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Note: Explore our full index to key excerpts of revealing major media news articles on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.
Local cops have gotten tens of millions of dollars' worth of discounted military gear under a secretive federal program that is poised to grow under recent executive action. The 1122 program ... presents a danger to people facing off against militarized cops, according to Women for Weapons Trade Transparency. "All of these things combined serve as a threat to free speech, an intimidation tactic to protest," said Lillian Mauldin, the co-founder of the nonprofit group, which produced the report released this week. The federal government's 1033 program ... has long sent surplus gear like mine-resistant vehicles and bayonets to local police. Since 1994, however, the even more obscure 1122 program has allowed local cops to purchase everything from uniforms to riot shields at federal government rates. The program turns the feds into purchasing agents for local police. Local cops have used the program to pick up 16 Lenco BearCats, fearsome-looking armored police vehicles. Those vehicles represented 4.8 percent of the total spending identified in the ... report. Surveillance gear and software represented another 6.4 percent, and weapons or riot gear represented 5 percent. One agency bought a $428,000 Star Safire thermal imaging system, the kind used in military helicopters. The Texas Department of Public Safety's intelligence and counterterrorism unit purchased a $1.5 million surveillance software license. Another agency bought an $89,000 covert camera system.
Note: Read more about the Pentagon's 1033 program. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on police corruption and the erosion of civil liberties.
In Finland, kindergartens are exposing children to more mud, wild plants and moss - and finding changes to their health that show how crucial biodiversity is to wellbeing. At Humpula daycare centre in Lahti, north of Helsinki, children are encouraged to get muddy. Across Finland, 43 daycare centres have been awarded a total of â‚Ź1m (Ł830,000) to rewild yards and to increase children's exposure to the microscopic biodiversity – such as bacteria and fungi – that lives in nature. We already know that access to the outdoors is important for children and their development. But this study goes one step further. It is part of a growing body of research linking two layers of biodiversity. There is the outer layer – the more familiar vision of biodiversity, made up of soil, water, plants, animals and microbial life, that lives in the forest, playground (or any other environment). And then there is the inner layer: the biodiversity that lives within and upon the human body, including the gut, skin and airways. Increasingly, scientists are learning that our health is intimately linked to our surroundings, and to the ecological health of the world around us. The plants, dead wood and soil in the daycare centre have all been specially selected for their rich micro-biodiversity. They have also dug up and imported a giant live carpet of forest floor, 20-40cm deep and 10 metres square. It has blueberries, lingonberries and moss growing on it, to encourage the children to forage, find bugs and learn about nature.
Note: Explore more positive stories like this in on reimigining education.
There are two people on the Zoom screen in front of me. One, a Palestinian man in the ancient city of Jericho in the West Bank. The other, an Israeli woman in Tel Aviv. They're separated, literally and metaphorically, by a wall. And they're united in loss: specifically, the loss of a child. Something else unites them: a determination to build bridges of shared understanding at a time when the gulf between their peoples seems deeper than ever. They're both part of the Parents Circle – Families Forum (PCFF), membership of which has the grimmest of qualifications: that your child has been killed in the conflict. Their backgrounds could not be more different, and yet, partly because of their loss, they've arrived in the same place. The fighting has to end, and bereaved parents are better placed than most to achieve that. "Before you start to talk [in those meetings]," says [parent Bassam] Aramin, "you can see in their eyes the fear – even hatred – for this Arab, this â€terrorist'. And after you finish your human story, suddenly there is no fear. Suddenly there is empathy. Some of them cry. Some of them want to shake your hand. This is, as Robi always calls it, our â€emotional breakthrough'." â€Robi' is Robi Damelin, now director of international relations for the PCFF. Born and raised in a comfortable home in South Africa, she followed in a family tradition – her uncle had helped defend Mandela in his first treason trial – by speaking out against apartheid.
Note: War destroys, yet these powerful real-life stories show that we can heal, reimagine better alternatives, and plant the seeds of a global shift in consciousness to transform our world. Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine.
