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"Shortly, the public will be unable to reason or think for themselves. They'll only be able to parrot the information they've been given on the previous night's news."

-- Zbigniew Brzezinski

News and Opinion

More Escalations In Online Censorship

YouTube has been deleting videos disputing the US government narrative about Russian war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine, validating concerns we’ve discussed previously that Silicon Valley platforms would begin censoring anyone who challenges the authorized version of events in this war.

“By the way, my video ‘Bucha: More Lies’ has been deleted [by] YouTube’s censors,” reads a recent tweet by Gonzalo Lira.

“My stream last night on RBN was censored on Youtube after debunking the Bucha Massacre narrative,” Revolutionary Blackout Network reports.

It would seem that this clears up what YouTube meant when it said last month, “Our Community Guidelines prohibit content denying, minimizing or trivializing well-documented violent events. We are now removing content about Russia’s invasion in Ukraine that violates this policy.”

There has as yet been no investigation into what happened in Bucha by any international body and there are plenty of arguments to be made questioning aspects of the Official Story that westerners are being aggressively force fed by the narrative control machine of the US-centralized empire. Which would mean that YouTube is defining “well-documented” as “unproven assertions by the US government.”

YouTube is also demonetizing content that is more broadly critical of the US/NATO/Ukraine side of the war.

“Due to the war in Ukraine, we will pause monetization of content that exploits, dismisses, or condones the war,” a notice that’s being sent to users reads. “This pause includes, but is not limited to, claims that imply victims are responsible for their own tragedy or similar instances of victim blaming, such as claims that Ukraine is committing genocide or deliberately attacking its own citizens.”

And can I just add here that as a survivor of rape and abuse it makes me want to scream my fucking throat out to see phrases like “victim blaming” used to suppress speech criticizing the unipolarist geostrategic agendas of the most powerful and destructive government on earth. It’s extremely obnoxious how common this disgusting power-serving line has become.

It’s probably also worth noting at this point that YouTube is owned by Google, which is a US military contractor and which has been inseparably intertwined with US intelligence agencies from its very inception.

The radius of what these government-tied oligarchic Silicon Valley megacorporations deem worthy of censorship has been getting wider and wider with every major news story: from eliminating Russian trolls, to thwarting domestic extremists, to protecting election integrity, to stopping Covid misinformation. Now they’re just openly saying they’re censoring those who disagree with the world’s most powerful government about a war. The excuses change from day to day, but the only constant is that we’re always told the solution is more internet censorship.

The Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch has also jumped aboard this latest censorship escalation, banning multiple accounts for voicing wrongthink about Ukraine in response to an inquiry by Financial Times as to why it’s permitting “pro-Kremlin falsehoods” on the platform. The Financial Times inquiry followed a report tattling on those accounts by the Soros and Omidyar-funded Tech Transparency Project.

Financial Times writes the following:

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Twitch said it would move to “prohibit harmful misinformation actors from using our service”. But a report from the Tech Transparency Project detailed multiple accounts pushing pro-Kremlin falsehoods, such as claims the invasion was “de-Nazifying” Ukraine and a Russian “special operation”. Other streams peddled falsehoods about “biolabs” being set up in the war-torn country.

Twitch banned several accounts cited in the report and was investigating several more, it said, after being presented with the findings on Wednesday.

Twitter, another massive platform with ties to the US government, has also seized the moment as an opportunity to ratchet up the censorship of empire critics. Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter has been banned from the platform for simply tweeting criticisms of the establishment Bucha narrative; his account was suspended for one such criticism, the suspension was reversed upon review by Twitter, and then his account was again shut down for another such criticism he’d made days earlier. Journalist Pepe Escobar, who has been openly sympathetic to the Russian side of the conflict, was banned for saying that Azov neo-Nazis would be be “disinfected” with a “certified highway to hell thermobaric flamethrower.”

