Going Rogue With Caitlin Johnstone

Our rulers want us to be stupid, misinformed, distracted, sick, struggling and suffering, because if we all had enough time, information and mental acuity to form an understanding what's going on in our world, things would get mighty guillotiney real quick. They have a vested existential interest in keeping us all in a mental fog of propaganda, diversion, ignorance, illiteracy, and psychological dysfunction. Reading by Tim Foley.

It is easy to miss the cloud reflections in the puddles when the drones are perching on the telephone wires and boats are exploding off the coast of Venezuela. It's easy not to notice the flirtatiousness of the wind when there is black smoke over Palestine and everything's coated in oil. It's easy to overlook the electricality in our bodies when the billionaires and bank boys are trying to replace our minds with chatbots. Don't let them trick you into forgetting the moon, or the dragon eggs incubating in your ribcage. Don't let them trick you into exchanging your heartbeat for an algorithm and a memecoin. There are still birds in the skies of this world. There are accordion angels playing in the ruins. Though at times it may feel like a giraffe bleeding to death in an abandoned Presbyterian church in a forgotten factory town with faded billboards and faded eyes, beneath the click clack marching of the robot dogs, there is still birdsong. There is still birdsong. Reading by Tim Foley.

They're using bureaucratic red tape and arbitrary restrictions to put as much inertia on the effort to rush aid into Gaza as possible. Reading by Tim Foley.

Dick Cheney died far too old and far too free. The fact that such monsters get to pass away in their eighties surrounded by loved ones instead of alone in a cage is an indictment of our entire civilization. Reading by Tim Foley.

Israeli settlers were filmed torturing lambs which belonged to Palestinians in the West Bank. Gouged their eyes out. Smashed them with cinder blocks. Beat them to death in front of their mothers. Lambs. Reading by Tim Foley.

Massacre fetishist Lindsey Graham said "Trump is my favorite president" because "we're killing all the right people and we're cutting your taxes" during a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Summit on Friday. "We've run out of bombs; we didn't run out of bombs in World War II," the senator said. Reading by Tim Foley.

If the western press had not been aggressively protecting Israel and its interests this whole time, all their reporting on Gaza over the last two years would have looked very much like the reporting we're seeing on the genocide in Sudan. Reading by Tim Foley.

Generative AI is just high-tech brainwashing. It's the next level of propaganda indoctrination. It is there to turn our brains into useless sludge which cannot function without technological crutches controlled by the imperial plutocrats. Reading by Tim Foley.

What percentage of Americans even realize that Trump has bombed Somalia nearly a hundred times this year? I doubt it's even one percent. The mainstream press barely mention it. Americans have hardly any idea who their own country is bombing. Reading by Tim Foley. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to my Substack at caitlinjohnst.one for email updates on all my new stuff.

Do you notice how nobody's losing their jobs or getting deported for criticizing the genocidal atrocities in Sudan? Reading by Tim Foley.

The US can make threats, impose sanctions and amass war machinery, but you don't truly know they're serious about attacking a country until they start churning out Pentagon propaganda in the mainstream press. Reading by Tim Foley.

You think Hamas killed Israelis because they're a bunch of monsters who hate Jews? Of course you do, you're twelve. You think Trump is trying to get rid of Maduro because Maduro is an evil dictator who wants to poison Americans with fentanyl? Hell yeah homie, you're twelve. You think Putin invaded Ukraine because he hates freedom and democracy and wants to conquer the world? Bless your heart my twelve year-old buddy. You think the US and Israel have been attacking and eliminating rivals in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Palestine in order to fight terrorism, stop tyranny, and protect the world from nuclear weapons? Yeah, that checks out, you're twelve. The mainstream western worldview is like a children's cartoon, with the Bad Guys doing Bad Things simply because they are Bad, and the Good Guys striving heroically to stop them. It sounds like a shitty PG-13 summer blockbuster starring The Rock, but it's the consensus worldview of serious professional pundits and analysts who share this perspective on mainstream platforms with serious expressions on their faces, and anyone who calls any part of it into question is dismissed as an extremist or a deranged crackpot. Because everyone is twelve now. Reading by Tim Foley.

