As those who follow my threads here know, I've been asking folks to help support the Salon of Authentic Journalism. Info on that in the comments. This is the kind of work it makes possible because it helps me, in particular, to assemble pieces of the puzzle. So, please donate if you can.

This is a long podcast hosted by a young online personality who is a vet. This show isn't about conspiracy theories. It's about "conspiracies" proven. He dug deep on some heavy issues facing our nation focused through the prism of the war for drugs and my latest book, TheGreatPretense.org.

He's way underwater in every category measured. Who does this dude represent? It certainly isn't the vast majority of Americans. That isn't democracy. It's the few oppressing the many. We can reverse that corrupt usurpation of power in November. By taking back our country at the polls.. From WaPo

This is a great team working to bring true unfiltered journalism to all of us. Feel free to safely donate. I've known @bconroy.bsky.social for over 10 yrs.

Ben Bartlett and Geoffrey Mark of Still Toking Productions interviewed me about the drug war, journalism and my new book, "The Great Pretense." I enjoyed the conversation with these folks, based in Plymouth, Mass. It was like having a backyard talk over a few beers.

A question on the Comey indictment over the seashell art he photographed. Why haven't they indicted the person who laid the shells? Surely they tracked the person down, given DOJ spent more than a year investigating the case. Right? This is an abuse of power. That's the real crime here.

The late Mario Menéndez, founder of Mexico’s Por Esto! newspaper, practiced a journalism that sought to empower and tell the stories of those facing injustice, that walked the same streets with them. He coined a term for it: authentic journalism. To advance that vision, we need your support.

Corruption in the U.S. meets exploitive mining by cartels. NYT We hadn’t come to La Mandinga to report on the military base. We came because we had learned that Clan del Golfo gold was making its way to the U.S. Mint, despite laws requiring the Mint to buy only gold mined in the United States.

The CIA operating covertly as part of the Chihuahua state police is history repeated. Evo Morales kicked DEA out of Bolivia in 2008, claiming the US used the drug war to manipulate and overthrow governments. He was right but the real culprit is CIA, not DEA. Read all about it: TheGreatPretense.org

This is a great satire piece. Because that's my biggest question, too. How does a black man armed to the teeth charging through a hotel filled with cops and Secret Service agents and intent on harming Trump and his liquor cabinet, emerge still alive, unscathed. That just doesn't happen in America.

Now, for those who doubt the CIA violated Mexican sovereignty by embedding agents inside state police in Chihuahua, absent the knowledge of that nation's federal government or president, well some history is in order. TheGreatPretense.org

In the past, when U.S. forces were sent into Mexico for joint "training," operations, it has been with highly trained and vetted Mexican forces, such as the Marines. The Chihuahua state cops are not that.

The news of 2 CIA employees dying in Mexico is sending a lightening bolt through the Mexican body politic. But CIA has long operated in Latin America, including Mexico. Its specialty: regime change, often under the pretense of the drug war. From my new book, found here: TheGreatPretense.org

The LA Times pulls back more of the curtain on recent CIA ops in Chihuahua, Mexico, and the death of 2 CIA employees that exposed the agency's covert ops in the Mexican state here: x.com/stevelfisher... If you want the bigger story on CIA and its war for drugs, check this out. TheGreatPretense.org

"Ms. Sheinbaum added Tuesday that the Americans were indeed “working alongside” Mexican authorities, and that if the ongoing investigation confirms that the C.I.A. officers were engaged in a joint operation, her government would send a formal reprimand to the U.S. government." (1

This is a long one folks, but it will read fast. If you want to understand where journalism has gone wrong, and how it can be fixed, read the piece. It's my point of view based off of 40 years in the newspaper business.

DEA has agents in Juárez. Why was CIA involved? Drones. Recall, CIA contractors crashed in Colombia in 2003 while hunting coca fields/drug labs. AP After locating the labs using drones, officials found tons of material to manufacture drugs but no people, who were likely alerted beforehand and fled.

Hey Virginia! TOMORROW, April 21, 6am–7pm, we get our chance to protect our state from the power grabs already destroying Texas, Florida, ＆ North Carolina. This amendment keeps things fair ＆ democratic everyone. Same-day registration available at polls. Vote YES! #VoteYesVirginia

The other "war" that has faded into the chaos. And yes, we're still siphoning oil from Venezuela and micro-managing their economy with no clear statutory authority to do so, and only opaqueness on where the money from oil sales is going, even as it cost taxpayers millions to maintain seized ships.

