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This evening's music features r&b singer Billy Gayles. Enjoy!

"We are going to see a great number of articles in the future from so-called experts and public officials. They will warn about more violence, more kidnappings, and more terrorists. Mass media, the armed forces, and intelligence agencies will saturate our lives with fascist scare tactics and 'predictions' that have already been planned to come true."

-- Mae Brussell

News and Opinion

'Scathing' Report From UN Expert's Historic Visit Revives Calls to Close Guantánamo

Human rights advocates on Monday renewed their calls for the swift closure of the U.S. prison at Naval Station Guantánamo Bay in Cuba after a United Nations expert released the findings from her historic trip to the infamous facility.

The prison was established in 2002, after then-President George W. Bush launched the War on Terror in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. On the campaign trail and since taking office, President Joe Biden—who is seeking reelection next year—has indicated he wants to close the facility. His administration was the first to allow a visit by a U.N. expert earlier this year.

Irish attorney and law professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the U.N. special rapporteur (SR) on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, focused on three key topics: "the rights of victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the rights of detainees at the Guantánamo detention facility, and the rights of former detainees."

Allowing U.N. access to the prison "is an important signal from the United States government to the international community that the Guantánamo detention facility is on a path to de-exceptionalism," her report states. "It opens the possibility to address the profound human rights violations that have occurred there and the irreparable harms to the lives and health of the 780 Muslim men who have been detained there, including 30 men who remain."

"For many of the detainees she spoke with, the dividing line between the past and the present is exceptionally thin—for some nonexistent—and their past experiences of torture live with them in the present, without any obvious end in sight including because they have received no torture rehabilitation to date," the publication continues, adding that despite improvements since 2002, current conditions amount to "ongoing cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, and may also meet the legal threshold for torture."

According to the report, which was released on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture:

In every meeting she held with a detainee or former detainee, the SR was told with great regret that she had arrived "too late." She agrees. At the time of her visit only 34 detainees remained at the site. It is evident that the horror and harms of extraordinary rendition, arbitrary detention, and systematic torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment inflicted over time occurred in part because of an exceptional and international law deficient legal and policy regime; the permeation of arbitrariness across subsequent detention practices; and the lack of international law compliant domestic oversight and accountability...

The SR reaffirms the right to remedy and reparations for victims of serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, underscoring that such rights encompass preventive and investigative elements, as well as the right to access justice, remedy, and reparation. The U.S. government is under a continued obligation to ensure accountability, make full reparation for the injuries caused, and offer appropriate guarantees of nonrepetition for violations committed post-9/11. The world has and will not forget. Without accountability, there is no moving forward on Guantánamo.

The document also praises the U.S. government, saying that "it is a sign of a commitment to international law that the visit occurred, was highly cooperative, constructive, and engaged at all levels of government, and is reported upon."

In its formal response, the U.S. government said it provided Ní Aoláin with "unprecedented access" and her team with "detailed information both prior to her visit and in response to her questions." The statement notes the "significant progress" the Biden administration has made in reducing the Guantánamo population, highlights ongoing military commissions and transfer efforts, and reaffirms the president's intention to close the facility.

The statement also stresses that while the administration is reviewing the U.N. expert's recommendations, the government "disagrees in significant respects with many factual and legal assertions" in her report, and claims that the U.S. is committed to "safe and humane treatment" for Gitmo prisoners, who "receive specialized medical and psychiatric care."

Pointing to Ní Aoláin's report, Center for Victims of Torture policy analyst Yumna Rizvi said Monday that "the government is obligated to provide rehabilitation, and the detainees are entitled to it, but the government is continuing to choose not to meet its obligation."

"It has an opportunity to do so, and to lead as an example, especially as the largest contributor to the U.N. Voluntary Fund for the Victims of Torture," Rizvi added. "However, the U.S. continues to turn its back on what is right. The government's response to the report is a denial of the existing reality as it relates to medical care of detainees. The government must address these issues immediately before the worst possible outcome occurs, the responsibility of which will fall squarely on its shoulders."

Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard—a former U.N. special rapporteur—said the "scathing" U.N. report highlights "the urgent need for President Biden to finally close the detention facility at the Guantánamo Bay military base, and to end the unlawful practice of indefinite detention without charge or trial."

"It is well past time to demand the closure of the prison, accountability from U.S. officials, and reparations for the torture and other ill-treatment that the detainees have suffered at the hands of the U.S. government," she argued. "There remains a shocking lack of access to justice for those currently or previously detained—and many have complex and untreated healthcare needs as a result of their ill-treatment."

"The military commissions created for Guantánamo Bay detainees, including those alleged to have planned or assisted the September 11 attacks, have been a complete failure through which the United States government has intentionally skirted U.S. and international law and abused the rights of those still imprisoned at the facility—jeopardizing the rights of survivors and families of victims of the attacks to receive justice," she added.

Wells Dixon, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and council to several Gitmo detainees, similarly declared that "the Biden administration needs to get out of its own way on Guantánamo closure."

"It makes no legal or policy sense for the government to continue to fight in court, to detain men it no longer wants to detain, in a prison it has said should be closed, in a war that has ended," said Dixon. "It also makes no sense to continue contested military trials that have failed to achieve justice or accountability for anyone."

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows welcomed that "in issuing her report on Guantánamo, the special rapporteur stated unequivocally that, 'Torture was a betrayal of the rights of the victims of the 9/11 attacks.'"

"For families and survivors to ever receive a measure of judicial resolution, the fact that the 9/11 accused were tortured must be legally acknowledged," the organization asserted. "The U.S. government must now, more than two decades after the attacks, end the 9/11 military commission at Guantánamo, accept guilty pleas from the 9/11 defendants, and provide victims and survivors with the information and accountability they have so long sought."

Former Guantánamo prisoner Majid Khan, who was freed in February, said Monday that "I survived and have forgiven my torturers, and I am moving on with my life in Belize. But I still wait for an apology, medical care, and other compensation."

"I appreciate all the support that Belize has provided me, but responsibility lies with the U.S.," he said. "It would mean a lot to me. I also ask other countries to follow the example of Belize and offer safe refuge to other Guantánamo detainees approved for transfer, including men such as Guled Duran who was never charged with any wrongdoing. It is time to close Guantánamo."

Fresh off The Guardian's propaganda catapult:

Biden says US played no role in Russia’s Wagner mutiny: ‘We were not involved’

Joe Biden has described the Wagner mercenary group’s brief mutiny against the Russian government as part of an internal power struggle, in which he said the US played no role.

“We made clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it,” Biden said during an event at the White House on Monday. “We’re going to keep assessing the fallout of this weekend’s events and the implications for Russia and Ukraine. But it’s still too early to reach a definitive conclusion about where this is going.” ...

It is still unclear what the larger ramifications of Prigozhin’s short-lived rebellion will be, experts say, both on Russia’s domestic politics as well as its military invasion of Ukraine. US officials, policy analysts and researchers are closely watching whether this marks a wider shift in power dynamics and what this means for Putin’s control over Russia.

The White House is expected to announce an up to $500m aid package to Ukraine this week, which will reportedly include dozens of ground vehicles, as well as anti-tank and anti-aircraft munitions. Ukraine launched a long-planned counteroffensive this month, but has faced the heavy use of landmines and Russian air power as its forces struggle to regain territory.

Apparently I'm not the only one that would demand proof for anything that Brandon says:

Lavrov Says Russia Investigating If Western Intelligence Agencies Played a Role in Prigozhin Mutiny

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that Russian security services were investigating whether or not Western or Ukrainian intelligence agencies played a role in Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s two-day mutiny.

