Educate!
Education is the foundation of political change. In this section we provide news and analyses of current events that you won’t likely read or hear in the corporate media. Our sources are from organizations and independent media outlets free of corporate and government propaganda. We strongly encourage you to share these articles by email and social media so that together we create an echo chamber that overcomes the influence of the oligarchy. You will find large social media sharing buttons on the left side of each article when you open the article to read.
Two days after the US Senate voted on a bipartisan basis to authorize just over $900 billion in military spending for the coming fiscal year, the chief recipient of that taxpayer money—the Department of Defense—announced it failed an audit of its books for the eighth consecutive year.
The now-predictable audit result was announced Friday by the Pentagon's Office of Inspector General (OIG) after an examination of the agency's roughly $4.6 trillion in assets. The OIG said it identified 26 "material weaknesses"—major flaws in internal controls over financial reports—in the Pentagon's accounting.
California’s AB 715 Claims To Combat Antisemitism
December 23, 2025
Jenin Younes and Deyar Jamil, Mondoweiss.
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Antisemitism, California, Censorship, Free Speech, Gavin Newsom, Retaliation
It’s not just Washington, DC that has sold out to the Israel lobby. In October of this year, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 715 into law, amending California’s education code, despite significant public opposition. The ostensible purpose of the AB 715 amendments is to address the crisis of rising antisemitism by fortifying anti-discrimination law in public schools. A closer look says otherwise.
The bill was rushed through the state legislative process: at the legislative hearing, even its proponents acknowledged that it had been drafted rather hastily and would require “clean-up” legislation down the road to ensure compliance with constitutional requirements.
Washington Weighs Sanctions On Spanish-Flagged Vessels
The dispute began in November 2024 and has since escalated into a formal maritime standoff involving regulators, ports, and commercial operators on both sides of the Atlantic, according to notices issued by the FMC and Israeli media reports.
Israeli Channel 14 said Washington argues that Spain’s decision “harms maritime trade.” Yet, Spanish authorities maintain they will not allow ports or airspace to facilitate arms deliveries linked to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The issue centers on Spain’s refusal to grant port access and airspace clearance to ships and aircraft transporting arms or military fuel intended for Israel, including vessels carrying what the FMC described as “cargo” bound for Israel.
Reasons Black/African People Should Be In Solidarity With Venezuela
December 22, 2025
Djibo Sobukwe, Black Agenda Report.
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Afro-Venezuelas, Solidarity, Venezuela, Venezuela solidarity
While we are all aware that the US government has increased its hybrid war on its domestic population in the form of ICE, the national guard, cutting SNAP benefits, etc., we should also keep in mind that the US has escalated its war internationally. In this case, we highlight the escalation of the US hybrid war against Venezuela and provide 5 reasons why Black / African people should be in strong, steadfast solidarity at this time with the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela. The attacks and attempts at regime change and destabilization against the Bolivarian government of Venezuela by the US government have been ongoing since the founding of this democratically elected government in 1999.
US Pursuing Third Tanker Near Venezuela As Trump Escalates Blockade
December 22, 2025
Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com.
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Oil Tankers, Sanctions, Trump Administration, US Imperialism, Venezuela, Wars and Militarism
US forces tried to board a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as the Trump administration continues to escalate its declared blockade of the country, an action traditionally considered an act of war under international law.
Sources told Bloomberg that the US was still in pursuit of the Bella 1 tanker, which was en route to Venezuela to be loaded with oil before it was boarded by US forces. The outlet initially reported that US forces had boarded the tanker.
US officials told The New York Times that the Bella 1 refused to be boarded by the US and has fled to the northeast, into the Atlantic Ocean.
Israeli Army Expands Outposts In Gaza; Laying Groundwork For Permanent Occupation
December 22, 2025
News Desk, The Cradle.
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Ceasefire, Gaza, Israel, Israeli Occupation, Palestine
The Israeli military is preparing to establish a permanent presence inside the Gaza Strip, new satellite imagery released by Forensic Architecture has confirmed. According to Forensic Architecture’s research, Israel is consolidating control over 50 percent of the strip – continuously demolishing civilian infrastructure to make room for new outposts.
Since the ceasefire, the Israeli army has built at least 13 new outposts – mainly east of the so-called “Yellow Line,” the perimeter to which Tel Aviv withdrew its forces as part of the agreement.
China Changes Everything: A Book Review
A new book edited by Kyle Ferrana, China Changes Everything, bills itself as an anthology by “social justice activists, journalists, and commentators” and brings together chapters about the People’s Republic of China written by prominent left-wing analysts, including Arnold August, Roger Harris, Radhika Desai, Carlos Martinez, Gerald Horne, Lee Siu Hin, Margaret Kimberley, Danny Haiphong, KJ Noh, Sara Flounders, and many more.
The publication covers a comprehensive range of subjects in the ongoing “China debate” and includes chapters on such hot topics as China’s relation to Palestine and China’s foreign affairs policies, its banking and healthcare system, its transportation infrastructure and the rail and air infrastructure that China has helped to build in developing nations, its achievements in green technology and poverty alleviation, China’s military expenditures and aims, its role in the “space race,” its alleged genocide of the Uyghurs, and the status of Taiwan and Tibet, among others.
Climate Change Accelerates California’s Cost-Of-Living Crisis
December 22, 2025
Aaron Cantú, Scheer Post.