Filth is a strong word. But an apt description of the Epstein-protection racket running God and country now. WaPo Leo sharply condemned those “who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”

Trump met his match with Iran, a nation of 93 million. Mexico's population is 130M, including 1.6M US citizens, and our economies are intertwined. AP “We’ve seen the president raise her tone,” said Palmira Tapia, an analyst.. “There’s been a shift, and we’ve seen Sheinbaum be more vocal..”

TheGr

This is how you beat fascism back to the grave. You overwhelm it. And then push it into the grave it dug for itself.

Do we have a foreign policy anymore? Trump declares the Western Hemisphere the eminent domain of the US. As repulsive as that is, it is a foreign policy position. Then he declares a pointless war (for the U.S., not Russia or China) in the Eastern Hemisphere? Insanity isn't supposed to make sense.

What Trump did to the world tonight wasn't a negotiating tactic. It isn't even protected by our own 1st Amendment — shouting fire in a crowded theater. But it is how I imagine Al Capone acting after the syphilis began eating at his brain.

Tactical nukes. They've never been used. The way Trump is talking about Iran? Hope isn't enough here. ACC "While no consensus definition exists, non-strategic nuclear weapons, otherwise known as tactical nuclear weapons, are generally low-yield nuclear weapons designed for use on the battlefield."

This was a great interview by another journalist I respect greatly who also covers the drug war. José Olivares is the future of authentic journalism. We discussed my new book, The Great Pretense, but this interview also serves as a great reveal of the hidden story of the forever "war for drugs."

The focus now is on Iran. That's understandable. But the capture/rendition of Venezuelan President Maduro did not end the crisis in that nation, despite Trump's bluster and rhetoric. An excerpt from The Great Pretense: A Tour Through the Boneyards of the CIA's War for Drugs. TheGreatPretense.org

This is about the pilot just rescued in Iran. Trump claims disingenuously that Iranians only knew about the pilot from a media report. That kind of senility fails to address the obvious. The reason anyone in the press asked about a missing pilot is because the jet shot down has a 2-person crew.

He's taking a glory run around the bases after one home run rescue. But it's still the opening innings of the game. And he can't even make it around the bases without pausing for applause. Meanwhile, there's a war waging and the world economy is on the brink of collapse with the strait still closed.

Subs are an option for taking the Strait of Hormuz. Hard to hit a sub underwater with a drone. Still risky. Naval News The U.S. Navy has a larger submarine force than China. 68..compared to an estimated 66. This makes the U.S. Navy the second largest submarine force in the world, after North Korea.

Happy Easter. In this version, no one rises from the dead. WaPo "Let those who have weapons lay them down!” the first American pope declared. The White House’s war in Iran and nativist agenda at home are testing the Vatican.

If Iran finds them first, it gets ugly fast. This is a war of retaliatory war crimes. WaPo A U.S. fighter jet crashed in southern Iran, prompting a search and recovery mission for the two-person crew..marking the first known instance of an American aircraft going down inside hostile territory..

Good riddance.

This is for Wall Street, not Main Street. He doesn't see us. He sees oil, markets and poll numbers. NYT Multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed in recent days that Tehran is not willing to engage in serious negotiations, because it believes..Mr. Trump himself is not serious about talks..

No doubt there are far more abuses not investigated. AP At least two dozen [ICE] employees and contractors have been charged with crimes since 2020 and their wrongdoing includes patterns of physical and sexual abuse, corruption and other abuses of authority. (See video report below the kangaroo.)

No Kings Seattle. The march ended and a festival broke out! This is at City Center. It was a coincidence of planning. Separate events but synchronicity. It's Holi today, a Hindu celebration of love and colors.

How will we react when the weekly casualties number in the hundreds? A Trump crackdown vs. a social movement is brewing. We get stronger by showing up. NYT Two of the Americans were seriously wounded..in one of the most serious breaches of American defenses since the war began on Feb. 28.

The only realistic option now to just get back to where we were before Trump's testosterone war plan unfolded is to seize and permanently occupy the Iranian coastline at the Strait of Hormuz — at the cost of immense blood and treasure in an occupation lasting a decade or more. A forever war.

Ryan Hite is a MAGA broadcaster. He interviewed me yesterday about my coverage of the drug war and my latest book, "The Great Pretense: A Tour Through the CIA's War for Drugs." (thegreatpretense.org) What he had to say may surprise you. The Dems need a drug war message. It's an opportunity.

Accountability, even for tech bro clickbaiters preying on kids to pay for their rich boy toys.