The truth-seeking function of universities does not work properly without the presence of diverse viewpoints. This is especially true when it comes to contested social and political questions. Taboos, blind spots, groupthink and the politicization of scientific standards haven't just made academic research narrower and worse, these trends have alienated the general public and reduced public confidence in higher education ... across the ideological spectrum. Unsurprisingly, the increasing ideological conformity of the professoriate is reflected in the decreasing range of ideas that students encounter in the classroom. A recent national study shows a narrow range of perspectives included on undergraduate syllabi on such controversial topics as the conflict between Israel and Palestine, racial bias in the criminal justice system, and abortion. Professional training does not make professors immune to ordinary human biases. Today's cohort of scholarly experts remains vulnerable to the same "tyranny of public opinion" and "uncritical and intemperate partisanship" that the founders of the American Association of University Professors in 1915 warned academia to resist. This means that today's arguments about viewpoint diversity must be considered and judged in their historical and political contexts. [Academic disciplines] have lost a healthy amount of internal contestation, or have turned self-selection and self-governance into ideological capture.
Note: From gender medicine research, the psychology field, social justice movements, to Middle East politics, a recent study tracking 1 million people revealed that two-thirds of us are afraid to say what we believe in public, while other studies reveal a significant decline in people's motivation to share views that are unique or controversial. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on corruption in science.
Compared to other developed nations, the United States is an extreme outlier in the severity of its criminal legal system. Police in the United States kill civilians at between five and forty times the rate of similarly rich countries, for instance, and the United States imprisons people at about seven times the rate of economically comparable countries. The brunt of this aggressive penal regime is borne of course by poor Americans, particularly poor black Americans. Recently, all of the states in the US have begun to impose fees and charges and costs on offenders and their families: people now have to pay for staying in prison as if they're guests in a hotel. Or if they're on probation instead of being sent to jail, they have to pay for the probation supervision, or they have to pay for a urine test. In one police department in Missouri, offenders who have been tasered have to pay $25 toward the cost of using the taser. In this country, particularly in the neoliberal era, the local state simply doesn't have the capacity or resources to invest in communities and provide housing, schools, jobs, income support, health care services, and so on. What it does have is police and jails, and states have prisons. The politics of the day ... mean that it's always going to be much more likely that the police and the punishment are the first resort, rather than long-term investments in communities, work, families, income support, and jobs.
Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on prison system corruption.
While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth obsesses over the supposed "softening" and "weakening" of American troops, the Pentagon is concealing the scale of a real threat to the lives of his military's active-duty members: a suicide crisis killing hundreds of members of the U.S. Air Force. Data The Intercept obtained via the Freedom of Information Act shows that of the 2,278 active-duty Air Force deaths between 2010 and 2023, 926 – about 41 percent – were suicides, overdoses, or preventable deaths from high-risk behavior in a decade when combat deaths were minimal. This is the first published detailed breakdown of Air Force suicide data. In 2022, the National Defense Authorization Act mandated the Defense Department to report suicides by year, career field, and duty status, but neither the department nor the Air Force complied. Congress has done little to enforce thorough reporting. From 2010 to 2023, active-duty maintainers had a suicide rate of 27.4 per 100,000 personnel, nearly twice the 14.2 per 100,000 among U.S. civilians – a 1.93 times higher risk. FOIA records show the most common methods were self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head and hanging. Other methods included sodium nitrite ingestion, helium inhalation, and carbon monoxide poisoning. [The dataset] shows a troubling pattern of preventable deaths that leaders at the senior officer level or above minimized or ignored, often claiming that releasing detailed suicide information would pose a risk to national security. Current and former service members described a fear of bullying, hazing, and professional retaliation for seeking mental health treatment.
Note: Read about the tragic traumas and suicides connected to military drone operators. A recent Pentagon study concluded that US soldiers are nine times more likely to die by suicide than they are in combat. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on mental health and military corruption.
President Trump is rattling his saber against Colombian President Gustavo Petro to punish him for accusing the U.S. government of murdering Venezuelan fishermen. Trump warned that Petro that he "better close up" cocaine production "or the United States will close them up for him, and it won't be done nicely." Is anyone in the Trump White House aware of the long history of U.S. failure in that part of the world? Colombia remains the world's largest cocaine producer despite billions of dollars of U.S. government anti-drug aid to the Colombian government. The Clinton administration made Colombia its top target in its international war on drugs. Clinton drug warriors deluged the Colombian government with U.S. tax dollars to deluge Colombia with toxic spray. The New York Times reported that U.S.-financed planes repeatedly sprayed pesticides onto schoolchildren, making many of them ill. At the same time that the Clinton administration was sacrificing the health of Colombian children in its quixotic anti-drug crusade ... Laurie Hiett, the wife of Colonel James Hiett, the top U.S. military commander in Colombia, exploited U.S. embassy diplomatic pouches to ship 15 pounds of heroin and cocaine to New York. She pocketed tens of thousands of dollars in narcotic profits. After she was caught and convicted, she received far more lenient treatment than most drug offenders – only five years in prison. Her husband – ridiculed as the "Coke Colonel" in the New York Post – received only six months in prison for laundering drug proceeds and concealing his wife's crimes.
