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This evening's music features Los Angeles singer and harmonica player Harmonica Fats. Enjoy!

"The struggle is always between the individual and his sacred right to express himself and the power structure that seeks conformity, suppression, and obedience."

-- William O. Douglas

News and Opinion

It Is The Mass Media’s Job To Help Suppress Anti-War Movements

In a new article titled “European antiwar protests gain strength as NATO’s Ukraine proxy war escalates,” The Grayzone’s Stavroula Pabst and Max Blumenthal document the many large demonstrations that have been occurring in France, the UK, Germany, Greece, Spain, the Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium and elsewhere opposing the western empire’s brinkmanship with Russia and proxy warfare in Ukraine.

Pabst and Blumenthal conclude their report with a denouncement of the way the western media have either been ignoring or sneering at these protests while actively cheerleading smaller demonstrations in support of arming Ukraine.

“When Western media has not ignored Europe’s antiwar protest wave altogether, its coverage has alternated between dismissive and contemptuous,” they write. “German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle sneeringly characterized the February 25 demonstration in Berlin as ‘naive’ while providing glowing coverage to smaller shows of support for the war by the Ukrainian diaspora. The New York Times, for its part, mentioned the European protests in just a single generic line buried in an article on minuscule anti-Putin protests held by Russian emigres.”

This bias is of course blatantly propagandistic, which won’t surprise anyone who understands that the mainstream western media exist first and foremost to administer propaganda on behalf of the US-centralized empire. And chief among their propaganda duties is to suppress the emergence of a genuine peace movement.

As we’ve discussed previously, it has never in human history been more urgent to have a massive, forceful protest movement in opposition to the empire’s rapidly accelerating trajectory toward a global conflict against Russia and China. Other peace movements have arisen in the past in response to horrific wars which would go on to claim millions of lives, but a world war in the Atomic Age could easily wind up killing billions, and must never be allowed to happen.

And yet the public is not treating this unparalleled threat with the urgency it deserves. A few protests here and there is great, but it’s not nearly enough. And the reason the people have not answered the call is because the mass media have been successfully propagandizing them into accepting the continuous escalations toward world war that we’ve been seeing.

People aren’t going to protest what their government is doing if they believe that what their government is doing is appropriate, and the only reason so many people believe what their government is doing with regard to Russia and China is appropriate is because they have been propagandized into thinking so.

The mass media are not telling the public about the many well-documented western provocations which led to the war in Ukraine and sabotaged peace at every turn; they’re just telling everyone that Putin invaded because he’s an evil Hitler sequel who loves killing and hates freedom. The mass media are not telling the public about the way the US empire has been encircling China with war machinery in ways it would never permit itself to be encircled while deliberately staging incendiary provocations in Taiwan; they’re just telling everyone that China is run by evil warmongering tyrants. The mass media are not reminding the public that after the fall of the Soviet Union the US empire espoused a doctrine asserting that the rise of any foreign superpower must be prevented at all cost; they’re letting that agenda fade into the memory hole.

Because people believe Russia and China are the sole aggressors and the US and its allies are only responding defensively to those unprovoked aggressions, they don’t see the need for a mass protest movement against their own governments. If you tell the average coastal American liberal that you’re holding a protest about the war in Ukraine, they’re going to assume you mean you’re protesting against Putin, and they’ll look at you strangely if you tell them you’re actually protesting your own government’s aggressions.

The narrative that Russia and China are acting with unprovoked aggression actually prevents peace, because if your government isn’t doing anything to make things worse, then there’s nothing it can change about its own behavior to make things better. But of course there is a massive, massive amount that the western power alliance can change about its own behavior with regard to Russia and China that would greatly improve matters. Instead of working to subordinate the entire planet to the will of Washington and its drivers, they can work toward de-escalation, diplomacy and detente.

