Welcome to The Now

 

 Remember: being for "free speech" means in every occasion, even when your business interests are threatened .

 

 Mark Sleboda explains this groups' origins in a discussion with Rachel Blevins:

 For some reason it was posted than removed, but fortunately the editors over at Black Agenda Report found it . 

 Well...

 

 It's almost like they're just barely left of mainstream media:

 Jemima Pierre talks to Sabby:

 Richard Medhurst on Yemen's latest move:

  The Francis Scott Key Bridge was apparently hit by a cargo ship .

 

 

 

 Ever wonder why you think the way you think after watching mainstream news?

 

  WARNING : The following shows military violence. Not posting video this time, but here's the link . Hard to watch this and then hear people talk about Hamas being the true target. 

 The answer is, sadly, yes:

  UPDATE: It's being reported that Kate Middleton is battling cancer. Hopefully, she'll be able to recover, but why go through all the trouble? Cancer is a pretty common illness, and revealing it would have most likely garnered her (and by proxy the Royals) more sympathy from the public. 

 Connecting to this post , Rachel Blevins revealed that this may cost them an expensive military base:

  Interesting : The European Union has announced a 7.4 billion-euro ($8.06bn) aid package and an upgraded relationship with Egypt, part of a new deal to stem migration flows to Europe that has been criticised by rights groups. The deal is scheduled to be signed during a visit on Sunday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and leaders of Belgium, Italy, Austria, Cyprus and Greece, according to officials. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met separately with von der Leyen and other European leaders before the signing ceremony. The aid package includes both grants and loans over the next three years, with the EU saying it is upgrading its relationship with the Arab world’s most populous country to a “strategic partnership”. The proposed funding includes 5 billion euros ($5.45bn) in concessional loans and 1.8 billion euros ($1.96bn) of investments, according to a summary of the plan published by the EU. An additional 600 million euros ($654m) would be provided in...

A lot of history and information that the average American isn't aware of:

 

 Richard Medhurst covers:

 

 

 Watching Sabby's review of the BJG/Cenk video, it's hard to come to any other conclusion. Thing is, she's right:

 

 First, the story : Britain this week showed off a new laser weapon that its military says could deliver lethal missile or aircraft defense at around $13 a shot, potentially saving tens of millions of dollars over the cost of missile interceptors that do the job now. Newly released video of a test of what the United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry calls the DragonFire, a laser directed energy weapon (LDEW) system, captured what the ministry says was the successful use of the laser against an aerial target during a January demonstration in Scotland. “It’s a potential game changer for air defense,” the video says as a bright laser beam pierces the night sky over a firing range in the remote Hebrides archipelago, creating a ball of light as it hits its target. The Defense Ministry says the DragonFire can precisely hit a target as small as a coin “over long ranges,” but it did not offer specifics. The exact range of the weapon is classified, it said. The laser beam can cut through metal “le...

 Hint: It's who Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X warned us about: In short: liberals hate friction and disruption, and do their best to minimize it while maintaining a claim that they want change. 

Compare how Israel reacts to the Hezbollah attack to how Palestinians have reacted to the Israeli attacks:

 

 Link here .  Video:  

 

  So many people predicted that those who supported the Democratic primary challengers would shift to Biden once it became clear he would be the nominee (due in no small part to the DNC essentially ignoring the existence of challengers). In that sense, this isn't that surprising. What's sad is that Krystal Ball (and those like her) will do this again and again every presidential cycle, while simultaneously fretting about what Democrats aren't doing for voters and pushing pseudo-populism.  Anyway, here's another look at the true unemployment rate for what it's worth.

 Saying "naughty-naughty" without the threat of taking away the allowance and toys does very little to deter violent behavior:  The noticeable (and probably only) positive is that Schumer has pivoted (even if it took months of genocidal activity). Nevertheless, new elections will not matter much because even the "left" political element of Israel is not open to a two-state solution. At this point, the differences between the various parties is how they answer the question, "How do we get rid of the Palestinians?" Living peacefully together is not even an option.    America's true leverage is in their weaponry; cutting the country off is the best way to end the conflict and get all sides into a bargaining position. 

 Almost nine years after this story  (and sixteen years if you count what's in the story) where celebrities were the main targets and lawmakers were "scrambling for a potential solution," swatting is again front and center, only this time it's public officials who are the targets .

Enter ethylene oxide :  The bruises on Alexandria Pittman’s body wouldn’t go away. Nor would the aches that plagued her at her new job at a distribution center in Lithia Springs, a small town 17 miles west of Atlanta, sorting and repackaging boxes containing medical devices. She was convinced the symptoms were connected to the job. Pittman had applied to the position at the warehouse, run by the medical supply company ConMed, after learning about the opening from her fiancé, Derek Mitchell, who delivered products there. Every day she’d come home and complain to him about the mysterious aches and marks. At first, Mitchell tried to reassure her, guessing that the bruises were probably from bumping up against something. “I really didn’t think nothing of it,” he recalled.  Then, in the spring of 2019, came a surprising revelation. ConMed managers announced that the seemingly innocuous products in the boxes they were packaging had been sterilized with ethylene oxide, which the U.S....

