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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: William Clarke

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues harmonica player William Clarke. Enjoy!

^{William Clarke - Pawnshop Bound}

"Since no one really knows anything about God, those who think they do are just troublemakers."

-- Rabia Basri

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News and Opinion

The US Empire Deliberately Stokes Hatred And Violence In The Middle East

I sometimes see people expressing bafflement that the US would back a genocide in the middle east knowing that it will radicalize the region against them, mistakenly thinking this goes against US strategic goals.

And I always want to say to them, uh, have you been asleep the last quarter century? Have you not seen how the US empire uses the radicalism caused by its military violence in the middle east to justify more military expansionism in the region, leading to more military violence?

That’s what the so-called “war on terror” has been about since 9/11. The data unmistakably shows that US-led military interventionism in the middle east in the name of fighting “terrorism” actually leads more people to join US-designated terrorist organizations and commit more terrorist attacks, because nothing will radicalize you against the US and its allies like watching them murder and displace your loved ones right in front of you. But the interventionism continues anyway. Why? Because the resource-rich middle east is a crucial geostrategic region for planetary domination, and the US empire wants to have an expanded military presence there.

It’s actually a brilliant self-reinforcing scam. It works like this:

Step 1: Murder people in the middle east in the name of fighting “terrorism”.

Step 2: This causes people to hate you and your allies and to want to retaliate with violence.

Step 3: Designate these people “terrorists”.

Step 4: Send more war machinery to the region to go fight “terrorism”.

Step 5: Murder more people in the middle east in the name of fighting “terrorism”.

Do you see how this cycle would repeat over and over again, leading to more and more US military expansionism in the middle east? That’s exactly what we’ve been seeing, and it’s exactly what the US empire wants.

Why do you think the US empire spends so much energy propping up dictatorships throughout the middle east, despite claiming to support democracy? It’s so that they can impose their will on the region without any meaningful consequences in terms of geostrategic control. They can freely rain military explosives upon west Asia without losing allies and partners, and all that will happen is a bunch of radicalized hatred throughout the general public, which they desire anyway.

If the oil-rich nations in the middle east ever had democratic rule, their governments would quickly move away from their official and unofficial alliances and partnerships with the United States and Israel, and would in all likelihood form their own powerful bloc in support of their own interests. Because the empire helps suppress the will of the people in that region by installing and supporting dictators instead, the only recourse some people feel they have to see their will enacted in that direction is the non-state violence known as “terrorism”.

Someday there will be a large-scale violent attack on the US in retaliation for its genocide in Gaza, and the response from the US will with absolute certainty be more military expansionism in the middle east. This all suits the US empire managers perfectly fine. They want it, and they actively work to make it happen.

The US-centralized empire makes the world more hateful, more violent, more dangerous and more abusive. Humanity cannot know peace until this globe-dominating power structure has been cast into the dustbin of history.

IDF Confirms FRIENDLY-FIRE Casualties, US-Built Aid Relief PIER Ready For Use

Israel war cabinet split looms as defence minister demands post-war Gaza plan

A long-festering split at the heart of Israel’s war cabinet has burst into the open with the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, challenging the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to come up with plans for the “day after” the war in Gaza, and saying he would not permit any solution where Israeli military or civil governance were in the territory.

Gallant’s comments, immediately backed by his fellow minister Benny Gantz, plunged Israel’s leadership into a highly public row, in the midst of the Gaza conflict, raising immediate speculation over his future in the Israeli government and of Netanyahu’s fractious coalition.

In uncompromising remarks, Gallant – whose firing last year by Netanyahu triggered mass protests, a political crisis and an eventual reversal by the PM – publicly demanded that Netanyahu describe plans for a “day-after plan” for Gaza. Gallant’s comments provoked an immediate political row, with Netanyahu pushing back rapidly with a videotaped statement and a call from the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, for Gallant to be replaced. ...

Gallant’s comments come after months of tension between the two men and recent reports in the Hebrew media that senior IDF officers had become concerned that the lack of an alternative to Hamas was forcing the IDF to return and fight in areas where they claimed Hamas had already been defeated, including northern Gaza, which has seen heavy fighting this week.

“As early as October 7, the military establishment said that it was necessary to work towards finding an alternative to Hamas,” Gallant said, adding, “the end of the military campaign is a political decision. The day after Hamas will only be achieved by actors who replace Hamas. This is first and foremost an Israeli interest.”

Bibi Gov COLLAPSING Over Gaza Military Failure

Hezbollah Launches Deepest Drone Strike in Israel Since War Began

Israel and Hezbollah carried out tit-for-tat airstrikes throughout Wednesday. Scores of Hezbollah missiles were fired at northern Israel and a drone strike against a military site near Golani Junction hit some 21 miles from the border.