We’re not going to get de-escalation, diplomacy and detente unless the people use the power of their numbers to demand those things, and the people are not going to use the power of their numbers to demand those things as long as they are successfully propagandized not to. This means propaganda is the ultimate problem that needs to be addressed. Ordinary people can only address it by waking the public up to the fact that the political/media class are lying to them about what’s happening with Russia and China, using whatever means we have access to.

So that’s what we need to do. We need to fight the imperial disinformation campaign using information. Tell people the truth using every medium available to us to sow distrust in the imperial propaganda machine, because propaganda only works if you don’t know it’s happening to you.

Our rulers are always babbling about how they’re fighting an “information war” against enemy nations, but in reality they’re fighting an information war against normal westerners like us. So we must fight back. We need to cripple public trust in the propaganda machine and begin awakening one another from our propaganda-induced sleep, so that we can begin organizing against the horrific end they are driving us toward.

Pro-War Rally Gets GUSHING Coverage From Corporate Media!

Russia says military drone attempted to strike gas facility near Moscow

A military drone attempted to strike a gas facility in the Moscow region, according to a senior Russian official, and photos of the wreckage suggested it was Ukrainian-made, indicating a rare attempted strike hundreds of miles behind Russian lines.

The alleged attack was one of several reports of successful or attempted unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strikes in at least four regions of Russia.

The Moscow region governor, Andrei Vorobyov, on Monday confirmed a UAV crash-landed in the village of Gubastovo near the capital and was apparently aiming for a “civilian infrastructure site”.

The target was a Gazprom gas compression station in the Moscow suburbs, just over 50 miles south-east of the Kremlin. Photographs of the drone posted to social media indicate it was a Ukrainian-made UJ-22.

Ukraine does not publicly claim responsibility for attacks inside Russia.

Heh, I found this video that I have been looking for where in 2014 the Kaganate of Nulands boasts about fomenting the coup in Ukraine.

Victoria Nuland's Admits Washington Has Spent $5 Billion to "Subvert Ukraine"

Zelensky: US Will Have To Send 'SONS AND DAUGHTERS' To Fight In Ukraine If Aid Wavers

Switzerland Becomes Stumbling Block for Western Military Aid to Ukraine

The West’s efforts to keep Ukraine supplied with enough ammunition to push back Russian forces has hit a major roadblock: Switzerland’s centuries-old tradition of neutrality.

The wealthy Alpine nation is home to a mature weapons industry, but is steeped in the principle that it keeps out of foreign wars. Switzerland’s adherence to a ban on the export and re-export of weapons and ammunition to conflict zones is blocking North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries in Europe from giving Ukraine their stocks of Swiss-made ammunition and arms, none of which are easily substituted. ...

In addition to Western pressure, Ukrainian lawmakers from the parliament’s foreign-affairs committee is now planning a special delegation to visit Bern, the Swiss capital, to call for a policy change. “They need to do more to help Ukraine,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, the committee chairman. ...

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, said abstention wasn’t an option for Switzerland. “Everyone has to be clear on their positions: law or the law of force, democracy and fundamental rights or autocracy.”

So far, Bern argues that there can be no waiver for the ban because it is part of its constitutional order.

China arms sale panic

Russia Repels Drones, Bakhmut Cauldron 48 Hours; Neocons Double Down, Unlimited Ukraine Support

US Doesn’t Want Countries Working With Syria’s Assad on Earthquake Relief

The State Department on Monday reaffirmed its opposition to countries upgrading their ties with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even if it is an effort to aid Syria’s earthquake relief.

“Our position on the Assad regime has not changed. Now is not the time for normalization. Now is not the time to upgrade relations with the Assad regime,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in response to the news of Egypt’s foreign minister visiting Syria and Turkey.

Pentagon Has SECRET Plan For WAR With Iran

Pressure on west to act grows after report on Iranian uranium enrichment

Iran has enriched uranium particles up to just short of weapons grade, placing further pressure on western powers to issue a third censure of Iran at a meeting of the nuclear watchdog board next week. In its quarterly report to the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Association, officials also revealed that the restrictions placed on its inspectors meant it would take a considerable time to provide a full inventory or history of Iran’s enrichment process.

