Welcome to The Cameron Journal Newsletter. Each week, Cameron Lee Cowan wraps up the headlines with commentary, helping you navigate today’s media narratives, how they are affecting our Culture, Lifestyle, and Society.
Update from Cameron
It’s so chilly and rainy out but the green buds of spring have sprung! It’s always exciting to get the green things back in our lives after a winter of brown and snow. And I knew it was going to rain yesterday because I washed my car for the first time in months and I got to enjoy it being spot free for exactly 24 hours.
I just finalized the details for Cameron Journal Salons and registration is now open (more on that below).
However, the big thing on my mind right now is the live show I just did with That Intel Guy from Tik Tok. He posted a video recently where he said that we were in a cold war with China. I was confused immediately because it doesn’t look like much of a cold war from this vantage point. I’ve had him on the show before and so I reached out to him and today we did a full hour on the cold war with China and we talk about everything (and I do mean everything). The big takeaway from the conversation is that the Trump administration is countering and boxing in China and it relates to immigration policy, propaganda, demographics, Iran and more. It all has to do with China. My mind was completely blown away. I’m still processing but do check out the live video on Youtube.
Let’s dive into the headlines!
Cameron Journal Salons
I also want to mention that my new series for Cameron Journal Salons will begin on May 7, 2026 with an evening with me and some guests (more on that soon). David Beckemeyer will be joining along with Terry Whalin, Barry Maher, and Michelle Stiles.
This is a private event, it will not be openly streamed, you’ll need to sign up for it. This first one is free to subscribers of The Cameron Journal Newsletter and Registration is now OPEN!
Join CameronJournal+
If you love these newsletters and want to support my work breaking down news narratives at The Cameron Journal, please consider signing up for CameronJournal+. You can also upgrade your Substack subscription to Paid and get ad free newsletters!
You will get exclusive content for CJ+ subscribers
Access to our Discord, and special hangouts with me
Ad-free newsletters
Special Event Discounts (Like CJ Salons!)
It’s the coolest club in town! Don’t want to subscribe but want to support? I take donations at Kofi.
Travel that tells its own story
Turn travel time into discovery time. Autio transforms travel with location-based audio stories that automatically reveal the secrets beneath your feet.
🎙️ 23,000+ narratives voiced by Kevin Costner and other legends
🌏 Works across America, Europe, and beyond—even offline
🙌 Hands-free discovery on road trips, hikes, and urban adventures
✅ First five stories free when you download
Every place has a story. Now every story has a place.
Download Autio here and start listening for free
The News Narratives of the Week
Don’t forget to join me on Monday for The Cameron Journal Newshour
The Pope is Too Nice?
It is no secret that Pope Leo XIV has spoken out against the war in Iran and this week the conservative Manhattan Institute posted an article speaking out against the latest statements from the world’s first American pope. In light of the recent “threats” against the Holy See which we covered last week, it appears that the broader conservative movement is drawing a line against the largest Christian church in the world.
And I’m going to let them speak for themselves and then I’ll comment, “Pope Leo would do well to engage these authoritative voices, and the broader Christian tradition, on questions of war and peace. He is right to call human beings to the ‘better angels of their nature’ and to warn against hatred, rash recourse to war, and the lust for conquest. In doing so, he fulfills his responsibility as Vicar of Christ to remind us of ‘the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.’ But his tendency to conflate Christianity with a kind of functional pacifism marks a departure from older Christian wisdom. In thinking about war and peace, one must remember that the prudence of citizens and statesmen—guided by right reason and the moral law—remains the proper locus of judgment in political life. Invocations of the Gospel cannot substitute for the exercise of that moral and civic responsibility.”
Before this impactful suggestion, the article also mentions the lack of statements about the killings of Christians in Nigeria, Algeria and elsewhere and that should be the focus of the Pope rather than standing opposed to the US war against Iran.
I look at it this way: the Pope always calls for peace in almost every situation. The Catholic church hasn’t been pro-war in centuries. The calls for peace are normal, however, I think Pope Leo has struck a nerve because he’s American and because of the right-wing alignment with religion in general. While evangelicals are looking for a rapture and the end times (of which this Iran war is a part) the Catholic Church does not share that doctrine or that stance. This is an organization that funds Catholic Charities which does life-saving work everyday and historically, catholic voters have tended to be more liberal than conservative (although abortion was always a sticking point). Both US Presidents who were/are Catholic were both Democrats (Kennedy and Biden). If Hegseth, Trump and the gang thought the Catholic church was going to back up their war, they should have read a history book, which of course, they did not do.