Note: Aerial spraying of pesticides is labeled as a public-health and anti-drug intervention designed to eradicate coca crops. The War on Drugs has been called a trillion dollar failure that targets everyday people while protecting the covert activities of the rich and powerful. See our in-depth investigation into the dark truths behind the War on Drugs.
A UFO reporting app has logged thousands of sightings of unidentified submersible objects, aka USOs, just off U.S. coasts, according to reports. The app Enigma, which bills itself as the largest "standardized repository of anomalous sightings," received reports on over 30,000 unidentified objects since its launch in 2022. While UFO and UAP sightings are traditionally thought of as mysteries of the sky, Enigma claims to have logged 9,000 sightings within 10 miles of U.S. shorelines or major bodies of water. UFOs and UAPs have become common acronyms in news headlines as members of Congress have called for more transparency on what the government knows – and doesn't know – about unidentified anomalous phenomena. The term "UFO" was added to the world's lexicon by the U.S. Air Force in 1952, just five years after the Roswell sighting. The term "UAP," or "unidentified anomalous phenomena," is used to describe unexplainable sights in the sky, not just unidentified flying objects. Members of Congress have led a bipartisan effort to investigate and declassify government documents containing information regarding such unidentified phenomena following the testimony of UFO whistleblower David Grusch, a former Air Force and intelligence officer, before a House Oversight subcommittee in July 2023. Grusch testified the U.S. is concealing a longstanding program that retrieves and reverse engineers unidentified flying objects.
Note: Our 26-minute video UFO Disclosure: Breakthrough Technology and Awakening Human Consciousness features our interviews with leading experts along with well-sourced, verifiable information to help you make sense of this fascinating issue and its immense potential to transform our world. Then explore the comprehensive resources provided in our UFO Information Center.
A recent report by UFO-tracking app Enigma reveals that thousands of sightings of Unidentified Submersible Objects (USOs) have been logged near rivers, lakes, and oceans, suggesting that unexplained phenomena are not confined to the skies. Some of these objects reportedly rise from the depths or plunge into the water without leaving a splash, defying conventional physics. The sheer volume and consistency of these reports challenge traditional explanations for UFOs. While aerial sightings have long been treated skeptically, the underwater dimension adds a new layer of complexity. If verified, USOs could represent either highly advanced technology or an entirely unknown phenomenon, raising urgent questions about national security, scientific inquiry, and humanity's understanding of the natural world. Enigma, billed as the "largest queryable historical sighting database for global UFO sightings," has recorded over 30,000 reports since its launch in late 2022. While most detail aerial phenomena, the recent report highlights more than 9,000 USO sightings within 10 miles of U.S. shorelines or major bodies of water. Of these, 500 were reported within five miles of the coast, and over 150 involve objects hovering above or entering the water, sometimes accompanied by strange lights or unexplained movements. Retired Navy Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet said objects capable of moving seamlessly between air and water could carry "world-changing" ramifications.
Note: Our 26-minute video UFO Disclosure: Breakthrough Technology and Awakening Human Consciousness features our interviews with leading experts along with well-sourced, verifiable information to help you make sense of this fascinating issue and its immense potential to transform our world. Then explore the comprehensive resources provided in our UFO Information Center.
A large chunk of the world's plant diversity lies safely tucked away underground for future generations. By the numbers, the Millennium Seed Bank holds over 2 billion seeds from over 40,000 species, collected by scientists and volunteers from 279 organizations spanning over 100 countries. It's likely the largest seed vault on Earth, with the other contender being located on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Located at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew facility in Wakehurst, seeds from all over the world are carefully cleaned, dried, and stored in walk-in freezers at -20°C, or about -4°F. For 25 years, the work has been carried out by experts who have developed the skills not only to store the seeds, but also to wake them up again, often using bespoke protocols for seed germination. "Within species there is incredible genetic diversity, which protects against disease, climate change and other threats," Dale Sanders, biologist and former director of the John Innes Centre in Norwich, told AP. "Maintaining that diversity is essential if we want to preserve the diversity of life itself." For all the archiving and record keeping and preservation, the MSB is hardly just a storehouse. To the contrary, it's always growing something: funds for ecosystem restoration or botanical research, young scientists looking to begin a career in plant conservation, or plans to restore existing ecosystems by leveraging the vault's vast reserves.