Iran has said the uranium particles, enriched to up to 83.7% purity, had occurred during the “transition period at the time of commissioning the process of [60%] product (November 2022) or while replacing the feed cylinder”. But the IAEA’s faith in Iran’s reassurances in the absence of corroborative evidence is at an all-time low, and will only encourage Israel to encourage the west to endorse a military assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Speaking in Berlin, Israel’s visiting foreign minister, Eli Cohen, claimed there were only two options to deal with Iran: using a so-called “snapback” mechanism to reinstate wider UN sanctions on Iran; and “to have a credible military option on the table as well”.

But at the weekend, Bill Burns, the CIA director, continued to insist US intelligence did not have evidence that Iran had taken a weaponisation decision. The latest IAEA report to the board speaks about “particles”, suggesting it does not believe that Iran as a matter of policy is yet building a stockpile of uranium enriched above 60% – the level it has been enriching at from some time.

Finland starts building fence on Russian border as MPs prepare to vote on Nato bid

Finland has started construction of a fence along parts of its 1,340km (830-mile) border with Russia to boost security and tackle any attempt by Moscow to weaponise mass migration as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.

Finland announced the start of construction on Tuesday. Terrain work would begin “with forest clearance and will proceed in such a way that road construction and fence installation can be started in March”, the Finnish Border Guard said in a statement.

Fearing that Moscow could use mass migration to exert political pressure on Helsinki, Nato candidate Finland in July passed new amendments to its Border Guard Act to facilitate the building of sturdier fences. At present, Finland’s borders are secured primarily by light wooden fences, mainly designed to stop livestock from wandering to the wrong side.

The announcement came as Finland’s parliament progressed with its bid to join Nato, increasing the likelihood that it would leave its neighbour Sweden behind to rapidly enter the transatlantic defence pact. After debates on Tuesday, a vote is scheduled by Finnish MPs on Wednesday afternoon for speeding up the ascension process.

The three-kilometre pilot project at the south-eastern border crossing in Imatra is expected to be completed by the end of June, it added. Construction of a further 70km (43 miles), mainly in south-eastern Finland, will take place between 2023 and 2025.

Biden administration urges Congress to renew warrantless surveillance law

The Biden administration has formally urged Congress to reauthorize a high-profile warrantless surveillance program, warning in a letter to top lawmakers that allowing the provision to expire could sharply limit the intelligence on foreign threats and targets the government collects.

The law – named section 702 – allows the US government to collect the communications of targeted foreigners abroad by compelling service providers like Google to produce copies of messages and internet data, or networks like Verizon to intercept and turn over phone call and message data.

But the law is controversial because it allows the government to incidentally collect messages and phone data of Americans without a court order if they interacted with the foreign target, even though the law prohibits section 702 from being used by the NSA to specifically target US citizens.

The administration’s efforts to reauthorize section 702 as it currently stands could face increased resistance this year, with Republicans on the House judiciary committee sharing Donald Trump’s distrust of intelligence agencies and past FBI errors in using the warrantless surveillance authority.

To that end, the administration moved to cast the provision that would otherwise expire at the end of 2023 as an essential tool to gather intelligence about terrorists, weapons proliferators, hackers and other foreign targets located overseas who use US telecommunication providers.

Longest Alabama Strike Ends as Warrior Met Coal Miners Return. Record Coal Prices Help Break Strike

Hochul Vetoed Key Rail Safety Bill

In the wake of the recent train derailment and toxic chemical release in East Palestine, Ohio, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) called on the federal government to enact stricter regulations on hazmat trains and said that safety is her top priority. Her transportation commissioner said that under Hochul’s leadership, the state is “laser focused on safety in all modes of transportation, especially rail safety.”

Less than three months ago, Hochul struck a different tone with her veto pen. The proposed two-person crew bill — which the governor rejected on December 9, 2022 — would have required most freight trains to be operated by at least a conductor and an engineer, a safety measure that both rail unions and bipartisan lawmakers supported. Railroad companies and business groups opposed it. ...