Israeli military reported damage but no injuries from the explosives-laden drone, but more noteworthy is the fact this is the deepest strike into Israeli territory since the current war began in October.

Most Hezbollah strikes against Israel have been to within 9.3 miles of the border. Showing a capacity to strike this much deeper into Israel means many sites, previously thought relatively safe, are within range of attack.

Human Rights Watch: Israeli Forces Attack Known Aid Worker Locations in Gaza

Israeli Human Rights Lawyer Attacked While Documenting Settler Raid on Gaza Aid Convoy

Half a million Palestinians forced to flee latest Israeli military attacks

More than half a million Palestinians have been forced to flee the southern city of Rafah and areas of northern Gaza over the past week, according to the UN, as the Israeli military dramatically escalates its war of extermination.

The UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) reported that around 450,000 people have been driven out of Rafah—a city whose population had been swollen to 1.3 million by a huge influx of people escaping the Israeli military onslaught elsewhere in Gaza.

In a Twitter/X post yesterday, the UNRWA underscored the desperate situation facing men, women, and children who have been pushed from one war zone to another. “People face constant exhaustion, hunger, and fear. Nowhere is safe. An immediate #ceasefire is the only hope,” it declared.

Israeli forces have seized control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and blocked the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, effectively cutting off aid convoys into southern Gaza. No food has entered via these crossings over the past week, and only a trickle is coming into Gaza via newly opened crossings in the north.

According to the UN, some 1.1 million Palestinians face catastrophic levels of hunger—that is, they are on the brink of starvation. Last week, the head of the UN World Food Program (WFP) Cindy McCain confirmed that northern Gaza had already entered a full-blown famine as judged by an extreme lack of food, acute malnutrition among children, and daily deaths from hunger. Now the Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for northern Gaza, where it has renewed operations in areas that it had previously claimed to have cleared. UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Monday that at least 100,000 people have been forced to leave so far. In other words, in the last week alone, more than half a million people, nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, have been displaced.

Israeli Settlers BEAT Palestinian On 'Suspicion' Of Delivering Aid

Joe Biden has done more than arm Israel. Leaked documents reveal his own officials see him as complicit in Gaza’s devastating famine

President Joe Biden and his administration have been accused of being complicit in enabling a famine in Gaza by failing to sufficiently act on repeated warnings from their own experts and aid agencies.

Interviews with current and former US Agency for International Development (USAID) and State Department officials, aid agencies working in Gaza and internal USAID documents reveal that the administration rejected or ignored pleas to use its leverage to persuade its ally Israel – the recipient of billions of dollars of US military support – to allow sufficient humanitarian aid into Gaza to stop the famine taking hold.

The former officials say the US also provided diplomatic cover for Israel to create the conditions for famine by blocking international efforts to bring about a ceasefire or alleviate the crisis, making the delivery of aid almost impossible.

“This is not just turning a blind eye to the man-made starvation of an entire population, it is direct complicity,” former State Department official Josh Paul, who resigned over US support for the war, told The Independent. ... From the time of the first warning signs in December, intensive US pressure on Israel to open more land crossings and flood Gaza with aid could have stopped the crisis taking hold, the officials said. But Mr Biden refused to make US military aid to Israel conditional.

Instead, the Biden government pursued novel and ineffective aid solutions such as airdrops and a floating pier. Now, some 300,000 people in Gaza’s north are experiencing a “full-blown” famine, according to the World Food Programme, and the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger.

Max Blumenthal : The Occupation Comes Home

Israel and Egypt in growing diplomatic row over Rafah border crossing

Israel and Egypt are embroiled in a growing diplomatic row over the Rafah border crossing after Israel’s takeover of the Gaza side of the crossing, amid warnings Cairo may be planning to downgrade relations. In recent days Egypt has announced it will no longer participate in allowing the transit of aid into Gaza and said it planned to join the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel at the UN’s top court.

Israel’s largest Arab neighbour has been growing increasingly angry over its conduct in the Gaza war, which has brought relations to a point of friction unprecedented since a peace treaty signed in 1979.

The Rafah crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza has been a vital route for aid to the coastal territory, where a humanitarian crisis has deepened and some people are at risk of famine. On 7 May Israel seized control of the crossing as it stepped up its military campaign around Rafah. Since then aid has accumulated on the Egyptian side.