This dramatic uptick in censorship of political speech is happening against the backdrop of Elon Musk’s shenanigans about potentially buying Twitter in full, which has sent mainstream liberals into a tizzy over fears that speech on the platform would become less restricted due to statements Musk has made about opposing online censorship. I have a hard time imagining that the richest man in the world would actually do anything to protect free speech, but the horror with which imperial narrative managers are reacting to the faintest hint of that possibility is very revealing:

I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter. He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.

— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) April 14, 2022

I might not necessarily agree with everything that’s been said by everyone who’s had their voices silenced in this latest ramp-up of online censorship, but I do strongly believe that only the worst and/or most deluded among us support their silencing. Under no possible framing is suppressing criticism of the mightiest power structure of all time a reasonable or acceptable thing to do.

I mean we’re already at a point here where the arguments for censorship don’t even make sense, when you look at them. When we were told people like Alex Jones and conspiracy circles like QAnon needed to be censored because they incite violence and harassment I didn’t agree with it, but at least the arguments about the need to prevent violence technically made sense. When we were told Covid skeptics need to be censored I didn’t agree with it, but at least the argument that people were dying as a result of being misinformed about a deadly virus technically made sense.

But what exactly is the argument for censoring wrongthink about the Ukraine war? Even if we pretend that everything they’re saying is 100% false and completely immoral, so what? What harm is being done? Does a Ukrainian drop dead every time someone says they don’t believe Russia committed war crimes in Bucha or Mariupol? Does Putin get magic murder powers if enough social media users say they support his war? Do liberal faces melt off their skulls if they accidentally see an RT headline?

Of course not. There’s no sensible argument that this new escalation in censorship is saving lives or that it’s being done for the good of the public. It’s being done to protect the interests of the powerful, plain and simple. It’s being done to prevent people from thinking unauthorized thoughts about a proxy war that was deliberately provoked to advance US strategic interests. And it’s being done to expand the radius of internet censorship for its own sake.

It’s not healthy to seek control over what people say and think. Free speech is important not because it makes people sad when they don’t get to say what they want, but because the free exchange of ideas and information is how we collectively bring awareness to problems, change minds, stir the zeitgeist, and, if necessary, organize mass resistance.

And that’s exactly why the powerful work to prevent the free exchange of ideas and information. If people are permitted to stand at the center of a digital public square and send an unauthorized idea or piece of information viral if it resonates with others, that is a direct threat to status quo power structures. It’s not about saving Ukrainians, ending Covid misinformation, preventing violence, or any of the other excuses they’ve been rolling out since 2016. It’s about censoring the internet.

The advent of the internet gave the powerful the ability to propagandize the public far more rapidly and efficiently than they previously could, but it also brought on the risk of a democratized information space where the public can collectively figure out together that they’re being subjected to tyranny and deceit and decide to put an end to it. Herding the public onto these giant monopolistic platforms that are working in greater and greater intimacy with the empire is how our rulers have chosen to address this dilemma.

The idea is to keep the vast propagandizing power of the internet open while forcing its democratizing power closed, thereby keeping the balance of power tilted far toward the empire managers while manipulating us into believing this is all happening for our own good. But that’s all it is: manipulation. Psychological manipulation at mass scale, for the benefit of the powerful. That’s all this has ever been.

Free Speech-Hating Liberals Attack Elon Musk

White House says “nothing will dissuade” US from arming Ukraine

On Friday morning, the Washington Post reported that Russia has submitted a formal diplomatic note, protesting the US transfer of billions of dollars in military hardware to Ukraine, and raising the prospect of Russian retaliation against US/NATO arms shipments. Russia’s diplomatic note accused the United States of “adding fuel” to the conflict and warned of “unpredictable consequences.” It said, “We call on the United States and its allies to stop the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, which implies unpredictable consequences for regional and international security.”