Southern Poverty Law Center Targeted
This week Kash Patel and the DoJ have filed an 11 count indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center charging them with misleading donors about their activities which include paying informants (funding hate is how Patel put it) of hate groups and other racist organizations to the tune of millions. They’ve billed as using donor dollars to funding hate groups but the reality is that they are the greatest source of intelligence on these groups due to paying these informants. The activity has been going on for decades with full knowledge of the FBI. You can read the official filing here. According to the government, the SPLC is manufacturing hate and racism so it continues to exist and so they have a reason to exist.
As if, somehow, without these modest funds, racism would just disappear and the hate groups along with them. That’s not true and this is a topic that I started covering at the very beginning of my journalistic career. I’ve written before about my interactions with that world. I’m not going to mention anything specific because I don’t want to trigger attention at this time but if you want to know more about that reply to this email (if you’re on Substack) or write into me at [email protected] and I’ll send along some info.
This is a hit job if I ever saw one. Mike Young has great reporting out about how the DoJ just asked a federal court to erase the seditious conspiracy charges of leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, two organizations that had been watched by the SPLC. And now, instead, they are going after the SPLC. The pattern and sequence is clear. The goal is not to convict the SPLC but merely to drain them dry through the court system so that they collapse and groups like the KKK, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers can continue their activities without being watched. Oh and did I mention the grand jury they used for this is in Alabama? That’s just insult to injury.
Viral MAGA Girls
This week we found out in a WIRED story that a young Indian man, who wanted to pay for medical school, decided to use social media to make the money he would need to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor. He setup a few “hot girl” profiles using AI for pictures and content but didn’t get much traction at first. So he saw that MAGA content seemed to do well so he made one of his accounts MAGA themed. “Christ is King” and “Abortion is Murder” plus pro-Hitler and pro-Nazi content was thrown together with a hot AI girl and he had a big hit on this hands. Needless to say, his medical school is paid for and his family is now doing very well for themselves.
You might be wondering, “well why didn’t he do a left-wing version?” He did, he tried, no one fell for it and it did not work. There was just no response. He remarked that, “The MAGA crowd is made up of dumb people – like, super dumb people. And they fall for it.”
Why didn’t the lefty version work? Apparently, we liberals are really good at seeing through AI slop and keep scrolling with a sigh about how the internet sucks now. Which is quite interesting. The comment section in the twitter posts about this are as you expect they would be (toxic) but there’s two interesting stories here and one is about human behavior and the other is about AI slop content.
The human behavior aspect doesn’t bother me, the left has its favorites but they usually have a different look than a plain, blonde white girl. But let’s also think about the average internet comment section and who is consuming this content. It tells me that at some level, some people don’t care if it’s AI. Either they don’t know or they don’t care but either way, if the content is resonate, they will click and share, especially older people. I think the bigger story is the second point and that is how AI slop content is already shifting narratives and shifting perspective in online discussion. And that should terrify everyone. Public opinion is a finicky thing. The right video at the right time could cause outrage, protests, and violence and it could have come from someone who just wanted the cash. We’re already seeing this in the world and it’s only going to get worse. I think it is funny that liberals didn’t respond to that particular kind of content (do we need white girls for Kamala? We have those) but I also think that AI withers under basic critical thinking and when it is presented to people who aren’t thinking about what they are seeing online, that puts them in a vulnerable position for manipulation from anybody with an agenda or a needy pocketbook.
Articles of Interest
Keep up with The Cameron Journal Podcast and The Living Joke
The Interview:
The Cameron Journal Newshour:
The Living Joke:
The World is Hard, This is Not
If you’re new here, my name is Cameron Lee Cowan M.A. MFA, and I’m the Creative Director here at The Cameron Journal. You can learn more about me on the about page. I do research and commentary on politics, culture, and the world around us.
Each week I send out the latest news narratives, the latest videos from The Cameron Journal and commentary about the week’s events.
If you’d like to explore what The Cameron Journal can do for you beyond the news, just reply to this newsletter and we’ll connect you to the team.
Do feel free to write into us at [email protected]
Remember, The World is Hard, This is Not.
Discover more from The Cameron Journal
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