Israel said it was up to Egypt to reopen the crossing and allow humanitarian relief into Gaza, prompting Cairo to denounce what it described as “desperate attempts” to shift blame for the blockage of aid. Israel’s capture of the crossing is widely seen as being in breach of the Philadelphi accord, which was added to the Israel-Egypt peace treaty in 2005 after the evacuation of Israeli settlements in Gaza and was designed to regulate the border between Gaza and Egypt.

Prior to Israel’s takeover of the crossing, Egyptian officials warned publicly that any such move was a red line that would put the peace treaty at risk.

Aaron Maté : What Freedom of Speech?

1st Jewish Biden Appointee to Resign Over Gaza Quits on Nakba Day

Lily Greenberg Call, a special assistant to the chief of staff in the Department of the Interior, became the first Jewish political appointee to resign her post in protest of U.S. President Joe Biden's support for Israel's genocide in Gaza.

Call announced her resignation on Wednesday, which is also the 76th anniversary of the Nakba—or the expulsion of the majority of Palestinians from their homes in 1948 as part of the process of creating the current state of Israel.

"Nakba and Shoah, the Hebrew word for Holocaust, mean the same thing: catastrophe," Call wrote in her letter. "I reject the premise that one people's salvation must come at another's destruction. I am committed to creating a world where this does not happen—and this cannot be done from within the Biden administration."

In her letter, addressed to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Call said that she had worked for both Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign in 2019 and Biden's in 2020 and was "thrilled" to accept a position at DOI.

"I joined the Biden administration because I believe in fighting for a better America, for a future where Americans can thrive: one with economic prosperity, a healthy planet, and equal rights for all people," she wrote.

However, that changed with Biden's financial, military, and political backing of Israel's war on Gaza.

"I can no longer in good conscience continue to represent this administration amid President Biden's disastrous, continued support for Israel's genocide in Gaza," she wrote.

Call spoke of her Jewish immigrant heritage and how her family story—moving from grandparents without college degrees to a granddaughter with a presidential appointment—represented the American dream.

"And yet, I have asked myself many times over the last eight months: What is the point of having power if you will not use it to stop crimes against humanity?" she wrote.

Call also spoke of how her Jewish faith and lifelong experience in the Jewish community informed her decision.

"What I have learned from my Jewish tradition is that every life is precious. That we are obligated to stand up for those facing violence and oppression, and to question authority in the face of injustice," she said.

In a separate interview with The Associated Press, she criticized Biden for "making Jews the face of the American war machine," adding that this was "deeply wrong."

Much more info at the link:

Anti-Defamation League ramps up lobbying to promote controversial definition of antisemitism

The Anti-Defamation League has spent record amounts on lobbying in recent years, including on bills opponents say are meant to punish criticism of Israel and target Jewish peace and Palestinian rights groups.

The Jewish civil rights organization, founded in 1913, is the self-described “leading anti-hate organization in the world”, and has historically focused on combating antisemitism by shaping public opinion. Its lobbying spike marks a dramatic shift – it spent about $100,000 on lobbying in 2020 and is on pace to spend nearly $1.6m this year based on its first quarter expenditures, a Guardian analysis of federal records finds.

The spending positions the ADL as the largest pro-Israel lobbying force on domestic issues. Records show the surge’s broader aim is to promoting a controversial definition of antisemitism across a range of federal agencies and mobilizing the government to enforce it. The 16-fold spending increase is “breathtaking” and currently unmatched on Capitol Hill, said Craig Holman, who monitors lobbying issues with Public Citizen, a government watchdog non-profit that does not take positions on the Israel-Palestine debate. It comes amid a “fundamental shift in public opinion about Israel”, Holman said, pointing to nationwide anti-war demonstrations on college campuses.

In a statement, the ADL denied that its lobbying targeted its opponents. It developed its “vast legislative agenda” in response to synagogue shootings and other violent incidents, and the organization “made a strategic decision to invest in its policy apparatus which has culminated in more robust government relations capabilities”, a spokesperson said.

The House in late April approved the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which the ADL lobbied for and would codify a definition of antisemitism that would limit some speech around Israel. It would be used in federal civil rights investigations in schools and, critics say, could ultimately limit protests and criticism of Israel on campus. The bill has yet to come before the Senate for a vote.

Ukraine’s troops withdraw from parts of north-east as pressure mounts

Ukraine’s troops have withdrawn from several areas of the country’s north-east amid mounting pressure from a new Russian offensive, as the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, postponed all foreign trips underscoring the seriousness of the threat.

The moves came as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Moscow’s latest operation was “going to plan” and Russian forces were improving their positions daily even as the US rushed to resupply arms and ammunition to Kyiv.

Ukrainian military said late on Tuesday that troops fell back from areas in Lukyantsi and Vovchansk near Kharkiv “to save the lives of our servicemen and avoid losses”.