People are getting dumber, sicker, lonelier, and more and more miserable. And the profit-driven systems we live under have no answers, besides throwing increasingly shitbrained technology at us so we can distract ourselves from how fucked up everything has gotten. Reading by Tim Foley.

Reading by Tim Foley. As usual, anyone who wants to set these words to music is free to do so.

The empire we live under is everything we're trained to fear. Our own rulers are the murderers. Our own rulers are the terrorists. Our own rulers are the tyrants. Our own rulers are the problem. Reading by Tim Foley.

While I was working on this painting of US oligarch Jeff Bezos I kept thinking about a speech he gave in 2019 where he laid out his nightmarish vision for the future of the human species. Bezos described a future where the overwhelming majority of humans are shipped off to space to live their lives inside “O'Neill colonies” — giant cylinders which rotate to simulate Earth's gravity. Only a privileged few would get to remain on humanity's home world, where the ecosystem would be able to repair and thrive now that it's not being overburdened by more humans than it can handle. One doesn't have to stretch the imagination to guess which side of the equation Bezos envisions himself and his family winding up on in this scenario. Press enter or click to view image in full size As I was painting I kept thinking about how horrific it would be if Bezos' plan for humanity was ever put into place, because you know hardly anyone would leave this planet voluntarily. Billions of people would be forced onto space ships bound for these giant spinning space stations, their hearts breaking at the unimaginable loss of their indigenous home world. It would be like a planet-wide Nakba. A Trail of Tears for our entire species. Press enter or click to view image in full size The freaks who rule our world do not have a healthy vision for humanity's future. Their best ideas are a normal person's worst nightmare. Jeff Bezos envisions ecocidal capitalism being allowed to tick along completely unrestricted and unhindered, with humanity rescuing itself from disaster at the last minute by shipping most of itself off planet to live inside giant Amazon space dildos. That's his best and brightest plan. Press enter or click to view image in full size Our rulers are not good people. They are not wise. They are not compassionate. They aren't even particularly intelligent. They just happen to be good at winning the capitalism game by moving the circumstances of our society around in such a way that the numbers in their bank accounts grow very large. This is not a healthy way for us to live. We cannot keep doing this. Reading by Tim Foley.

Have you ever noticed how whenever you see someone promoting hatred toward Muslims, nine times out of ten it will be someone who supports Israel? There's a reason for that. Zionists promote Islamophobia because convincing westerners to hate Muslims is easier than convincing them to love Israel. Reading by Tim Foley.

They're on the back foot. This has never happened before. We've got a real shot at winning this thing. Reading by Tim Foley.

They get everyone fighting a fake revolution so that nobody thinks about fighting a real one. Reading by Tim Foley.

In today's news, Israel's stupid fucking genocidal rapists ran over an unexploded ordnance from their own evil carpet bombing campaign, blamed Hamas for the explosion, started bombing the fuck out of Gaza again, killed scores of civilians, said they were once again cutting off aid to the enclave, and then quietly backed down on urging from Washington. Reading by Tim Foley.

Last year I banged out an angry rant about the way Israel supporters would yell "release the hostages!" at anyone who talked about the latest massacre of Palestinian civilians, saying Hamas was to blame for the killing because of their refusal to release the Israeli captives, and that it would all stop once the hostages are free. I'm remembering that essay today because the hostages are free, but the massacres are continuing. Reading by Tim Foley.

In one of the more freakish acts of genocide propaganda we've seen in the last two years, the official Twitter account of the Israel Foreign Ministry made a post smearing desperate, starving civilians as cruel savages using the false allegation that they "tore apart" a "whale" that had become "stranded" on the beach. Reading by Tim Foley.

These last two years have shown us that western civilization doesn't need protection, it needs redemption. It needs to save its soul. Reading by Tim Foley.