Though New York’s bill passed in May with bipartisan support — approved by margins of 48 to 13 in the state senate and 121 to 28 in the assembly — it met fierce opposition from the rail industry. Business groups including Railroads of New York, the statewide industry group that represents CSX, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and Norfolk Southern, among others, reported lobbying on the bill in state filings reviewed by New York Focus.

Hochul had said in her veto memo that federal laws and pending rulemaking preempt state two-person crew legislation — an argument the railroads and their lobbying groups have used to oppose state staffing bills. But two-person crew laws have been enacted in other states without legal challenges, and legal experts disagree with Hochul’s assessment of the preemption.

A Simple Choice: Social Security or Billionaire Greed

Like they used to say in the old neighborhood, some things ain't complicated. If your senator or representative won't tax the wealthy to protect and expand Social Security, then they care more about America's 728 billionaires than they do about the 66 million children, disabled, and older people currently receiving benefits—or the many millions that will follow them. They don't deserve to stay in office if they can't represent their own people.

Social Security is a vast, highly successful program. That makes it sound complicated. It's not. It was built on simple moral and operational principles. Among them was universality, the idea that the program should include everyone, and the notion that everyone should pay their fair share. Unfortunately, the millionaires and billionaires plundering the economy aren't pitching in the way they should.

That makes the choice for our elected officials simple, too: Are you going to make the wealthy step up or are you going to hide behind word-salad speeches and sleight-of-hand legislation? One thing is clear: any politician who expresses concern about Social Security's finances without being willing to tax the rich is a phony. Nothing but a phony. ...

The commission that worked on Social Security's finances in the 1980s raised the cap on the Social Security payroll tax, with the expectation that it would capture 90 percent of the income earned in this country. As Linda Benesch notes, however, rising income inequality has caused that number to plummet. As of February 28, 2023, a person making a million dollars per year has finished paying into Social Security for the year. (I calculated that figure for Jeff Bezos once; he was done paying his "fair share" about 28 seconds after the New Year's Eve ball dropped in Times Square!) Moreover, wealthy people earn the lion's share of their income from non-payroll sources like investments and business revenue. That isn't taxed for Social Security at all.

Meanwhile, here in the real world, people making less than $160,200 annually—that is, the vast majority of American workers—will be paying this tax all year.

That's why the idea of "scrapping the cap" on this tax is so compelling. Sen. Bernie Sanders' Social Security Expansion Act would re-impose this payroll tax on income above $250,000 and would add in the kinds of non-payroll income that mainly benefit the super-wealthy. In the House, a bill from Rep. John Larson would scrap the cap on income above $400,000.

Both bills substantially expand Social Security while bringing in substantial new revenue. The Larson bill would provide a sizeable down payment and the Sanders bill would fully fund Social Security, something politicians like Sen. Mitt Romney claim to be concerned about. Romney has wept crocodile tears over the program's expected revenue shortfall for years, but he's ruled out tax increases.

People say we live in a divided country, but Americans are united on this subject. 71 percent of voters polled after the last election want Congress to "protect Social Security and Medicare." The message to Capitol Hill is simple: do your damned jobs.

Romney's proposed bill, which in an Orwellian flourish is called "the TRUST Act," would create "congressional rescue committees" that would meet privately to determine the fate of critical social programs. Since Romney (who is extremely wealthy himself) opposes revenue hikes, that leaves only benefit cuts.

Romney and his cosponsors hope to elude responsibility for their actions by hiding behind as-yet-unnamed committee members and their backroom deliberations. That includes some Democrats. The bill's Democratic backers, including Joe Manchin, are more likely than Romney to say that they're open to hiking taxes on the wealthy. But they're supporting a 'bipartisan' process with Republicans who will never go along with that.

These Dems know that. They're trying to have it both ways—sounding reasonable while promoting a process that's designed to lead to cuts and cuts alone.