Moscow launched a surprise major ground assault on the Kharkiv region last week as it sought to advance while Kyiv is struggling for arms and manpower.

Zelensky Admits Kharkov Crisis, Rus Kherson Return; Putin Meets Xi, Unveils Rus Industrialisation

Slovakia prime minister Robert Fico has surgery after being shot in assassination attempt

Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, has been left with life-threatening injuries after an assassination attempt that has prompted warnings across Europe of rising political violence. Video captured on Wednesday appeared to show the moment five shots were fired at Fico, 59, as he shook hands with a small group of supporters in the town of Handlová, about 90 miles (150km) north-east of the capital. ...

Late on Wednesday the deputy prime minister, Tomas Taraba, told the BBC he believed the operation had gone well. “I guess in the end he will survive,” Taraba said, adding: “He’s not in a life-threatening situation at this moment.” ...

A suspect was in custody, the country’s president said in a televised statement. Local reports later identified the alleged gunman as Juraj C, a 71-year-old writer and poet from Levice, south-central Slovakia, who had spoken on YouTube of his desire to form a political movement.

A video posted online appeared to show the alleged shooter in detention saying that he did not agree with the government’s policies, particularly what he described as the “liquidation” of the media.

Fico, a veteran populist politician, returned to power in Slovakia after elections last year, his success fuelled in part by promises to halt military aid to Ukraine, criticisms of sanctions targeting Russia, and campaigns against LGBTQ+ rights. The first months of his return have proved tense and polarising, with thousands repeatedly taking to streets across the country to protest against government plans, including a media overhaul that critics have warned will imperil freedom of the press.

US inflation at 3.4% in April, dropping slightly from previous month

Inflation across the US eased slightly last month as concerns about the cost of living loomed over the battle between Joe Biden and Donald Trump for the White House.

The closely watched consumer price index (CPI) rose at an annual rate of 3.4% in April, down from an annual pace of 3.5% the previous month.

The White House released a low-key statement after the figures were released. “Fighting inflation and lowering costs is my top economic priority,” said Biden. “I know many families are struggling, and that even though we’ve made progress we have a lot more to do.”

Policymakers have been surprised by stubborn price growth, which they hope to bring down to 2%.

The Federal Reserve has pushed interest rates to a two-decade high to tamp down inflation and had been expected to start cutting them this year. But price gains have remained higher than the central bank’s target and hopes of a rate cut have faded.

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Louisiana must use House map with second mostly Black district, US supreme court rules

The US supreme court on Wednesday ordered Louisiana to hold congressional elections in 2024 using a House map with a second mostly Black district, despite a lower-court ruling that called the map an illegal racial gerrymander.

The order allows the use of a map that has majority Black populations in two of the state’s six congressional districts, potentially boosting Democrats’ chances of gaining control of the closely divided House of Representatives in the 2024 elections.

The justices acted on emergency appeals filed by the state’s top Republican elected officials and Black voters who said they needed the high court’s intervention to avoid confusion as the elections approach. About a third of Louisiana is Black. ...

Louisiana lawmakers were forced to add a second majority-Black district last year after a federal judge said the map they drew violated the Voting Rights Act. The state approved a map, but then non-white voters challenged it in court, saying lawmakers relied too much on race when drawing it. Lower federal courts agreed the map should be struck down, and the state said it should not be required to use the map for this year’s elections.

The supreme court’s order on Wednesday halts that argument and means the map with a second majority-Black district will be used for this year’s election. What happens after that is unclear.

Shocking Turn Out For Trump In New Jersey!

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Herd of 170 bison could help store CO2 equivalent of almost 2m cars, researchers say

A herd of 170 bison reintroduced to Romania’s Țarcu mountains could help store CO2 emissions equivalent to removing almost 2m cars from the road for a year, research has found, demonstrating how the animals help mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis.

European bison disappeared from Romania more than 200 years ago, but Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania reintroduced the species to the southern Carpathian mountains in 2014. Since then, more than 100 bison have been given new homes in the Țarcu mountains, growing to more than 170 animals today, one of the largest free-roaming populations in Europe. The landscape holds the potential for 350-450 bison.

The latest research, which has not been peer-reviewed, used a new model developed by scientists at the Yale School of the Environment and funded by the Global Rewilding Alliance. It calculates the additional amount of atmospheric CO2 that wildlife species help to capture and store in soils through their interactions within ecosystems. The European bison herd grazing in an area of nearly 50 sq km of grasslands within the wider Țarcu mountains, was found to potentially capture an additional 2m tonnes of carbon a year. That is nearly 9.8 times more than without the bison – although the report authors noted the 9.8 figure could be up to 55% higher or lower, given the uncertainty around the median estimate. This corresponds to the yearly CO2 emissions of 1.88m average US petrol cars.

