What do Panama, Canada and Greenland have in common? Could Donald Trump be getting the US back to brass tacks, to a core strategy of dominating the Western Hemisphere? Possibly, and he may be blowing away the fraudulent rhetoric about rules-based international order, territorial integrity, international law and the crusade to expand democracies. 

Trump said last week that the US is prepared to use military force to assert control over Panama and Greenland. 

US President Joe Biden has attacked Meta to drop its controversial third-party fact-checking program, stating the move was “completely contrary to what America is about.”

The president addressed the development on Friday during a rare Q&A session with reporters at the White House. He sharply criticized Mark Zuckerberg’s company, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads for the move. 

“The whole idea of walking away from fact-checking as well as not reporting anything having to do with discrimination regarding…I find it to be contrary to American justice. Telling the truth matters,” Biden stated, adding the move appeared to be “completely contrary to what America is about.”

Peter Dutton emerged from his summer break on Sunday to launch the Coalition’s unofficial election campaign.

In a 38-minute pre-prepared speech to MPs and party loyalists at a campaign-style rally in Melbourne, the federal opposition leader framed the upcoming contest as a “sliding doors moment” for Australia.

Here’s what we learned – and didn’t – from Dutton’s opening pitch ahead of the 2025 poll.

The blue backdrop behind Dutton during his speech was emblazoned with the Coalition’s official election slogan: “Let’s get Australia back on track”.

A video of the Assistant Chief of Los Angeles Fire Department has emerged in which she talks about the importance of having firefighters who look like the people they’re rescuing and says that if she can’t carry a man out of a fire, it’s the man’s fault. Plus, conservative CNN contributor Scott Jennings absolutely eats up a debate on DEI. Let’s watch and react. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HmSS5Ubvxg

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

Sir—There are few things of which the present generation is more justly proud than of the wonderful improvements which are daily taking place in all sorts of mechanical appliances. And indeed it is matter for great congratulation on many grounds. It is unnecessary to mention these here, for they are sufficiently obvious; our present business lies with considerations which may somewhat tend to humble our pride and to make us think seriously of the future prospects of the human race.

DARWIN AMONG THE MACHINES

— [TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS, CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND, 13 JUNE, 1863.]

Samuel Butler, submitted under the pseudonym Cellarius

Trudeau, Biden and Ardern are done. What’s eating the global left?

Australia may be an island, but it is not immune to the systemic forces sweeping across global politics.

By Matthew Knott

When Justin Trudeau announced he was stepping down as prime minister of Canada this week, a career that had loomed large suddenly appeared shrunken and slight. After coming to power in 2015 as a progressive prince – a champion of multiculturalism, feminism and action on climate change – Trudeau was departing as a widely loathed, and even ridiculed, figure. With elections due next year, Trudeau was trailing his conservative rival Pierre Poilievre by up to 20 points and facing almost certain defeat.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet, during the latter’s meeting with the President at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas. 

Ignacio Ramonet: Mr. President, first of all, allow me to wish you a Happy New Year.

The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro: Thank you.

Ignacio Ramonet: And, on the other hand, I would like to thank you for agreeing to give this interview, which is interview number 10, since we began these meetings at the beginning of the year, which have become a classic. Last week, an article appeared in France, for example in a weekly newspaper, with an article against me and in particular focused on the fact that I am the journalist who interviews you every first of the year.

Nicolás Maduro: Are these people afraid of the interview?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7YE_6m2k6

Fox News host Jesse Watters discusses the destruction that Los Angeles residents are facing as the wildfires continue into a fourth day on “Jesse Watters Primetime.'

11 DEAD, MANY UNACCOUNTED FOR AND MORE THAN 10,000 HOUSES DESTROYED, INCLUDING MANY ON MALIBU BEACH... MEL GIBSON, HAVING LOST EVERYTHING, COMMENTED ON GAVIN NEWSOM... SEE THE TOON ABOVE...

On the Visit of Japan’s Foreign Minister to China

Vladimir Terehov

In December 2022, the Democratic-led House of Representatives voted to allow Puerto Ricans to decide the political future of the territory, the first time the chamber has committed to backing a binding process that could pave the way for Puerto Rico to become the nation’s 51st state or an independent country.

Puerto Rican Independence is Long Overdue
By Jeremy Kuzmarov

The measure, which had the support of the White House, did not become law at the time, as it fell short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster in the Senate, where most Republicans opposed it.

[Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic: The Deep State and The Unitary Executive is a] powerful dissection of one of the fundamental problems in American governance today: the clash between presidents determined to redirect the nation through ever-tighter control of administration and an executive branch still organized to promote shared interests in steady hands, due deliberation, and expertise.

Stephen Skowronek

Kiev’s Western backers have pledged to support Ukraine with $2 billion in additional military aid to help it fight Russia, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has announced following a Ramstein group meeting in Germany. His remarks come amid concerns that this could be the last summit of its kind due to the imminent return of US President-elect Donald Trump, a critic of Ukraine aid, to the White House.

Zelensky made the announcement while speaking to the We-Ukraine outlet on Thursday, praising the summit at the Ramstein Air Base, officially known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, as a success. He said the assistance would include air defense systems, warplanes, artillery, and other weaponry and support equipment.

It seems like Western countries cannot draw lessons from their shameful past. Just as they appeased the Nazi and apartheid regimes, they are repeating their mistake by appeasing the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine while it’s waging a war of genocide against the Palestinian people.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sent Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to visit Israel for a week to “mend” his government’s relations with the rogue state of Israel as if Australia has done something wrong.

“It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. 

You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.”  

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has urged the EU executive branch to use existing legislation to crack down on outside interference. His comment to French media on Wednesday is related to US-based billionaire Elon Musk weighing in on European politics on his platform X (formerly Twitter).

His words come a day after French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the owner of X for interfering in EU matters. He accused the world’s richest man of intervening directly in elections across the continent, including next month’s snap federal polls in Germany.