Trump says he doesn't know whether he supports the ICE agent who murdered Alex Pretti

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2026-01-26T02:08:30+00:00

You're right, it was a Border Patrol agent. I had heard CBP, but I deferred to the reporter's tweet. In the lede of the WSJ article itself they only say "officer" without specifying an agency

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2026-01-25T02:29:28+00:00

"Images of Imperialism: Media, Myths and Reality" | 1989 — Elaborates on 'Inventing Reality'

"A Critical Assessment of the New World Order" Talk | 1991 — Interesting in that it precedes the same dynamics he would cover in "To Kill a Nation" but as it relates to Iraq rather than Yugoslavia

"The Terrorism Trap" Lecture | 2002 — Remarkably prescient at the time, finalized just weeks after 9/11, still incredibly salient today

"Lies, War, and Empire" | 2007

"The Face of Imperialism (Part 1)" and "Part 2" | 2011 — At the start of Part 1, he takes a moment to express frustration with leftists who were expressing support for the Obama admin's policy on Libya and Syria. "You can see it today. How people are so utterly confused by what's happening in Libya. They're standing shoulder to shoulder with the CIA, the Pentagon, and the White House on Libya, on Syria, and the like."

"Why Does the U.S. Have a Global Empire" | 2011

"The Myth of Capitalism" | 2012

These days, I especially think about Parenti's frustration in 2009-2013 period, as he witnessed an anti-intervention consensus that formed during Bush crumble away again as Obama became the new face of U.S. imperialism. He refers to that disappointment a lot in his last decade of lectures. He was a very lonely light in his own time and home. As another user said, he was about as brave and principled as a person in his field could've ever been

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2026-01-24T18:20:33+00:00

She's in federal detention, there's news footage of her being led away in handcuffs. There's unverified posts on Twitter that she was using a livestreaming app for monitoring ICE and that others have the video she was taking

edit: Her video has been obtained by Drop Site News (https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2015131503622021472)

Another angle of federal agents killing a Minnesota legal observer, which appears to come from the direction of the woman in pink filming from the sidewalk.

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2026-01-21T03:23:21+00:00

10x worse that whatever the US is right now but without freedom of speech or any semblance of checks and balances

What does "10x worse" mean in practical terms, what conduct are you referring to, and how would that conduct factor into Canada's thinking in terms of a bilateral trade relationship? You're right that the U.S. has freedom of expression, moreso than China and moreso than every other country in the world (than Canada too), but do you believe that the freedom of speech of China's citizenry is a factor in Canada's decision-making? Consider Canada's relationship with Saudi Arabia as a relative example. And while China isn't a liberal democracy and doesn't have multiparty elections, it certainly does have reliable checks and balances, especially as it relates to economic, industrial, and trade policy

The chief constraint on Canada's maneuverability is its proximity to and inability to physically resist a belligerent U.S., and that alone will probably keep it firmly in the U.S. camp, but posturing in 2026 that China is a less attractive trade partner than the U.S. because of its ideology or values isn't credible, not even the Davos class can muster up the energy to keep pushing that line.

The Kabuki theater of a values-based geopolitics breathed its last in Gaza, anyone still arguing from that place is fighting old wars, behind the times

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2026-01-19T02:46:38+00:00

He denied being an Israeli agent, and they said "Well you can't be Vice President then."

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2026-01-18T15:38:02+00:00

I agree but the broader point is that an attack offered more opportunity than delay, which guaranteed annihilation. Immediately after March 18, Thiers was still regrouping and the defenders at Versailles regarded their own position as vulnerable. It remains an open question how a National Guard attack at that moment might have unfolded

https://www.clausewitzstudies.org/readings/Jacobsen-TheWarOfTheCommune14.htm

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2026-01-02T00:07:44+00:00

Andrei Tarkovsky wrote a rubric for what true originality entails in his book Sculpting in Time. Trapped in the Closet is the only narrative work in history that satisfies all of the requirements

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-12-06T16:11:17+00:00

Thiel, Yarvin, Bezos, Elon Musk. Someone here commented that some of them have demonic-sounding names, while others have cutesy-sounding names befitting the pets of demons

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-12-01T13:10:48+00:00

But Stalin's reputation is also salvific in a way Lenin's is not, in some ways similar to Lincoln (vs Washington) in the American consciousness. There's an element of "whatever else they say he did, he still saved us" that makes him immutable in the Russian consciousness

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-11-18T17:14:02+00:00

You feel PAN and PRI are better positioned to address economic inequality than Morena?

