to distract from that really damaging story to President Trump….
“Julian Roger Sullenberger broke the story that the Justice Department had withheld some really incriminating files related to allegations that President Trump had sexually abused a minor.”…
“So I think it’s really important to recognize this is a significant development, but this is what has been reported by other journalists is just one set of files related to one accuser.
“My reporting actually has brought it much broader. I have nine sources familiar that have told me that and we’ve reported this in my piece a couple weeks ago that there people had shared information with the FBI including me specific mentions of Trump and allegations that are nowhere to be found in the files.” – YouTube

March 14, 2026
‘You are all worse than each other’: anti-regime Iranians turn on Trump
Mood among some in Iran shifts from hope of being rescued to dismay at destruction of infrastructure, culture and lives
“After years of arrests, disappearances and mass killings of protesters, the hatred in Iran from some quarters for the hardline, oppressive governing regime had boiled into such a desperate rage that many believed Donald Trump’s promise that the US would ‘come to their rescue.’
“Now, after a fortnight of war, with US and Israeli airstrikes killing hundreds as they hit residential blocks, shops, fuel depots and even a school, the mood is changing.
“‘They are also lying! Like the regime has been lying to us,’ said Amir*, a student at the University of Tehran. ‘You are all worse than each other.'” – The Guardian

March 13, 2026
Iran is an imperial trap. America walked right in.
Trump’s decision to return to the Middle East echoes the strategic folly that undid Britain.
“America is, once again, fighting a war to reorder a society in the greater Middle East. And like in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, this war seems unlikely to turn out quite as its proponents may hope.
“Why does this keep happening?” – The Washington Post

March 12, 2026
China approves ‘ethnic unity’ law requiring minorities to learn Mandarin
“On paper, it aims to promote integration among the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups, dominated by the Han Chinese, through education and housing. But critics say it cuts people off from their language and culture.
“It mandates that all children should be taught Mandarin before kindergarten and up until the end of high school. Previously students could study most of the curriculum in their native language such as Tibetan, Uyghur or Mongolian.
“The law was approved on Thursday as the annual rubber-stamp parliamentary session drew to an end.
“‘The law is consistent with a dramatic recent policy shift, to suppress the ethnic diversity formally recognised since 1949,’ Magnus Fiskesjö, an associate professor of anthropology at Cornell University said in a university report.
“The children of the next generation are now isolated and brutally forced to forget their own language and culture.'” – BBC

March 12, 2026
Fears about nuclear war are reaching a fever pitch. Another grim sign of the times
News stories are weighing nuclear risk as experts muse on the possibility of global warfare
“Intimations of world war three – the big one, nuclear Armageddon – didn’t arise yesterday. But they got more urgent when Donald Trump was elected the second time. In December 2024, Newsweek published a map of the “safest US states to live during nuclear war”. The article was not reassuring. ‘Nowhere is truly “safe”’ from such consequences as ‘contamination of food and water supplies and prolonged radiation exposure,’ said the senior policy director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Another expert noted that ‘even a “small” nuclear war would … kill at least a billion people.’” – The Guardian

February 11, 2026
‘A step in the wrong direction’: Israel’s West Bank plans prompt global backlash
US, Britain, EU and Arab nations condemn plans that Israeli ministers say will ‘kill the idea of a Palestinian state’
“Israeli measures to tighten its control of the West Bank have prompted a global backlash, including a signal from Washington restating the Trump administration’s opposition to annexation of the occupied territory.
“Announcing the measures, which involve extending Israeli control in areas that are currently under Palestinian administration, Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, made clear they were aimed at strengthening Israeli settlements in the West Bank and pre-empting the emergence of an independent sovereign Palestine.
“The measures, passed by the Israeli security cabinet, also make it easier to find out who owns land in the West Bank and for non-Arabs to buy property in the territory. It was not initially clear when the new rules would come into effect but they require no further approval.
“‘We will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state,’ Katz said in a joint statement with the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.” – The Guardian