When asked by RT if Russia had evidence of Western involvement, Lavrov said, “I work in a government ministry that is not engaged in gathering evidence of unlawful acts being committed, but we do have such agencies and, I assure you, they are already looking into it.”

The Russian diplomat said Western intelligence likely wanted the mutiny to succeed and pointed to US media reports that said US intelligence knew Prigozhin was planning armed action against the Russian military establishment but did not make the information public. ...

In May, The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin was in contact with Ukrainian military intelligence and even offered them Russian troop positions in exchange for a Ukrainian withdrawal from Bakhmut. The report was based on US intelligence assessments that leaked on Discord, but the full documents were not published, and Prigozhin denied the accusations.

Putin's speech, post mutiny

Vladimir Putin says enemies wanted Russia to ‘choke on civil strife’

Vladimir Putin has claimed that Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s uprising was “doomed to fail” and said the country showed “unity” in the face of a “treacherous” rebellion. In an unscheduled late night televised address late on Monday, a visibly angry Putin said: “Any blackmail or way to bring confusion to Russia is doomed to failure … I made steps to avoid large-scale bloodshed.” In his first public appearance since Prigozhin abandoned his armed mutiny on Saturday evening, the Russian president thanked Wagner fighters and commanders who he said had stood down to avoid bloodshed.

Without mentioning Prigozhin by name, Putin said the organisers of the rebellion “betrayed their country, their people”. He said that the enemies of Russia “wanted Russian soldiers to kill each other, to kill military personnel and civilians, so that in the end Russia would lose, and our society would split, choke in bloody civil strife”. He also confirmed reports that Russian pilots were killed during the failed mutiny, paying tribute to the dead. “The courage and self-sacrifice of the fallen heroes-pilots saved Russia from tragic devastating consequences,” he said. ...

The Russian president appeared to suggest that the Wagner group would still be shut down, saying that the group’s fighters had the choice to sign a contract with the ministry of defence or relocate to Belarus if they wanted to, as part of a settlement negotiated with the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko. ...

Prigozhin said his troops would resist being subsumed under the Russian defence ministry, would not sign contracts, and that Wagner may even be allowed to continue its operations in Belarus, a development that could increase the threat of an attack in Ukraine’s north. “Lukashenko extended his hand and offered to find solutions for the further work of [Wagner] in a legal jurisdiction,” he said, without offering more detail. ...

That would be an extraordinary turn of events for the paramilitary leader, whom Putin accused of a “stab in the back” just two days ago. Although the Kremlin had guaranteed his safe passage to Belarus, Russian state media reported that Prigozhin was still under investigation for provoking an armed uprising as recently as Monday morning. If he was now allowed to maintain control of Wagner and avoid a jail cell, it would suggest that Prigozhin still has leverage in the Kremlin and is still seen as a valuable asset, despite having brought the country to the brink of civil war this weekend.

Putin Strengthened After Mutiny Peacefully Quelled, Explains Tactic, Prigozhin to Belarus, US Denies

Putin Tells Wagner Fighters He Will Uphold Commitments to Deal That Ended Mutiny

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday night delivered his first address to Russia after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short-lived uprising ended, vowing to Wagner fighters that he would uphold his side of the deal that was reached to end the mutiny.

Putin thanked Russian citizens and his security forces for opposing the mutiny. “A firm, unambiguous position in support of the constitutional order was taken by public organizations, religious denominations, leading political parties, in fact, the entire Russian society. Everyone was united and rallied by the main thing, responsibility for the fate of the Fatherland,” he said. ...

Putin thanked Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for mediating negotiations to end the crisis that led to a deal. Putin vowed to uphold the agreement by offering Wagner members the options of signing a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry, going home to their families, or traveling to Belarus. “The promise I made will be fulfilled,” he said.

The exact details of the Lukashenko-brokered agreement aren’t clear. The Kremlin initially said that Wagner fighters who didn’t take part in the mutiny could sign contracts with the Defense Ministry, but Putin’s comments suggested all members of the mercenary force have the option.