Israel is so evil it's actually hard to wrap your mind around it. Reading by Tim Foley.

It has never been legitimate to intentionally deprive civilians of humanitarian aid that they need to survive. You have to give them aid. It has never been legitimate to shoot noncombatants because you decided they crossed some sort of line into a forbidden zone. It has never been legitimate to shoot noncombatants at all. It has never been legitimate to commit genocide. Israel just needs to stop the genocide. The onus for stopping a genocide is on the party committing the genocide. The onus is not on the victims of the genocide to end it by meeting certain conditions. This should not even need to be said. Reading by Tim Foley.

I don't know who first coined the saying that an Israeli ceasefire means "you cease and we fire," but it proves reliably accurate time after time. Reading by Tim Foley.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the only thing I like about Donald Trump is his infantile tendency to say the quiet part out loud. Reading by Tim Foley.

If you saw a man beating a child into a coma, would you cheer after the beating stopped? No, your first reaction would be horror at what happened and your second would be fear that he'll attack the kid again. And then at some point you'd start wondering why the guy isn't in jail. Reading by Tim Foley.

Israel's top officials are openly declaring that they intend to terminate the Gaza ceasefire after they get their hostages back. Reading by Tim Foley.

When normal people get a ceasefire agreement they think "Good, this means we can finally stop fighting and killing." Whenever Israelis get a ceasefire agreement they go, "This means we have to hurry up and kill as many people as possible before it takes effect." Reading by Tim Foley.

I'm sorry but it's just plain hilarious that we're still expected to hate Hamas after spending two years being shown exactly what it is that Hamas has been fighting. Reading by Tim Foley.

Look at what happened before October 7 and you'll see year after year of murder, oppression and abuse. Look at everything that's happened since October 7 and you'll understand the kind of sadistic, psychopathic regime the Palestinians have been living under this entire time. Reading by Tim Foley.

It's cute how the Zionists think they'll be able to manipulate and propagandize the world into liking Israel again. Yeah, saturate all online platforms with weird-faced influencers telling us Israel is awesome. That'll make us forget those years of genocidal atrocities. Sure, buy up the social media platforms that young people are using so you can censor criticism of Israel. That'll convince them that Zionism is cool. Go on, take control of CBS and make Bari Weiss the boss. That'll make us forget all those videos of mutilated Palestinian children. Reading by Tim Foley.

Who would have imagined five years ago when we were seeing Greta Thunberg amplified by every mainstream western liberal institution that we would one day hear reports that she has been captured and tormented by the Israeli military for trying to bring formula to starving babies? Reading by Tim Foley.

So he killed one person. The Manchester synagogue attacker killed one single person and the entire western world stopped in its tracks to mourn and grieve and weep and denounce, on the same day that Israel killed at least 57 Palestinians and it was completely ignored by western politicians and media. Reading by Tim Foley.

I wish the attack on the Manchester synagogue had never happened. I also feel weird about even talking about it while dozens of Palestinians are killed today whose individual names I'll never know and whose individual deaths I'll never see decried in western media headlines. Reading by Tim Foley.

The onus is on the party committing genocide to stop committing genocide. The onus is not on the victims of the genocide to sign agreements in the hope of saving themselves from the genocide. This is obvious to anyone who isn't a psychopath. Reading by Tim Foley.

Israel apologists are probably going to make a much, much bigger deal about the second October 7 anniversary than they did about the first anniversary, because they kind of have to. The world is turning against Israel in unprecedented ways in 2025, and yelling about October 7 is all they've got left. Reading by Tim Foley.

The single dumbest conspiracy theory in the entire world is that every major humanitarian institution on earth is conspiring to falsely frame Israel for the crime of genocide. And yet believing this insane conspiracy theory is the only way to think it's not a genocide. Reading by Tim Foley.

When you create a system where sociopathy is rewarded with wealth and where wealth equals power, you're naturally going to find yourself being ruled by sociopaths. Reading by Tim Foley.