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California, climate crisis, Displacement, Environment, Poverty
When California adopted a law to regulate greenhouse gases 23 years ago — the first state in the nation to do so — it focused on the future dangers of global warming. But while California’s emissions have declined, they have kept rising globally, and the climate has worsened. Now, in an effort to build back momentum, advocates are bringing attention to current-day harms driven by climate change.
Among those affected by rising temperatures is Amanda Nevarez, who was left homeless by the Eaton Fire, one of two wildfires in Los Angeles County that together destroyed more than 16,000 homes and buildings and killed 31 people last January.
The Turtle Island Liberation Front Warning For Activists
December 21, 2025
Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report.
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COINTELPRO, Domestic Terrorism, FBI, Leftists, Turtle Island
The United States has a long history of using informants and entrapment as tools to discredit or to defeat leftist movements. There are other objectives as well, as Black Agenda Report explained in 2010, “The object is to terrify the public into surrendering their civil liberties in a twilight struggle with a mostly nonexistent domestic enemy.” It is important to remember the many examples of state repression as we learn of the arrest of members of a little-known and newly formed organization called the Turtle Island Liberation Front, who stand accused of planning New Year's Eve bombings in Southern California. It is an understatement to say that the charges against them should not be accepted at face value.
Netanyahu To Seek Trump’S Approval For Attacks On Iran
December 21, 2025
News Desk, The Cradle.
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Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, Iran, Israel, Israeli Imperialism, Wars and Militarism
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will reportedly ask US President Donald Trump to greenlight a new assault on Iran to target its ballistic missile program, NBC News reported on 21 December.
Citing a person with direct knowledge of the Israeli plans and four former US officials, NBC reported that Netanyahu is expected to present options for a renewed attack in a meeting between the two leaders tentatively scheduled for 29 December at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Miami, Florida.
"Netanyahu is expected to make the case to Trump that Iran's expansion of its ballistic missile program poses a threat that could necessitate swift action," the sources told NBC.
A Big Oil PR Firm Helped Top UK Cultural Institutions Defend Fossil Fuel Sponsorships
December 21, 2025
Ellen Ormesher and Kathryn Clare, DeSmog.
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climate denial, Fossil Fuels, London, Public Relations, United Kingdom (UK)
Sadler’s Wells, a top performing arts theatre in London, hired one of the United Kingdom’s biggest public relations agencies — and one with close ties to the oil industry — to help it defend a sponsorship deal with Barclays.
Brunswick Group — whose clients have included oil giants BP, Shell, and Aramco, as well as Barclays, a major financier of fossil fuel development — drafted a May 23 letter to the Financial Times defending corporate sponsorships of the arts, and signed by Sadler’s Wells and 10 other leading UK cultural institutions, according to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by campaign group Culture Unstained and shared with DeSmog.
Instacart Settles FTC’s Claim It Deceived Shoppers
Instacart has agreed to pay $60m in refunds to settle allegations brought by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the online grocery delivery platform deceived consumers about its membership programme and free delivery offers.
According to court documents filed in San Francisco on Thursday, Instacart’s offer of “free delivery” for first orders was illusory because shoppers were charged other fees, the FTC alleged.
The agency also accused Instacart of failing to adequately notify shoppers that their free trials of its Instacart+ subscription service would convert to paid memberships and of misleading consumers about its refund policy.
Your Anti-Communism Problem And Mine
December 20, 2025
Charisse Burden-Stelly, Ph D, Black Agenda Report.
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Anti-fascism, Communism, Donald Trump, Fascism, McCarthyism, Political repression, Repression, Suppression
On November 7, 2025, Donald J. Trump declared Anti-Communism Week 2025 as “a solemn remembrance of the devastation caused by one of history’s most destructive ideologies.” He proclaimed that communism was a story of “blood and sorrow” and amounted to nothing more than servitude. The following statement is particularly noteworthy: “New voices now repeat old lies, cloaking them in the language of ‘social justice’ and ‘democratic socialism,’ yet their message remains the same: give up your freedom, place your trust in the power of the government, and trade the promise of prosperity for the empty comfort of control.”
US Blockades Venezuela In War Still Searching For An Official Rationale
December 20, 2025
Roger D. Harris, Popular Resistance.
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Blockade, Trump Administration, Venezuela, Wars and Militarism
In our Donald-in-Wonderland world, the US is at war with Venezuela while still grasping for a public rationale. The horrific human toll is real – over a 100,000 fatalities from illegal sanctions and over a hundred from more recent “kinetic strikes.” Yet the officially stated justification for the US empire’s escalating offensive remains elusive.
The empire once spun its domination as “democracy promotion.” Accordingly, State Department stenographers such as The Washington Post framed the US-backed coup in Venezuela – which temporarily overthrew President Hugo Chávez – as an attempt to “restore a legitimate democracy.”
Rail Workers Warn That Merger Would Yield Injury And Even Death
December 20, 2025
Cameron Harrison, People's World.
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Merger, Monopoly, Railroads, Worker Rights, Workplace Safety
It is no secret that irresponsible rail giants out for profits have visited injury and death on workers and massive destruction to communities around the country. Workers are warning that a new corporate monster railroads want to create via a merger would tear up critical health and safety measures that protect both workers and people in towns thorough which the trains pass.
The monster rail monopolies created America’s Gilded Age. Now, the proposed $85 billion merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern seeks to create a new Gilded Age for the 21st century.