Responding to these statements, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price told CNN, “The Russians have said some things privately, they have said some things publicly; nothing will dissuade us from the strategy that we’ve embarked on.” Price said that if Russia is concerned that the White House is “providing billions of dollars worth of security assistance to our Ukrainian partners … then we’re guilty as charged.” ...

The Post also quoted George Beebe, former director of Russia analysis at the CIA and Russia adviser to former vice president Dick Cheney, as saying “They have targeted supply depots in Ukraine itself, where some of these supplies have been stored.” Beebe continued, “The real question is do they go beyond attempting to target [the weapons] on Ukrainian territory, try to hit the supply convoys themselves and perhaps the NATO countries on the Ukrainian periphery” through which US supplies are transferred.

Beebe warned that if Russia suffers further military setbacks, “then I think the chances that Russia targets NATO supplies on NATO territory go up considerably… There has been an assumption on the part of a lot of us in the West that we could supply the Ukrainians really without limits and not bear significant risk of retaliation from Russia… I think the Russians want to send a message here that that’s not true.”

Critics POUND Biden For Calling Russian War 'GENOCIDE'

From The Guardian's propaganda catapult:

Ukraine vows Mariupol troops will ‘fight to the end’ as surrender deadline passes

Ukraine has vowed that its forces will “fight to the end” in the besieged port city of Mariupol, after a Russian ultimatum for the remaining Ukrainian troops there to surrender expired.

Moscow is edging closer to full control of the city in what would be its biggest prize since it invaded Ukraine in February. “The city still has not fallen,” the prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said hours after Moscow’s deadline for fighters holed up and surrounded in a sprawling, fortress-like steelworks to surrender passed. “There’s still our military forces, our soldiers. So they will fight to the end,” he told ABC.

The fall of Mariupol, the largest trading port in the Sea of Azov – from which Ukraine exports grain, iron, steel and heavy machinery – would be an economic blow to Kyiv and a symbolic and strategic victory for Russia, connecting territory it holds in Donbas with the Crimea region it annexed in 2014. ...

Russia gave remaining Ukrainian soldiers a 6am Moscow time (3am GMT) deadline to lay down their arms and a 1pm (10am GMT) deadline to evacuate, which passed without any sign of compliance by Ukrainian fighters holed up in the smouldering Azovstal steelworks. ... “All those who will continue resistance will be destroyed,” a Russian defence ministry spokesperson said on Sunday, raising fears of further bloodshed. ...

Zelenskiy said that if Russian forces killed Kyiv’s troops remaining to defend the city, then a fledgling negotiation process to end nearly two months of fighting would be ended. “The destruction of all our guys in Mariupol – what they are doing now – can put an end to any format of negotiations,” he said.

Kim Iversen: Noam Chomsky BLASTED By Liberals For Anti-War Stance, EXPOSING The New Pro-War Left

More from The Guardian's propaganda catapult:

EU chief urges member states to give Ukraine weapons quickly

The president of the European Commission has urged member states to supply Ukraine with weapons systems “quickly” and suggested that a next round of EU sanctions could target Russia’s powerful Sberbank and include an embargo on Russian oil.

“It applies to all member states: those who can should deliver quickly, because only that way Ukraine can survive in its acute defensive battle against Russia,” Ursula von der Leyen told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Several European nations appear to be vacillating over the export of heavy weapons such as tanks or fighter jets, amid concerns that such a move could formally escalate the war in Ukraine into a direct conflict between Russia and Nato member states.

Von der Leyen urged European leaders not to delay decisions over category differences.

“I don’t distinguish between heavy and light weapons,” she said. “Ukraine has to get whatever it needs to defend itself and what it can handle.”

From the CNN propaganda catapult:

No short-term end in sight in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Western officials say

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told European allies that the United States believes the Russian war in Ukraine could last through the end of 2022, two European officials told CNN, as US and European officials have increasingly assessed that there is no short-term end in sight to the conflict.