It's so crazy that we're two years into a genocide and we're still being hammered by propagandists pretending to believe that the world has just spontaneously started hating Israel for no reason in some inexplicable explosion of Jew-hatred. Reading by Tim Foley.

I think it's worth remembering this as the empire harnesses the emotional hysteria around Charlie Kirk's death to whip up a moral panic about violent radical leftists in the United States in order to justify increased authoritarian measures to stomp out political dissent. The real violence is coming from the powerful manipulators who want you consenting to these measures. The call is coming from inside the house. Reading by Tim Foley. Reading by Tim Foley.

Former Israeli defense minister Benny Gantz has a new op-ed in The New York Times where he explicitly states that opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state is "the heart" of a national consensus among Israelis across the mainstream political spectrum, and that this isn't an obstacle that will go away once Netanyahu is out of power. Reading by Tim Foley.

The Israelis will literally launch drone strikes on activist boats for trying to bring formula to starving babies and then turn around and say the world hates them because of their religion. Reading by Tim Foley.

Westerner: I support a two-state solution. Israel: There will never be a Palestinian state. Westerner: Okay then I support a one-state solution where everyone has equal rights. Israel: You're calling for an end to the Jewish state you monster. Westerner: Alright then I support the Palestinian resistance. Israel: That's supporting terrorism. You are Hamas and we can legally murder you. Westerner: Well can I at least support a permanent ceasefire to end the genocide? Israel: [cocks pistol] What did I just tell you about supporting Hamas? Westerner: Okay then, I support Palestinians living as a permanent underclass until they can be slowly salami sliced out of existence as a people. Israel: Getting warmer. Westerner: I support removing all Palestinians from their historic homeland via ethnic cleansing or extermination before the end of Donald Trump's presidential term. Israel: [puts away gun] That's more like it. Reading by Tim Foley.

Imagine there was a violent cult that used scriptures from an ancient religion to convince its followers to do evil things. Imagine the cult was given its own state. Imagine the cult was given machine guns, tanks and war planes. Imagine the cult obtained nuclear weapons. Imagine the cult started committing genocide against the indigenous people who'd been living in the area where the cult's state was established. Reading by Tim Foley.

This is like repeatedly going out in public to yell “I did not have a sex dream about my cousin!” so that nobody thinks you had a sex dream about your cousin. Reading by Tim Foley.

Dude goes two years refusing to call a genocide a genocide, then issues a statement which begins by placing blame for the genocide on the victims of said genocide. Reading by Tim Foley.

It's amazing how aggressively free speech in the United States is being torn apart in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing. Jimmy Kimmel was fired after President Trump's FCC threatened ABC when the late night comic suggested that Kirk's killer was a Trumper. I personally dislike Kimmel, but this is about as naked a government assault on free expression as you could possibly imagine. Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has been ordered deported to Syria or Algeria after the Trump administration targeted him for political speech critical of Israel. Trump has brokered a deal allowing TikTok to be purchased by a consortium that includes his billionaire buddies Larry Ellison and Marc Andreesen. US officials have acknowledged that Washington's push to grab control of TikTok was because of the opposition to the Gaza holocaust that was circulating on the platform. Reading by Tim Foley.

The list of humanitarian institutions who accuse Israel of genocide now includes: 1. The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory 2. The International Association of Genocide Scholars 3. B'Tselem (an Israeli organization) 4. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (another Israeli organization) 5. Amnesty International 6. Doctors Without Borders 7. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights 8. Human Rights Watch 9. The International Federation for Human Rights 10. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention The list of humanitarian institutions who say Israel is NOT committing genocide in Gaza includes: 1. Nobody 2. No one 3. Zero 4. Nothing 5. Nada 6. Zilch 7. Sweet damn all 8. A complete absence 9. Diddly squat 10. Bupkis Reading by Tim Foley.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi just said on a podcast that "hate speech" directed at conservatives was responsible for Charlie Kirk's assassination, and that people responsible for such speech will be prosecuted by the Trump administration. Reading by Tim Foley.