And make no mistake: that's the play. Romney's bill uses a well-worn playbook for trying to cut popular programs. As the bill's summary says, "Congress must use specified expedited legislative procedures to consider legislation that is approved and submitted by the rescue committees." In other words, it gets rushed to the floor for a vote for an immediate up-or-down vote, without committee review or the chance to revise it.

That's an attempt to circumvent democracy. Public trust in our democracy has plunged to frightening lows as the wealthy buy more and more custom-designed legislation. The TRUST Act is designed to make an undemocratic and unaccountable political process even more undemocratic and unaccountable.

That's what the Simpson/Bowles Deficit Commission tried to do during the Obama administration. It's part of the old anti-government playbook laid out by billionaire Pete Peterson and the astroturf anti-social-welfare organizations he funded for decades. One pro-TRUST congressional Dem even used a Peterson-funded, consultant-designed phrase to defend his actions. If I hear the words "we have kicked this can down the road for too long" again I won't be responsible for my actions. Maybe somebody's can should get kicked, but it ain't yours or mine.

Don't count the double-talkers out. There's a lot of money riding on this, and it's all with the billionaires. It will take ongoing political pressure to protect and expand Social Security. But it will be a great day when it happens. Taxing the wealthy will have other benefits, too. It will strengthen the social contract when the public sees their country's oligarchs being forced to assume some responsibility for the society that enriched them. It might reduce their stranglehold on politics a little, too.

This country's billionaires gainedmore than $2.1 trillion in wealth since the pandemic began and now have total estimated riches of $5.1 trillion. Meanwhile, almost half of all Americans aged 55 and older have no retirement savings at all. The average person on Social Security only gets $1,688 per month. And you're trying to tell us that's what this country can't afford?

Florida court denies habeas corpus petition for fetus of jailed woman

A Florida appeals court denied an attorney’s attempt to have a woman released from jail ahead of trial by arguing that her fetus was being illegally detained without charge – but the attorney says he plans to continue the legal battle.

Florida’s third district court of appeal dismissed without prejudice a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by attorney William M Norris on behalf of the “unborn child” of Natalia Harrell.

The petition argued that the fetus is “a person under the Florida constitution and the United States constitution” and that it therefore should not effectively be detained without charge.

The ruling, written by judge Thomas Logue last Friday, contains “no opinion on whether such filing is being brought by a party with standing, whether the claims are legally cognizable, whether they have merit, or what remedies, if any, are available”.

Instead, it argued on a technicality that the petition failed to include a factual record of the case – which includes disputed allegations that Harrell has received inadequate prenatal care while in jail – and should be pursued in a lower court.

Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Loses Election; Candidates Backed by Police & Teacher Unions Head to Runoff

Stunning Rupert Murdoch deposition leaves Fox News in a world of trouble

In his 71 years as a media executive, Rupert Murdoch has proved himself to be a grand master in the arts of survival. He has weathered bruising battles with British trade unions, the phone hacking scandal, countless ratings wars and a volatile private life, all the while growing his News Corp empire into global colossus.

It was against this seven-decade backdrop of seeming invincibility that news of Murdoch’s deposition in the $1.6bn Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox News Networks and its parent company Fox Corp dropped like a bomb. Not only did he admit that he knew that Fox News hosts spread lies about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from Donald Trump, but he confessed that he had allowed them to keep on doing so on air to millions of viewers. ...

In his deposition, Murdoch – whose newspaper holdings include the Sun in the UK and the Wall Street Journal – made an admission that could have dire consequences, not only reputationally but also to the Dominion lawsuit on which a lot of money is riding. Under heavy pressure from Dominion’s lawyers, he admitted that several Fox News hosts – Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity – had endorsed the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump and handed to Joe Biden. ...

Murdoch tried to make a distinction between the hosts – “commentators” he called them – who were making false claims of election fraud and Fox itself. But in other parts of his devastating testimony, he admitted that he chose not to keep election deniers such as Rudy Giuliani off the air even though he had the power to do so. ...