Many of the officials who spoke with CNN stressed that it is hard to predict exactly how long the war could go on, but several officials said that there are no indications that Russian President Vladimir Putin's ultimate goals have changed, and it is unlikely he will pursue diplomatic negotiations unless faced with military defeat.

The thinking that this could be a long-term conflict represents a marked shift from the early days of the war, when Russia was expected to quickly take the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, and underscores Moscow's failures on the battlefield.

The longer the war goes on, the more brutal the humanitarian toll on the people of Ukraine. And while officials stressed there is likely to be continued international resolve to provide high levels of support to Ukraine, they acknowledged there may be very real practical challenges regarding weaponry that will need to be dealt with as the war wages on.

Russia, Ukraine, NATO, EU

Liberal Russophobia and War Propaganda

The city of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts prohibit discrimination based upon race, color, gender, disability, religion, and national origin. Such discrimination is prohibited by most cities, states, and the federal government as well. But one wouldn’t know that due to a plethora of discriminatory acts carried out against Russian nationals. The latest perpetrator is the Boston Athletic Association (BAA), which announced that citizens of Russia and Belarus who reside in those countries will be barred from participating in the Boston marathon taking place on April 18, 2022. The war in Ukraine, years of Russiagate hysteria, and corporate media demonization of Vladimir Putin and all Russians have led to this moment of dubious distinction.

The weaknesses of what passes for a left wing movement have been fully exposed ever since Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Of course many people who are called leftists and even those who consider themselves as such are in fact just liberals. They do not stand against imperialism as any leftist ought to do. The eight-year long U.S./NATO scheme to use Ukraine as a weapon against Russia should be universally condemned by anyone claiming to be in that cohort. Leftists can have principled disagreement about Putin’s decision, but they should not ignore the culpability of the U.S. and NATO and their support for the 2014 coup which overturned an election and put neo-Nazi groups in power.

Their confusion on Russia and Ukraine is emblematic of their confusion about so many other issues. The faux left are a highly problematic group, making common cause with the democratic party wing of the war party, and ignoring the war crimes committed by Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and now Joe Biden. Not only do they fail to ask, “What about?,” but they have no critique of the U.S. role which instigated this crisis. They say nothing about the U.S. and its NATO allies refusing to engage in negotiations which might end the suffering of the Ukrainian people they claim to care about so much. So deep is the rot that they say nothing about increasingly blatant and bizarre examples of Russophobia. Russian cats cannot enter international cat shows, a Russian singer was fired from the Metropolitan Opera when she refused to denounce her government, an orchestra canceled a festival featuring the music of Russian composer Tchaikovsky, and a tribute to space exploration removed the name of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin from the program.

It is tempting to snicker about the denial of recognition to Russian cats, but the lack of opposition to the Boston marathon action is shameful indeed. People who see themselves as enlightened, and even intellectually and morally superior to others are silent in the face of an obviously unfair and illegal act. ... Of course the BAA is not alone. Politicians, pundits and corporate media all tell us to “stand with Ukraine” and to call Putin a war criminal. American presidents are never connected to war crimes, even when they invade Iraq and kill thousands of people, destroy Libya and kill thousands of people, or enact sanctions and steal government assets that kill thousands of people. The war criminal category is only deemed appropriate for leaders the U.S. doesn’t like.

“Colonial Violence Is the Norm”: Israel Raids Al-Aqsa Mosque, Injuring 160+, Arresting Hundreds

Israeli Forces Accused of 'Barbaric Premeditated Attack' on Palestinian Worshipers

Israeli forces on Friday launched a raid on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, injuring more than 150 Palestinians as they gathered to worship on the second week of Ramadan.

Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, the director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque—one of Islam's holiest sites—told Middle East Eye that "what happened today is an attack on all peaceful worshipers."

"This was a barbaric premeditated attack on worshipers," he added.

Israeli police fired tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber-coated steel bullets as a small group of Palestinians hurled rocks, reportedly injuring three Israeli officers.