February 10, 2026
Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate
Al Jazeera investigation reveals how US-supplied thermal and thermobaric munitions burning at 3,500C have left no trace of nearly 3,000 Palestinians.
“Mahani is one of thousands of Palestinians whose loved ones have simply vanished during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 72,000 people.
“According to the Al Jazeera Arabic investigation, The Rest of the Story, Civil Defence teams in Gaza have documented 2,842 Palestinians who have “evaporated” since the war began in October 2023, leaving behind no remains other than blood spray or small fragments of flesh.
“‘Experts and witnesses attributed this phenomenon to Israel’s systematic use of internationally prohibited thermal and thermobaric weapons, often referred to as vacuum or aerosol bombs, capable of generating temperatures exceeding 3,500 degrees Celsius [6,332 degrees Fahrenheit].'” – Al Jazeera

February 10, 2026
Former Police Chief Said Trump Told Him ‘Everyone’ Knew of Epstein’s Actions
“After it became known that Jeffrey Epstein was under investigation in the 2000s, one of the first calls the Palm Beach police received was from Donald J. Trump, the local police chief at the time told the F.B.I. more than a decade later.
“Mr. Trump reportedly told the chief, Michael Reiter, ‘Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,’ according to a document recounting their conversation that is part of the tranche of Epstein files released by the Justice Department.
“Mr. Trump said it was known in New York circles that Mr. Epstein was disgusting and suggested that the police also focus their investigation on Mr. Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, according to the memo. ‘She is evil,’ Mr. Trump reportedly said.
“Mr. Trump also told the police chief that he was around Mr. Epstein once when teenagers were present and that he ‘got the hell out of there,’ according to Mr. Reiter’s account….
“But in July 2019, shortly after Mr. Epstein’s arrest, Mr. Trump was asked by reporters if he had ‘any suspicions’ that Mr. Epstein ‘was molesting young women, underaged women.’
“‘No, I had no idea. I had no idea,’ Mr. Trump said at the time. ‘I haven’t spoken to him in many, many years. But I had — I didn’t have no idea.’” – The New York Times

February 4, 2026
One year on from dismantling of USAID, study projects that global aid cuts could lead to 9.4 million deaths by 2030
“It’s been one year since the Trump administration dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with aid cuts leading to the closure of HIV clinics in South Africa, the termination of medical programs in Afghanistan, and the end of numerous programs tackling malnutrition and preventable diseases around the world.
“The slashing of US foreign assistance was followed by cuts by the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and other developed nations, which are set to take effect this year and next year, compounding the impact.
“Now, a new study published in The Lancet medical journal aims to quantify the human toll of those budget decisions – projecting that global aid cuts could lead to at least 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030, if the current funding trend continues. About 2.5 million of those deaths are projected to be children under the age of 5.” – CNN

January 28, 2026
If ICE Can Kill With Impunity, the Rule of Law Is Already Gone
“If ICE agents can shoot civilians at point-blank range and never be held accountable, then we aren’t living under the rule of law. We’re living in a police state.” – Bloomberg

January 21. 2026
‘I could not stay silent’: Palestinian prisoner tells of sexual abuse in Israeli jail
Sami al-Saei has defied social stigma to speak out about what a report calls a ‘grave pattern’ of sexual violence
“Sami al-Saei said he heard the Israeli prison guards who raped him laughing through the assault, before they left him lying blindfolded, handcuffed and in agony on the floor to take a cigarette break….
“He bled from his rectum for more than three weeks after the assault, which happened soon after he was detained in February 2024. He described sexual torture that lasted more than 20 minutes including beatings on his buttocks, a guard applying extreme pressure to his genitals, and forced anal penetration with two different objects….
“Extensive and extreme sexual violence in Israel’s civilian and military jails has been documented by domestic and international observers including doctors, Israel’s military prosecutor, and the UN committee on torture.
The human rights group B’Tselem described a “grave pattern of sexual violence in detention facilities and prisons”, in a report released on Tuesday detailing abuse of Palestinians in Israeli jails.
It ranges from “threats of sexual assault, through forced stripping, to actual sexual assaults”, the report found. “These include beatings to the genitals that caused severe injuries, setting dogs on prisoners, and forced anal penetration with various objects.'” – The Guardian

January 21, 2026
I’ve Studied How Democracies Fail. Here’s My Unified Theory of Trump. By Daron Acemoglu
“There’s a through line that runs from tariffs to toppling a foreign leader. It’s all about expanding the power of the presidency.”
“Most of the administration’s actions—the questionable crypto dealings, the appointment of unqualified allies to high-level positions, the unconstitutional deportations and National Guard deployments, the ouster of a Latin American head of state—have a logic. They’re all attempts to expand executive power, steps toward a type of imperial presidency.” – Bloomberg