  Jemima Pierre also spoke with Democracy Now! earlier about the impact of coups in Haiti:

 

Guessing the claims of "shrinkage" (read: theft) were only part of the real story :  Family Dollar, the struggling discount chain that caters to low-income customers predominantly in cities, will close about 1,000 stores as inflation takes a bite out of consumers’ wallets and low-cost-retailers’ profits. Family Dollar will close 600 locations in the first half of 2024 and 370 stores over the next several years as store leases expire. Dollar Tree, which owns Family Dollar, also said it will close 30 stores as leases expire. Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar in 2015 for $8.5 billion. The combined company hoped that by joining forces, it could grow its customer base, reduce costs and fend off bigger retailers like Dollar General and Walmart. But Dollar Tree has struggled to integrate Family Dollar. Family Dollar stores were in poor condition when Dollar Tree acquired the business in 2015, analysts say. Although Family Dollar has renovated thousands of stores in recent years, man...

 

Guess the international support he was getting wasn't enough : The embattled prime minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, has resigned after weeks of mounting chaos in the Caribbean nation, where gangs have been attacking government structures and social order is on the brink of collapse. Henry said in a video address late Monday that his government would leave power after the establishment of a transitional council, adding, “Haiti needs peace. Haiti needs stability.” “My government will leave immediately after the inauguration of the council. We will be a caretaker government until they name a prime minister and a new cabinet,” Henry said. Henry’s adviser Jean Junior Joseph told CNN that Henry would remain in his role until the formation of a new interim government. The Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), meeting in Jamaica on Monday said it had agreed to set up a transitional council to lay the foundations for elections in Haiti. “We are pleased to announce the commitment t...

 For some reason the mainstream media is covering it, but the Palestine Chronicle and Al-Jazeera are.

Something doesn't add up : U.S. officials have secretly sent Israel over 100 shipments of weapons, amounting to thousands of bombs and arms, just since October 7, arresting new reporting finds as the Biden administration scrambles in public to contain a splintering of his Democratic base amid its support of Israel’s genocide of Gaza. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that members of Congress were informed of the sales, which were all separate, by U.S. officials in a recent classified meeting. This is far more weapons sales than previously made public by officials; before this, only two arms transfers to Israel were publicly reported, both having been approved by President Joe Biden invoking emergency powers to bypass Congress and both garnering strong opposition by pro-Palestine advocates. The cache of weapons includes precision-guided munitions, small diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms (like firearms), and more, The Post reported. They have been sent as experts hav...

 

 Most people aren't aware of what is called an " incident " a.k.a, when the Israeli Air Force attacked a US Naval vessel. Well, one survivor (which is significant because there weren't supposed to be any) spoke to The Real News Network eight years ago: Oh, and here's Part 2:

Imagine being a company that doesn't really use their own money, but raises money (with the promise that those who contribute will benefit) to buy other companies:

 Considering that the Biden Administration is working Kenya to deal with the apparent unrest in Haiti, the two segments are probably more linked then originally intended. 

From "sleeping" in a baby crib to taking high heel shoes, it's very odd behavior:  

  Odd But True : Pro-Palestinian supporters are calling for a second real estate event planned north of Toronto to be called down over concerns it involves the selling of land in the occupied West Bank. On Sunday, dozens of people gathered near the Aish Hatorah synagogue in Thornhill, Ont., to protest an event that organizers say was aimed at helping people in the Toronto area buy property in Israel. They were met with pro-Israeli counterprotesters and Jewish leaders took issue with the Sunday protest taking place outside a synagogue. But pro-Palestinian protesters say companies associated with the event market property in the West Bank, where over two million Palestinians live under Israel's military occupation, according to the United Nations (UN). A similar event is expected to take place Thursday at another synagogue in the area. It is unclear whether the two events are connected. "We weren't there because it's a synagogue, we were there because we were protesting ...

CNN has proven to be stubborn about this , but it's still entertaining to see them act shocked that genocide may cause people to hold their vote:

Hmmm ... Gov. Ned Lamont’s suggestion last month towards the end of his annual State of the State address that kids lock away their smartphones during the school day unexpectedly generated a wave of applause that still is resonating. “I’m getting a lot of feedback, more feedback on this than anything I’ve done in a while,” Lamont said Tuesday on a school tour. “And I think it really has hit a chord with parents and teachers, and the kids are OK with it.” Lamont, Attorney General William Tong and education Commissioner Charlene M.  Russell-Tucker visited Illing Middle School in Manchester, where school administrators are three months into a smartphone experiment begun before Lamont mused that schools might do well to emulate Beyoncé. The singer is one of the performing artists who sometimes require phones be locked in Yondr pouches, small neoprene bags that allow patrons to keep their phones but not use them to take calls or make recordings or photographs during performances. Manche...