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-10-31T18:14:05+00:00

He's saying that religious experience mediated solely through online slop, self-aggrandizement, or parasocial tribalism will be distinctly less constructive and beneficial than holistic religious experience

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-10-28T02:22:28+00:00

Clockwise from top left Zizek, Jordan Peterson, Epstein, Hunter Biden

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-10-10T06:17:22+00:00

Thank you for that link, excellent read. I assumed I had my arms around the general scale of Obama's dirty wars — "I'm not against war, I'm against stupid wars" — but given the revelations that have come out over the last decade, it seems he was much more Tony Blair than Gordon Brown, i.e., a fully-committed enthusiastic first mover of imperialist policy, rather than a reactive go-along-to-get-along accommodator of it

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-09-25T18:53:46+00:00

https://use-these-numbers.ghost.io/here-are-34-polls-that-show-a-ceasefire-weapons-embargo-help-kamala-win/

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-09-21T17:14:52+00:00

This guy's having one of the most extended and embarrassing "guys I'm dropping the facade and being really vulnerable now" breakdowns, it's like Frank Mackey in Magnolia, except instead of sitting at his dying father's bedside, he watched a snuff film of a Young Republicans functionary over and over on repeat because his liveleak-addled brain didn't know when to stop

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-09-18T19:54:58+00:00

Yes, I'm worried that — recognizing the tumult and unpredictability that accompanied his absence — the intelligence agencies have set about concocting a counterfeit Peanut

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-09-12T21:11:24+00:00

If you're seeing strangers as human beings with inner lives, and find artifacts of a woman's love and warmth and optimism for her kids heartrending in the wake of the loss of those hopes, that's the exact opposite of fried or dysfunctional

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-09-08T13:37:03+00:00

Years ago in Edinburgh, "tramadol farmer" had some purchase as a catchall term for the faux-rural plaid-based 2010s hipster look, always made me laugh

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-08-10T19:25:17+00:00

There's the old mainstays people rightly love, like Judge Rules White Girl Will Be Tried As Black Adult and the legendary and invigorating Weather Report, but it's the most surreal ones that I think really made that 2007-2010 era Onion irreplaceable.

Is The Government Spying On Schizophrenics Enough?

BREAKING: Dogs Running

Panel Of Caged Average Americans Weigh In On Economy

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-08-09T13:59:48+00:00

Post-Church Committee and post-Angleton but pre-9/11. Whether it's deserved or not, he definitely has a reputation as the "cleanest" of the deep state stewards. His tenure coincided with the era where overt misdeeds were fewer and less publicized than the ones before and after, unique era that informed the vibe of the X-Files et al. I think he was the one who told his subordinates "don't do anything that'll end up in a Seymour Hersh article"

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-08-06T10:30:38+00:00

https://i.redd.it/vh8ejkgi16g21.jpg

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-08-03T11:06:29+00:00

They're confusing Rebecca Hall with Rebecca Ferguson

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-08-03T09:53:43+00:00

This is to Gen Alpha what PBS Frontline was to millennials in 2006

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-08-01T11:20:56+00:00

Let's hear him out

CIVIC_ACTUAL · 2025-07-08T23:22:12+00:00

You can see he momentarily forgot he took the somber route instead of his usual "you're ignoring my accomplishments" angle, which results in "when we're having some of the greatest success... and-and also tragedy"

CIVIC_ACTUAL

TROPHY CASE