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing the Earth.
For decades, Khoji Wesselius has noticed the oily scent of pesticides during spraying periods when the wind has blown through his tiny farming village in a rural corner of the Netherlands. Now, after volunteering in an experiment to count how many such substances people are subjected to, Wesselius and his wife are one step closer to understanding the consequences of living among chemical-sprayed fields of seed potato, sugar beet, wheat, rye and onion. "We were shocked," said Wesselius ... who had exposure to eight different pesticides through his skin, with even more chemicals found through tests of his blood, urine and stool. "I was contaminated by 11 sorts of pesticides. My wife, who is more strict in her organic nourishment, had seven sorts of pesticides." Regulators closely monitor dietary intake of pesticides when deciding whether they are safe enough for the market, but little attention has been paid to the effects of breathing them in or absorbing them through the skin. According to a new study, even people who live far from farms are exposed to several different types of pesticides from non-dietary sources. The researchers got 641 participants in 10 European countries to wear silicone wristbands continuously for one week to capture external exposure to 193 pesticides. In laboratory tests, they detected 173 of the substances they tested for, with pesticides found in every wristband and an average of 20 substances for every person who took part.
Note: Our latest Substack, "The Pesticide Crisis Reveals The Dark Side of Science. We Have The Solutions to Regenerate," uncovers the scope of Monsanto's media propaganda machine and the widespread conspiracy to poison our food, air, and along with the powerful remedies and solutions to this crisis. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on food system corruption and toxic chemicals.
For years, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, has claimed that human-caused climate change has accelerated sea level rise. But that claim is false. This does not mean that climate change isn't happening. It is. It simply means that it has not caused the sea level to rise. Top scientists know this fact and have deliberately misrepresented it for years, deceiving the public. In September, I reported on one of the first global studies of sea level rise that used tide-gauge data, which is the only real-world data that goes back long enough, to the mid-19th Century, that would allow one to detect whether sea level rise had accelerated, decelerated, or remained steady. The only reliable long-term real-world data is tide gauge data, and they do not show acceleration. Since then, I exchanged over 50 emails with one of the world's leading sea level rise scientists, Robert Kopp from Rutgers University, and heard back from IPCC, NASA, and NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. What I learned shocked me. For years, the world's top scientists have known that they cannot prove there has been an acceleration of sea level rise, and yet they have told the public that they can. We've known since 2018 that 89% of the atoll islands that scientists and the media claimed would be destroyed by sea level rise had instead grown or stayed the same size. Sea level rise is not "observably accelerating" over time horizons that would show a trend. The only scientific basis for claiming it is accelerating is through modeling. The observable tide-gauge data do not show this.
Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on climate change and corruption in science.
Those who have kept track of the rise of the Thielverse, which includes figures such as Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and JD Vance, have understood that an agenda to usher in a unique form of authoritarianism has been slowly introduced into the mainstream political atmosphere. "I think now it's quite clear that this is the PayPal Mafia's moment. These particular figures have had an extremely significant influence on US government policy since January, including the extreme distribution of AI throughout the US government," [investigative journalist Whitney] Webb explains. It's clear that the architects of mass surveillance and the military industrial complex are beginning to coalesce in unprecedented ways within the Trump administration and Webb emphasizes that now is the time to pay attention and push back against these new forces. If they have their way, all commercial technology will be completely folded into the national security state – acting blatantly as the new infrastructure for techno-authoritarian rule. The underlying idea behind this new system is "pre-crime," or the use of mass surveillance to designate people criminals before they've committed any crime. Webb warns that the Trump administration and its benefactors will demonize segments of the population to turn civilians against each other, all in pursuit of building out this elaborate system of control right under our noses.
Note: Read about Peter Thiel's involvement in the military origins of Facebook. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Big Tech and the disappearance of privacy.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, numerous men followed sex workers into the apartment at 225 Chestnut Street in San Francisco's Telegraph Hill neighborhood. The johns were the unwitting subjects in a CIA experiment focused on how drugs and sex might be used to obtain secrets from foreign adversaries. Part of MKUltra, the agency's broader and highly controversial mind control research program, Operation Midnight Climax began in 1953. The experiments involved luring men into a heavily surveilled bordello, dosing them with LSD, and filming their reactions to probing questions and subliminal messaging. The goal of Midnight Climax was to understand what roles, if any, sex and drugs could play in getting a target to reveal sensitive or classified information. To run the operation, Gottlieb hired George Hunter White, a federal narcotics agent, who got to work renovating the apartment. Microphones disguised as electrical wall outlets were hooked up to tape recorders, and a large two-way mirror allowed CIA agents to monitor, film, and photograph the encounters. Behind the mirror, a makeshift control room featured a portable toilet and a refrigerator full of adult beverages. Sex workers were given $100 for each man they lured to the bordello, and they would then dose their client with LSD-laced cocktails. Eventually these efforts revealed that a man became increasingly talkative if the sex worker asked him to stay awhile–even after the sexual transaction was complete.