Amusing - click the link to see the receipts ...

The real casualties of Russia’s ‘civil war’: the Beltway expert class

When Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin launched a supposed revolt against Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 23, sending his forces on a march toward Moscow following a series of tirades against the country’s defense establishment, Washington’s expert class overflowed with an orgy of regime change fantasies.

For just over 12 hours, everyone from former US ambassador to Russia and noted Hitler apologist Michael McFaul to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to neocon pundit Anne Applebaum exploded with seemingly libidinal excitement about a supposed “civil war” that was certain to feature “Russians…killing Russians,” along with “lots of casualties” and Putin “probably hiding somewhere.”

It was as though the Soviet Union was collapsing all over again, and Prigozhin, a character named on the FBI’s most wanted list whom the US government has sanctioned for leading what it described as a “transnational criminal organization,” was suddenly a white knight storming into Moscow to liberate Russia from “the Putin regime” on the back of a tank. Move over, Juan Guaido.

Expecting a bloodbath and seismic political upheaval, corporate networks like CNN had budgeted wall-to-wall coverage of the coup that wasn’t, filling cable news green rooms with rent-a-generals, K Street think tankers, and war-hungry former diplomatic corps hacks.

On the afternoon of June 24, however, news broke across the US that Prigozhin had struck a deal with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to end his protest and go into exile. Thus ended a largely bloodless affair that ultimately saw fewer documented deaths than the January 6 Capitol Riot.

Though the supposed revolt in Russia burned out faster than a Leopard tank on the way to Zaporizhzhia, we now know that a number of serious casualties were incurred inside the DC Beltway. The Grayzone obtained an exclusive look at the massacre some of America’s top Russia experts carried out against their own credibility.

Zelensky: NO Elections Until End Of War

Australia Keeps Escalating Its Censorship And Propaganda Campaign

There’s a frenzied rush by the Australian political/media class to both propagandise Australians as quickly as possible into supporting preparations for war with China, and to ram through legislation that facilitates the censorship of online speech.

Australia’s Communications Minister Michelle Rowland is set to release draft legislation imposing hefty fines on social media companies who fail to adequately block “misinformation” and “disinformation” from circulation in Australia, a frightening prospect which will likely have far-reaching consequences for political speech in the nation.

Sydney Morning Herald reports:

Under the proposed laws, the authority would be able to impose a new “code” on specific companies that repeatedly fail to combat misinformation and disinformation or an industry-wide “standard” to force digital platforms to remove harmful content.

The maximum penalty for systemic breaches of a registered code would be $2.75 million or 2 per cent of global turnover — whichever is higher.

The maximum penalty for breaching an industry standard would be $6.88 million, or 5 per cent of a company’s global turnover. In the case of Facebook’s owner, Meta, for example, the maximum penalty could amount to a fine of more than $8 billion.

Those are the kinds of numbers that change a company’s censorship protocols. We’re already seeing social media censorship of content in Australia that the Australian government has ruled unacceptable; here’s what the transphobic tweets embedded in a right-wing article about Twitter censorship looks like when you try to view them on Twitter from Australia, for example:

[click link to see images of 2 tweets that say "This Tweet from [user] has been withheld in Australia in response to a legal demand. Learn more." -js]

These tweets were reportedly hidden from Australians on the platform at the behest of the Australian government. Australians could wind up seeing much more of this sort of Australia-specific censorship from social media platforms if this “misinformation” legislation goes through. Or they could just start censoring it for everyone.

The problem with laws against inaccurate information is of course that somebody needs to be making the determination what information is true and what is false, and those determinations will necessarily be informed by the biases and agendas of the person making them. I can substantiate my claim that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was provoked by NATO powers using an abundance of facts and evidence, for example, but there’s still a sizeable portion of the population which would consider such claims malignant disinformation with or without the supporting data.