Prof Oswald Schmitz of the Yale School of the Environment in Connecticut in the US, who was the lead author of the report, said: “Bison influence grassland and forest ecosystems by grazing grasslands evenly, recycling nutrients to fertilise the soil and all of its life, dispersing seeds to enrich the ecosystem, and compacting the soil to prevent stored carbon from being released. “These creatures evolved for millions of years with grassland and forest ecosystems, and their removal, especially where grasslands have been ploughed up, has led to the release of vast amounts of carbon. Restoring these ecosystems can bring back balance, and ‘rewilded’ bison are some of the climate heroes that can help achieve this.”

200+ Groups to Congress: Stop 'Zombie' Funding for Fossil Fuels on Public Lands

More than 200 environmental and climate advocacy groups sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday demanding that lawmakers stop funding the extraction of fossil fuels on public lands and waters.

The letter argues that Congress' annual approval of taxpayer funds to subsidize oil and gas drilling and coal mining "undermine" the international agreement reached at the United Nations COP28 climate conference last year on the need for "transitioning away from fossil fuels."

"Congress has coddled the fossil fuel industry for decades, scarring millions of acres of public lands in the process," Ashley Nunes, public lands policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. "It's past time our leaders take this simple step and stop funding activities that are completely at odds with protecting our climate."

The Center for Biological Diversity was one of 234 groups behind the letter, which was addressed to Senate Appropriations Chair Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Appropriations Vice Chair Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.), House Appropriations Chair Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and House Appropriations Ranking Member Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). Specifically, the letter asks that the lawmakers "zero out funding for all fossil fuel extraction on public lands and offshore waters" in the Department of the Interior's budget for the coming fiscal year.

"Despite the urgency of the climate crisis, year after year, and regardless of the which political party retains control of Congress, Congress continues to direct the Department of the Interior to authorize fossil fuel extraction on our public lands and oceans," the letter states. "This zombie funding continues despite its harmful and lasting impacts to tribal nations, frontline communities, and other groups, as well as its harm to public health, public lands, the climate, and wildlife populations."

The FY 2024 budget, for example, directed more than $160 million toward fossil fuel management on public lands and waters. The amount earmarked for oil and gas management on public lands alone jumped by almost 90% from 2016 to 2023, from $59.7 million to $112.9 million.

Despite calling the climate crisis an "existential threat," U.S. President Joe Biden has approved almost 10,000 permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in three years, a similar rate to his predecessors and more in his first two years than former President Donald Trump. Under Biden's watch, the U.S. became the leading producer of oil both in the world and in human history. The groups who signed the letter attributed this in part to Congress' "status quo funding" of fossil fuel programs on public lands.

The letter comes as humanity just sweltered through its hottest year on record, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels made a record jump, and a vast majority of top climate scientists recently surveyed said they predicted 2.5°C of warming by 2100, largely because of a lack of "political will" to phase out fossil fuels and embrace the renewable energy transition.

Indeed, the latest Production Gap analysis concludes that governments' plans through 2030 would produce more than twice the amount of fossil fuels that would be compatible with limiting global heating to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.

"Climate scientists around the world are pleading for change, but Congress continues to let fossil fuel polluters run wild on our public lands," Nunes said. "Every year that Congress keeps supporting status quo drilling on public lands and offshore waters is a missed opportunity that locks us into a hotter and more dangerous future."

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Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

On Israel, student courage exposes elite cowardice

'Most Thorough Legal Analysis' Yet Concludes Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza

US Wars Are Making Türkiye’s Relationship With the West Politically Untenable

The Arsenal of Genocide: The U.S. Weapons That Are Destroying Gaza

Patrick Lawrence: Ðiên Biên Phú at 70

Labour begins candidate selection for Jeremy Corbyn’s Islington North seat

Manahahtáanung or Manhattan? Tribal representatives call for apology for Dutch settlement of New York

Violent Pro-Israel Counter-Protester At UCLA CAUGHT ON CAMERA Beating Student

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A Little Night Music

William Clarke – She's Dynamite

William Clarke – Drinkin Beer

William Clarke – Five Card Hand

William Clarke - Must Be Jelly

William Clarke – Let's Celebrate Life

William Clarke – Can't You Hear Me Calling

William Clarke – Trying To Stretch My Money

William Clarke – Evil

William Clarke – Give Me Mine Now

William Clarke – Blowin' The Family Jewels

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