Note: Midnight Climax was supervised by George Hunter White, who wrote this in a letter about the program: "Where else could a red-blooded American boy lie, kill, cheat, steal, rape, and pillage with the sanction and blessing of the All-Highest?" Former CIA officer and Iran-Contra whistleblower Bruce Hemmings put it best: "They do not give a damn about the law or the Constitution or the Congress or the Oversight committees except as something to be subverted and manipulated and lied to. If they can, they will blackmail you. Sex, drugs, deals, whatever it takes." Read our comprehensive investigation connecting Jeffrey Epstein's child sex trafficking network to intelligence agency sexual blackmail operations.
Virginia Giuffre says she feared she might "die a sex slave" at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and his circle, her posthumous memoir reveals. The BBC has obtained a full copy of Nobody's Girl, written by the prominent accuser of convicted sex offender Epstein, ahead of its publication ... almost six months after she took her own life. In the memoir, Ms Giuffre also says she had sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions. At the centre of the abuse was Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence on sex-trafficking charges. She says Epstein subjected her to sadomasochistic sex which caused her "so much pain that I prayed I would black out". Ms Giuffre says she first met Prince Andrew [at age 17] in March 2001. Ms Giuffre says she had sex for a second time with the prince around a month later at Epstein's townhouse in New York. She says the third occasion was on Epstein's island as part of what Ms Giuffre called "an orgy". "Epstein, Andy, and approximately eight other young girls and I had sex together," she says. "The other girls all appeared to be under the age of 18 and didn't really speak English. "Epstein laughed about how they couldn't really communicate, saying they are the easiest girls to get along with." The Metropolitan Police said it was "actively" looking into media reports that Prince Andrew tried to obtain personal information about Ms Giuffre through his police protection officer (PPO).
Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Epstein's criminal enterprise.
Covert action refers to secret operations to influence governments, organizations, or persons in support of a foreign policy in a manner that is not attributable to the United States. Donald Trump has gone a step further than all other presidents by ignoring plausible denial; he announced the "secret" authorization to allow the CIA to conduct covert action in Venezuela against President Nicolas Maduro. This represents the latest attempt to apply pressure on Venezuela. It follows authorization for the U.S. military to target boats that may or may not be carrying drugs. Thus far, five boats have been destroyed and 29 Venezuelans (and some Colombians) have been killed. U.S. covert action, which began under the Eisenhower administration, has been marked by incredible and often predictable failure. The worst failures were in Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), the Congo 1959, and Chile (1973), where leftist leaders were overthrown only to be followed by the accession to power of authoritarians and tyrants such as the Shah, Julio Alpirez, Mobutu, and Pinochet. These authoritarians introduced brutal regimes and repressive military forces, many of whom received military training from the CIA. When U.S. ambassadors in Central America protested this activity, they were ordered to stop reporting on such criminal activity. The CIA also trained and supported abusive internal security organizations throughout Central America, particularly in Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador.
Note: Learn more about the rise of the CIA in our comprehensive Military-Intelligence Corruption Information Center. For more, read our concise summaries of news articles on intelligence agency corruption.
This week, the nonprofit Veterans Community Project (VCP) broke ground on its sixth tiny home village, this time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to offer more military veterans a fresh start with housing and individualized care. Each 240-square-foot home is part of a larger community designed to help residents regain stability and independence. Since its founding in 2018 when they welcomed their first residents in Kansas City, VCP has helped hundreds of vets transition out of homelessness. VCP has set a new standard for how cities can address veteran homelessness, with its 85% success rate for vets who complete the program successfully and transition to sustainable permanent housing–all in an average of 335 days. Army combat veteran Dave Myers ... had never heard of VCP when his life was spinning out of control three years ago, addicted to drugs after returning home from war. He now smiles recalling a judge's words ordering him to become a volunteer after he got clean in prison: "He told me, â€You're going to spend so much time with these guys that they're either going to love you or hate you ... I hope it's the former, and that they offer you a job after.'" Dave is now a full-time operations employee at VCP and is fulfilling his dream to help Veterans. "I was able to connect with our residents in some ways that not a lot of other people can. I've been in their shoes." "This place saved me," he said proudly.