Sigh : A handful of Democratic governors made their way through a gaggle of their colleagues last month to tell President Joe Biden directly what they’ve been stressing behind the scenes: He needs to be fighting harder. The Democrats told Biden that he needed to show more of the fire that was on display in a closed-door meeting with governors when Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte handed him a letter demanding more action on the southern border. Biden flashed a smile, according to two of the governors standing there. “State of the Union,” Biden said, teasingly. That fighting attitude is anticipated to be on display during Thursday’s primetime speech, in which the president is expected to go much further than he is used to in bashing corporations for gouging consumers and racking up profits. But with anger about rising prices driving so much of the bad vibes surrounding the economy — even the Cookie Monster X account posted about shrinkflation on Monday, prompting a response from the White Ho...

 With little funding and traction, Haley exits by congratulating (but not endorsing) Donald Trump. As for Phillips, after telling anyone who would listen that Joe Biden was not a good option, he will now back him in the general .  Just a observation/theory at this point, but it seems like it's way easier for lifelong Republicans to break ranks than their Democratic counterparts. 

 The story in question? One from the New York Times regarding "mass rapes" that allegedly occurred on October 7th. You may recognize one of the people behind that story. Anyway: 

 From Yahoo! Finance : Days after the CEO of Kellogg’s KLG suggested that inflation-weary families should eat cereal for dinner, some outraged consumers pointed out that the cereal and snack company had raised its own prices in recent years and called for a three-month boycott of Kellogg’s products. The boycott, proposed on TikTok, would run from April 1 to June 30 and calls for customers to purchase products from other companies in order to send Kellogg’s a message during the second quarter of its fiscal year. They’re also demanding that Kellogg’s lower its prices. “There’s no reason for you to jack up your prices the way you did, except to screw us,” one TikTok user said in a video with 2 million views and more than 300,000 likes, and counting, as of Friday. “And you know what? Now we’re going to screw you — while eating some other brand’s cereal.” “Inflation has continued to rise year over year over year, and they continue to do nothing about it,” added another TikTok user calli...

 Apparently, people can't even go for aid (that they wouldn't need if they weren't in an open-air prison in the first place) without being shot at:

 

 

 

 Amazing what enabling/endorsing a genocide can do to your political chances . And trust me when I say that mainstream media doesn't get it; every other question to people who support campaigns like this is some version of, "What About Trump?" or, "What Would It Take For You To Support Biden?" like the obvious answer isn't, "Let's get a ceasefire, and then we'll talk." Sabby points out how big an impact this is, and how the Biden Administration is ignoring it to their own peril:

From CNN : Many millennials are currently grasping in frustration at long-held American Dreams like homeownership, a steady job and an affordable cost of living. However, over the next twenty years, Millennials are poised to inherit some $90 trillion of assets and become the richest generation in history – but only the ones who already come from affluent families, potentially deepening wealth inequality further . Between now and 2044 in the US, the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers are expected to hand over the reins of their significant wealth to Millennials, according to The Wealth Report, a periodic report from global property consultant Knight Frank. But whether you’re a Millennial on the receiving end of that wealth transfer is largely a lottery of birth. Ultimately, this wealth shift is a result of inheritance from prior generations, largely involving property but also other assets . It will bring “seismic” changes to how wealth is put to use, said Liam Bailey, global head of re...

 

Before the Russia-Ukraine conflict took off, there was a post here about how US saber-rattling makes little sense when there's so much economic connectivity . I'll admit my blind spot was assuming that America's desire to make an easy buck would outweigh the desire to waste resources on a foolish quest to maintain hegemony on the world's stage (after all, the United States has outsourced itself to the bone, American workers be damned).  But I wasn't the only one with the blind spot: Russia's economy has not only survived but thrived during the conflict, Ukraine's pretty much out of soldiers  and land to defend and US/NATO is burning through (what now has to be made-up or borrowed because there's clearly not enough tax money being collected ) cash. Remember: Russia is so weak yet so scary .  There was also a post here about how aside from the economics , militarily-speaking, America is in way over their head . Losing a proxy war is one thing, but...

 The term was "second superpower," meant to invoke the strength of "world public opinion" and it was co-opted then "removed" in 42 days time .  Something to think about when looking at political/social movements like Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the call to Free Julian Assange and protests for peace/ceasefire in Palestine.