"The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it treated 152 people, many of them wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades, or beaten with batons," the Associated Press reported. "The [Islamic endowment that administers the mosque] said one of the guards at the site was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet."

After firing tear gas and projectiles on the perimeter, Israeli police eventually entered the mosque and arrested hundreds of Palestinians.

According to Middle East Eye, "The buildings inside the complex were damaged in the attack, with some of its historical windows smashed by Israeli forces, according to eyewitnesses."

"Medics, journalists, mosque volunteers, and women were targeted, according to Palestinian media reports," the outlet reported. "Journalists Muhammad Samreen and Rami al-Khateeb were among those injured. At least one child was detained. Meanwhile, Israeli guards stationed at the mosque's gate stopped Palestinians from entering the site ahead of Friday prayers... Worshipers coming from the occupied West Bank and within Israel were allowed to enter shortly after."

Medea Benjamin: Report from Afghanistan

EU anti-fraud body accuses Marine Le Pen of embezzlement

The European Union’s anti-fraud body has accused Marine Le Pen and several of her party members – including her father – of embezzling about €620,000 while serving as members of the European parliament. France’s investigative website Mediapart published a section of the new 116-report alleging that the MEPs misused EU funds for national party purposes.

The claims come a week before the second round of the presidential election, on 24 April, in which Le Pen will go head to head with Emmanuel Macron. A spokesperson for Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) party questioned the timing of the accusations. Le Pen’s lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut told Agence France-Presse he was “dismayed by the way that Olaf [the European anti-fraud office] is acting”. He insisted some of the report related to “old facts, more than 10 years old”.

“Marine Le Pen contests this. She contests it without having had access to the details of the accusation. It’s a manipulation; unfortunately, I’m not surprised,” Bosselut told the French channel BFMTV.

According to Mediapart, Olaf sent the report to French investigators in March. It accused Le Pen of have personally diverted almost €137,000 of EU funds during her time as an MEP between 2004 and 2017. Her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen; Louis Aliot, her former partner and an ex-vice-president of the RN, who is now mayor of Perpignan; and Bruno Gollnisch, another party heavyweight, are also cited in the report as having misused public money. All have denied any wrongdoing.

Jordan Chariton: Will Amazon Union PULL OFF Upset AGAIN?

Texas forced to reverse Mexican truck inspection plan as drivers block bridges

Texas governor Greg Abbott has made an about-face on his policy of tighter inspections of trucks entering Texas from Mexico, a week after he implemented the policy which led to Mexican truckers blockading border bridges in protest and holding up food supplies to the US as a result.

He reversed course on Friday night after a week of intensifying backlash and fears of deepening economic losses.

Abbott, a Republican, announced that he reached an agreement with officials from four neighboring Mexican states including Nuevo León, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas on improving border security and was thus lifting the controversial policy that were part of his stepped-up efforts against human and drug trafficking, he had said.

“As we are speaking this moment, all these bridges are opened back up to normal trafficking. And so, all the goods that used to go from one country to the other at a very rapid pace, they are moving at that rapid pace as we speak right now,” Abbott announced during a news conference on Friday.

“If we do see increased [illegal] trafficking across the border we will strategically shut down certain bridges,” he warned.

Soaring food prices push more Cargill family members on to world’s richest 500 list

A “giant leap” in global food prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has helped three members of the super-rich Cargill family, who majority-own one of the world’s largest food companies, join the ranks of the world’s 500 richest people.

Siblings James Cargill, Austen Cargill and Marianne Liebmann – all great-grandchildren of William Wallace Cargill, who founded the Cargill company in 1865 – this week joined the Bloomberg Billionaires list of the richest 500 people alive. Each of them has an estimated $5.4bn (£4.1bn) fortune – up a fifth so far this year.

They join Cargill’s other great-grandchildren Pauline Keinath and Gwendolyn Sontheim Meyer on the richest 500 list. They each have fortunes of about $8.06bn.