January 19, 2026
Trump has invited Putin to join ‘Board of Peace’, Kremlin says
“US President Donald Trump has invited Vladimir Putin to a ‘Board of Peace’ set up to mediate in Gaza and other geopolitical hotspots, the Kremlin said on Monday. Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president’s spokesperson, told reporters that Russia was ‘studying all details of the offer’ and ‘hopes for discussions with Washington to go over all the nuances,’ according to RIA Novosti. The apparent offer indicates that Trump is eager to maintain his warm relationship with Putin even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears its fourth anniversary and despite Moscow’s uncompromising resistance to a US-backed peace plan.” – Financial Times

January 11, 2026
Trump’s ‘Superstar’ Appellate Judges Have Voted 133 to 12 in His Favor
President Trump promised to fill the appeals courts with “my judges.” They have formed a nearly united phalanx to defend his agenda from legal challenges.
“When Mr. Trump criticized a ruling from a so-called ‘Obama judge’ in 2018, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. responded that ‘we do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.’
“But the data suggests that in the 13 appellate courts, there is increasingly such a thing as a Trump judge. The president’s appointees voted to allow his policies to take effect 133 times and voted against them only 12 times. Ninety-two percent of their total votes were in favor of the administration. That figure far outstrips support for Mr. Trump’s agenda from appeals court judges appointed by other Republican presidents, and from Mr. Trump’s appointees to the district courts.” – The New York Times

January 8, 2026
Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’
On topic after topic, President Trump made clear that he would be the arbiter of any limits to his authorities, not international law or treaties.
“President Trump declared on Wednesday evening that his power as commander in chief is constrained only by his ‘own morality,’ brushing aside international law and other checks on his ability to use military might to strike, invade or coerce nations around the world.
“Asked in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times if there were any limits on his global powers, Mr. Trump said: ‘Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.’” – The New York Times

January 6, 2026
The Great Unraveling Has Begun
“President Trump’s decision to launch a secretive predawn military operation in Venezuela to grab President Nicolás Maduro is a blatant assault on the international legal order….
“Last year marked the 80th anniversary of the 1945 United Nations Charter, a document signed by 51 nations at the close of World War II. The signatories pledged to act ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.’ ‘But over the past decade, that peace has begun to unravel. Today, it is on the precipice of collapsing altogether. If that happens, the consequences will be catastrophic. We can already see the devastating cost: According to my calculations, from 1989 to 2014, battle-related deaths from cross-border conflicts averaged less than 15,000 a year. Beginning in 2014, the average has risen to over 100,000 a year. As states increasingly disregard limits on the lawful use of force, this may be just the beginning of a deadly new era of conflict.’…
“As the United States fails to abide by the underlying principle of the international legal system it once championed, the already ailing system faces total collapse.” – The New York Times

January 6, 2026
Stephen Miller Offers a Strongman’s View of the World
President Trump’s trusted adviser is casting his hard-right gaze abroad, saying the world must be governed by “force.”
“According to Mr. Miller, using brute force is not only on the table but also the Trump administration’s preferred way to conduct itself on the world stage.
“‘We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,’ Mr. Miller told Jake Tapper of CNN on Monday, during a combative appearance in which he was pressed on Mr. Trump’s long-held desire to control Greenland.” – The New York Times

January 1, 2026
They, Too, Died After Beatings by Guards. No One Raised an Alarm.
Two brutal killings, less than three months apart, in New York State’s prison system raised troubling questions: Had other inmates met similar fates?
“When an inmate named Ladale Kennedy stopped breathing one night in a New York State prison cell, no one paid it much mind.
“No one opened a broad inquiry into the death of Mr. Kennedy, the 1,055th to be recorded in the prison system since 2014.
“The local medical examiner classified the incident, in July 2022, as something of an official mystery: cause and manner ‘undetermined.’
“In fact, just before he died, Mr. Kennedy, 41 and mentally ill, had been pepper sprayed by guards, beaten, handcuffed, held face-first under running water and fitted with a ‘spit hood’ — a mesh restraint that is sometimes used to prevent inmates from biting or spitting on officers.
“All because he had failed to return some food trays and cups that had been handed to him in his cell.
“He had said, ‘I’m sorry’ at least eight times as they pulled him from his cell, video shows. He had told the officers he could not breathe at least 20 times during the entire encounter.” – The New York Times

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