The word “endorsed” in Murdoch’s deposition could be critical. Under the first amendment’s protection of free speech, Dominion would have to prove “actual malice” in its defamation case against Fox. “It has to show they not only knew these claims were false, but continued to push them with a reckless disregard for the truth,” Angelo Carusone, president of the watchdog Media Matters for America said. “‘Endorsement’ neutralizes one of the most important defenses Fox could have used.”

US justice department sues two companies over pollution in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’

The US justice department has sued the two petrochemical giants behind a facility in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” responsible for the highest cancer risk rates caused by air pollution in the US in a major federal lawsuit that seeks to substantially curb the plant’s emissions.

Unveiled on Tuesday, the lawsuit alleges emissions at the Pontchartrain Works facility in Reserve, Louisiana, violate the Clean Air Act and “present an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health and welfare”.The move marks a significant escalation of the Biden administration’s enforcement action in the Cancer Alley region, and was instantly hailed by members of the predominantly Black community around the plant as a major victory in their ongoing campaign for clean air.

Suing on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the justice department is now seeking a federal court order to compel Denka (DPE), the Japanese chemical giant operating the facility, to “immediately take all necessary measures” to curb emissions of the compound chloroprene, labeled by the EPA as a likely human carcinogen.

The facility is the only site in the US to emit the compound, which is a primary constituent of the synthetic rubber neoprene. EPA air monitoring around the facility has consistently shown readings well in excess of the recommended lifetime exposure limit of 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter.

Carbon emissions from global SUV fleet outweighs that of most countries

The continued global rise in sales of SUVs pushed their climate-heating emissions to almost 1bn tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency. The 330m sport utility vehicles on the roads produced emissions equivalent to the combined national emissions of the UK and Germany last year. If SUVs were a country, they would rank as the sixth most polluting in the world. ...

The vehicles are larger and heavier than regular cars and use on average 20% more fuel. The increased number of SUVs in 2022 were responsible for a third of the increase in global oil demand. Purchases of SUVs have soared in recent years, rising from 20% of new cars in 2012 to 46% of all cars last year, the IEA reports. The rise continued in 2022, includes significant growth in the US, India and Europe, despite the overall number of cars sold falling slightly.

About one in six SUVs sold in 2022 were electric. But the IEA experts said: “Electric SUVs are growing in popularity, but not quickly enough to offset the increasing oil consumption and emissions of the wider fleet.

“Electric SUVs also require larger batteries to power them, so a growing electric SUV market would impose additional pressure on battery supply chains and further increase demand for the critical minerals needed to make the batteries.”

Also of Interest

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

Scott Ritter: Reimagining Arms Control After Ukraine

How Social Networks Became a ‘Subsidiary’ of the FBI and CIA

The Context Of The New Anti-China Campaign

Conservative US Jewish Groups Issue Rare Rebuke of Israeli Settler Violence

A US city took down its racist statues. Where do they go next?

Democratic Establishment Targets Progressive Party Chair in Nevada

World’s richest people lost total of $10tn in 2022, report finds

‘A war society doesn’t see’: the Brazilian force driving out mining gangs from Indigenous lands

Scientists discover fossils of oldest known potential pollinators

Democrats hide from antiwar forces at "town halls"

WORKERS Unite Nation Wide To Form Political Party & Oppose Democrats!

Is Pete Buttigieg's Political Career OVER?

A Little Night Music

Harmonica Fats - My Baby Didn't Come Home

Harmonica Fats - Drive Way Blues

Harmonica Fats - Tore Up (Over You)

Harmonica Fats - Mama, Mama, Talk To Your Daughter For Me

Harmonica Fats - Your Mouth Stuck Out

Harmonica Fats - How Low Is Low

Harmonica Fats - The Birds and the Bees

Harmonica Fats - Granny In The Groove

Harmonica Fats With Joe Kincaid & Soul Brother Band - It's Hard To Get Along

Harmonica Fats With Joe Kincaid & Soul Brother Band - Harmonica Symphony Stomp