Their fortunes track those of the giant Cargill food company, which employs more than 155,000 staff in 70 countries and is expected to report record profits this year, outstripping 2021’s record-breaking $5bn profit.

Turns out an awful lot of US politicians see no problem with kids going hungry

Child poverty is bad. I think we can all agree on that, right? Americans are divided on lots of issues but it’s reasonable to suppose that, no matter where someone sits on the political spectrum, they would want kids to have enough to eat. Right?

Wrong. As it turns out an awful lot of politicians have no issue at all with kids going hungry. Last year the federal government lifted millions of American children out of poverty with the stroke of a pen when it expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC) as part of the American Recovery Plan. There was nothing particularly revolutionary about this policy: lots of rich countries provide some version of a universal child benefit. But, while it wasn’t revolutionary on a global scale, the CTC transformed the US: monthly child poverty was slashed by roughly 30%. About 3.7 million children saw their lives improve. And then, at the end of 2021, the CTC expired and congress failed to extend it. Those 3.7 million kids went hungry again; a February study found that child poverty increased by 41% in after the program expired. In short: a wildly successful policy that improved millions of people’s lives was simply chucked away. ...

The short-lived CTC reveals one of the big lies in politics: the idea that it’s far too difficult to do anything about big problems like poverty. As the brief success of the CTC demonstrates, simply giving families a little more money pays massive dividends. We know how to make people’s lives better, we just lack the political will to do so.

Patrick Lyoya's Family Demands Charges Against Officer Who Killed Him

The family of Patrick Lyoya, the 26-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by a police officer in Grand Rapids, Michigan on April 4, expressed shock that their son was killed in the United States in a press conference on Thursday as they called for the officer to face prosecution.

The Lyoya family came to the U.S. from Congo in 2014 to escape violence, according to The Washington Post.

"We were in an area that was not safe, there was a war," Dorcas Lyoya, Patrick's mother, said Thursday. "And I thought I had come to a safe land, safe place."

Peter Lyoya, Patrick Lyoya's father, told the Post that he was told, "You are safe" when the family arrived in the U.S. as refugees.

"It seems like we are in danger even when we come here," he said.

Lyoya's parents spoke through an interpreter at the press conference and were joined by their attorney, Benjamin Crump, and Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor.

"I'm surprised and astonished to see that it's here that my son has been killed with a bullet," Dorcas Lyoya said. "That was my beloved son."

The Lyoyas said they plan to file a federal lawsuit and demanded that the officer be publicly identified and fired as well as prosecuted. Authorities say he has been placed on administrative leave.

The Grand Rapids community has also called for the officer's name to be made public, with demonstrators marching through the city this week, carrying signs reading, "Name killer cops" and "Grand Rapids Police Department is protecting a murderer."

Video recordings from the officer's body camera, his vehicle, a nearby security camera, and a witness' cellphone were released this week and showed that Lyoya, a father of two, was killed after the officer stopped him allegedly because his license plate didn't match the vehicle he was driving.

The officer grabbed Lyoya after an exchange about his driver's license, and Lyoya pulled away and began to run. The officer then tackled Lyoya to the ground. Body camera footage showed Lyoya reaching for the officer's Taser before the camera shuts off, and separate recordings show the officer on Lyoya's back before shooting him in the back of the head.

"Based on what we see in that video, we believe that this officer should be terminated for engaging in unnecessary, excessive use of deadly force," Crump said at Thursday's press conference. "And his mother and father and their family are asking that the state attorney charge him to the full extent of the law for killing their son, for breaking their hearts, for making his young children orphans. Fatherless. Equal justice requires it."

Lawmakers have joined civil rights groups in recent days in condemning Lyoya's killing.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) decried the U.S. Senate's failure to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed in the U.S. House last year. Negotiations over the bill collapsed over Republicans' objection to a proposed end to qualified immunity, which protects police officers from misconduct lawsuits. 