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine and reimagining the economy.
Prominent Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre was brutally bloodied, beaten and raped by a "well-known prime minister" in a series of savage encounters that finally helped the teenager break free from the sex trafficker's spell. In her posthumous memoir "Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice," Giuffre recalled begging Epstein to step in after the unnamed politician forced her to beg for her life. In her memoir, Giuffre said she first met the "Prime Minister" on Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Islands sometime in 2002, when she was just 18. She was ordered to escort him to a cabana, but the man made it clear as soon as they were alone that "he wanted violence." "He repeatedly choked me until I lost consciousness and took pleasure in seeing me in fear for my life. Horrifically, the Prime Minister laughed when he hurt me and got more aroused when I begged him to stop. I emerged from the cabana bleeding from my mouth, vagina, and anus. For days, it hurt to breathe and to swallow," Giuffre wrote. The final breaking point came that summer when Epstein and his madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, pleaded with Giuffre to carry their child. Barak has repeatedly denied Giuffre's abuse claims. Barak was a personal friend of Epstein's and used several million dollars of Epstein's money to finance a security company. He had visited Epstein on his private island and had boarded his private plane.
Note: Virginia Giuffre, who died earlier this year in May 2025, once declared, "I am making it publicly known that in no way, shape or form am I suicidal ... I have made this known to my therapist and GP – If something happens to me – in the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. Too many evil people want to see me [quieted]." For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Jeffrey Epstein's criminal enterprise.
President Donald Trump's authorization this week of Central Intelligence Agency operations aimed at toppling Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro prompted warnings from foreign policy experts. The amount of narcotics entering the United States via the country is relatively insignificant. Approximately 90% of US-bound cocaine enters the country via Mexico, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration and other government agencies. Venezuela is also not a significant source of fentanyl, which is the leading cause of overdoses in the US and is also trafficked primarily through Mexico."Using covert or military measures to destabilize or overthrow regimes reminds us of some of the most notorious episodes in American foreign policy, which undermined the human rights and sovereignty of countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean," said [policy advisor Matt] Duss. The US has launched at least 41 interventions that successfully overthrew governments in the hemisphere since 1898. Washington has helped install and prop up brutal dictators and assisted in the subversion of democratic movements, including by training Venezuelan forces in torture and repression at the notorious US Army School of the Americas. Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have also died as a result of US economic sanctions on Venezuela, according to research from the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "If Venezuela did not possess oil, gas, gold, fertile land, and water, the imperialists wouldn't even look at our country," [Maduro] added.
Note: Read our Substack investigation into the dark truths behind the US War on Drugs. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on the War on Drugs.
Some 10,000 American troops are currently supporting the Trump-ordered counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean. At this point the military intervention has killed 27 people, including individuals who are likely not Venezuelan. President Trump's most recent explanation to reporters for this unprecedented Pentagon build-up off Venezuela's coast was surprisingly reminiscent of the failed "war on drugs" which hearkens all the way back to the days of Richard Nixon, when he famously declared it "public enemy number one". There was a time ... where the CIA itself was the biggest narco-trafficker in United States and perhaps the entire Western hemisphere. This was to fund regime change and covert operations in Latin America after a belated Congressional crackdown on taxpayer funding for black ops. In August 1996, the San Jose Mercury News [published a] series of articles linking the CIA's "contra" army to the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles. During the 1980s the CIA helped finance its covert war against Nicaragua's leftist government through sales of cut-rate cocaine to South Central L.A. drug dealer, Ricky Ross. The CIA's drug network, wrote [journalist Gary] Webb, "opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles, a city now known as the â€crack' capital of the world." Black gangs used their profits to buy automatic weapons, sometimes from one of the CIA-linked drug dealers.
Note: Though President Richard Nixon launched the War on Drugs by declaring drugs "public enemy No. 1," secretly he admitted in a 1973 Oval Office meeting that marijuana was "not particularly dangerous." The War on Drugs is a trillion dollar failure that has been made worse by every presidential administration since Nixon. Don't miss our in-depth investigation into the dark truths behind the War on Drugs. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on intelligence agency corruption and the War on Drugs.
Important Note: Explore our full index to key excerpts of revealing major media news articles on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.