"The Lyoya family deserves more than our sympathy," said Tlaib. "They deserve legislative action and courage."

Biden Pollster Says 'WORST POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT' Of Life

Oil Mogul Bankrolls Attempt To Buy Democratic Primary

A super PAC bankrolled by a fossil fuel magnate is launching last-minute ads to try to crush the congressional candidacy of a leading proponent of a Green New Deal as scientists warn that oil and gas emissions are making the planet unlivable. If successful, the gambit would deliver an intimidating message from the fossil fuel industry to other Democratic candidates pressing the government to address the climate crisis.

One month after Samson Energy mogul Stacy Schusterman poured $2 million into DMFI PAC, the group purchased TV ads starting Monday to boost Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) in her primary campaign rematch against former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner in a newly redrawn Cleveland congressional district. The primary election date is May 3.

Last year, DMFI PAC spent $1.9 million attacking Turner and promoting Brown, helping the latter win the seat in a special election. The group also spent $1.4 million attacking Sanders during his 2020 campaign. ...

Schusterman’s donations to DMFI PAC accounted for nearly 70 percent of the $2.9 million in funding that the organization raised in the first quarter this year, between January and March. Overall, since 2019, she has donated $3.4 million to the super PAC, which publicly bills itself as a pro-Israel advocacy organization.

Nina Turner BETRAYED By Progressive Dems – Endorse Corporatist Instead

'I Am Not for Sale,' Says Nina Turner as Billionaire-Funded Super PAC Backs Opponent

Congressional candidate Nina Turner declared Friday that she is "not for sale" and suggested her primary opponent, Democratic Rep. Shontel Brown, is after federal filings revealed that a billionaire-funded super PAC has spent more than $1 million in support of the incumbent in Ohio's 11th District.

"See, there is a clear difference in this race. One of the candidates in this primary is for sale," Turner, a former Ohio state senator, wrote on Twitter. "I am not for sale. Cleveland is not for sale."

Turner, who has pledged to reject campaign cash from lobbyists and corporate PACs, was responding to reporting from The Intercept spotlighting the financial support Brown has received from Protect Our Future, a super PAC launched this year with the backing of cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried.

Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosures show that Protect Our Future—which reportedly plans to pour $10 million into Democratic primaries this cycle—has spent more than $1 million over just the past week on ads in support of Brown's campaign.

In a statement on Thursday, Turner's campaign accused Brown of failing to "bring a single penny home" to Cleveland—part of Ohio's 11th Congressional District and the poorest big city in the U.S.—but managing to "flag down dark money that will be used to attack Nina Turner."

"All over the country, the flood of corporate money into electoral politics is corrupting our democracy," said Kara Turrentine, Turner's campaign manager. "Sadly, right here in Ohio 11, those same corrupt interests are pumping money into campaigns and super PACs because they know Nina Turner and progressives like her aren't going to Washington to be a partner with them."

"Let's be clear, those corporate interests don't make donations, they make investments," Turrentine added. "And they expect a return on those investments."

The May 3 Democratic primary in Ohio's 11th Congressional District is a rematch of a heated special election that took place less than a year ago. Brown, backed by a torrent of corporate cash and prominent members of the Democratic establishment, defeated Turner by around 6%.

At the time of the 2021 race, the largest donor to Democratic Majority for Israel—a super PAC that spent big against Turner—was an oil and gas executive.

On Wednesday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) PAC stirred outrage by endorsing Brown, a member of both the CPC and the corporate-friendly New Democrat Coalition. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the CPC, endorsed Turner over Brown in last year's special election.

The CPC PAC's endorsement of Brown came just a day after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—the lone Senate member of the CPC—formally endorsed Turner, praising her as "a real leader who fights for higher wages, Medicare for All, and affordable prescription drugs."

Public lands to reopen for oil and gas drilling in a first under Biden

As federal officials weigh efforts to fight the climate crisis against pressure to bring down high gasoline prices, the interior department is moving forward with the first onshore sales of public oil and natural gas drilling leases under Joe Biden.

The move also calls for a sharp increase in royalty rates for companies, ostensibly to limit global emissions driving the climate crisis, though economists say the effect will be relatively small. The royalty rate for new leases will increase to 18.75% from 12.5%. That’s a 50% jump and marks the first increase to royalties for the federal government since they were imposed in the 1920s.

Biden suspended new leasing just a week after taking office in January 2021. A federal judge in Louisiana ordered the sales to resume, saying interior officials had offered no “rational explanation” for canceling them. The government held an offshore lease auction in the Gulf of Mexico in November, although a court later blocked that sale before the leases were issued.

Friday’s announcement comes as Biden faces pressure to expand US crude production after the pandemic and war in Ukraine have caused a surge in fuel prices and otherwise generally roiled the world economy.

Tunisia’s neighbours offer help to contain damage after fuel ship sank

Some neighbouring countries have offered to help Tunisia prevent damage to the environment after a merchant ship carrying up to 1,000 tonnes of fuel sank off the country’s coast, the Tunisian defence ministry has said.

The ship, which was travelling from Equatorial Guinea to Malta, requested entry to Tunisian waters on Friday evening due to bad weather. It sank near Gabes, and the Tunisian navy rescued all seven crew members. ...

Divers who inspected the tanker detected no leaks on Sunday, officials said. The transport minister, Rabie Majidi, said rescue workers had checked during the operation that the valves were closed, and the team of divers ensured they were sealed and intact.

“The situation is not dangerous, the outlook is positive, the ship is stable because luckily it ran aground on sand,” he told reporters. The minister said the priority was to pump the diesel fuel and prevent any spillage or pollution.

Also of Interest

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

How Much Are We Prepared To Sacrifice To Help The US Win A Propaganda War Against Putin?

Polish-Jewish journalist quits newspaper after it demands different description of ‘neo-Nazi’ Ukrainian militia

Zelensky oversees campaign of assassination, kidnapping and torture of political opposition

Blinken Tells European Allies He Believes Ukraine War Will Last Through 2022

Russia Formally Warns US to Stop Arming Ukraine

Mass demonstrations spread worldwide as food, gas costs spiral

Inflation, Putin's price hike and Biden the fall guy

U.S. Covered Up Attempts by Japan to Construct Ethnic-Racial Bioweapons

This War Is A Propaganda Campaign Wrapped In A Psyop: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

Pepe Escobar: On the Dawn of a New Global Financial System

‘We’re running out of time’: Dan Saladino on why the loss of diversity in our foods matters

Art Rupe, label owner who helped launch Little Richard and Sam Cooke, dies at 104

The Chris Hedges Report with Dr. Cornel West

Abortion Bans Pass in GOP-Led Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma & Tennessee as SCOTUS Set to Overturn Roe

EXPLAINED: Twitter REJECTS Musk Offer With 'Poison Pill'

BIPARTISAN Stock Ban Progresses Thanks To Populist UPRISING

Krystal Ball: Libs MELTDOWN Over Tucker Interview with Amazon Union Leader

Amazon Union Organizer Goes On Tucker & Sh*tlib Brains Explode!

Everyone I Disagree With Is Right Wing!

A Little Night Music

Lightnin' Hopkins - Baby, Please Don't Go

Lightnin' Hopkins - Woke Up This Morning

Lightnin' Hopkins - Devil Is Watching You

Lightnin' Hopkins - Come Back Baby

Lightnin' Hopkins - Good Times

Lightnin' Hopkins - Mama Blues

Lightnin' Hopkins - Hurricane Betsy

Lightnin' Hopkins - Coffee Blues

Lightnin' Hopkins - It's A Sin To Be Rich, It's A Low-Down Shame To Be Poor

Lightnin' Hopkins - Mojo Hand