When the government involves itself in the regulation of speech, it is necessarily incentivized to regulate speech in a way that benefits itself and its allies. Nobody who supports government regulation of online mis- and disinformation can articulate how such measures can be safeguarded in a surefire way against the abuses and agendas of the powerful.

Under a Totalitarian Regime, your government censors your speech if you say unauthorized things. Under a Free Democracy, your government orders corporations to censor your speech if you say unauthorized things.

At the same time, Australian media have been hammering one remarkably uniform message into public consciousness with increasing aggression lately: there is a war with China coming, Australia will be involved, and Australia must do much more to prepare for this war as quickly as possible.

Australians are remarkably vulnerable to propaganda due to the fact that ownership of our nation’s media is the most concentrated in the western world, with a powerful duopoly of Nine Entertainment and Murdoch’s News Corp controlling most of the Australian press.

Both of these media conglomerates have been involved in the latest excuse to talk about how more military spending and militarisation is needed, this time taking the form of a war machine-funded think tanker publishing a book about how we all need to prepare for war with China.

Nine Entertainment’s Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have an article out titled “Military expert warns of ‘very serious risk’ of China war within five years” by the odious Matthew Knott, who is best known for being told to drum himself out of Australian journalism by former prime minister Paul Keating for his appalling war-with-China propaganda series published earlier this year by the same papers. Readers who follow Australian media would do well to remember Knott’s name, because he has become one of the most prolific war propagandists in the western press.

The “military expert” who warns of the need to prepare for an imminent war with China is a man named Ross Babbage, who as Knott notes is “a non-resident senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington.” What Knott fails to disclose to his readers is that the Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments is funded by every war profiteer and war machine entity under the sun, the majority coming straight from the US Department of Defense itself.

As we’ve discussed many times previously, it is never, ever okay for the press to cite war machine-funded think tankers for expertise or analysis on matters of war and foreign policy, and it is doubly egregious for them to do so without at least disclosing their massive conflict of interest to their readers. This act of extreme journalistic malpractice has become the norm throughout the mainstream press, because it helps mass media reporters do their actual job: administering propaganda to an unsuspecting public.

The Murdoch press has also been using Babbage’s book release as an excuse to bang the drums of war, with multiple Sky News segments and articles with titles like “Military analyst Ross Babbage warns Australia of potential war with China in coming years,” “National security expert Ross Babbage warns ‘strong possibility’ of war with China in latest book,” and “‘Running out of time’: Xi may move on Taiwan in next few years.” Again, not one mention of Babbage’s conflict of interests.

All for a news story that (and I cannot stress this enough) is not a news story. A war machine-funded think tanker saying he wants more war is not a news story — it’s just a thing that happens when the war machine is allowed to pay people to be warmongers.

“War Machine-Funded Warmonger Wants More War.” That’s your headline. That’s the one and only headline this non-story could ever deserve, if any.

Propaganda and censorship are the two most important tools of imperial narrative control, and it’s very telling that Australia is ramping them both up as the nation is being transformed into a weapon for the US empire to use against China. Steps are being taken to ensure that the Australian populace will be on board with whatever agendas the empire has planned for us in the coming years, and judging from what we’re seeing right now, it isn’t going to be pretty.

The Indian Finance Minister brings the smackdown on Obama:

Obama remarks on India’s treatment of Muslims ‘hypocritical’ – minister

India’s finance minister has derided comments by the former US president Barack Obama that Narendra Modi’s government should protect the rights of minority Muslims, accusing Obama of being hypocritical.

During the Indian prime minister’s state visit to the US last week, Obama told CNN that the issue of the “protection of the Muslim minority in a majority-Hindu India” would be worth raising in Modi’s meeting with the US president, Joe Biden. ...

The Indian finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said she was shocked Obama had made such remarks when Modi was visiting the US aiming to deepen relations.

“He was commenting on Indian Muslims … having bombed Muslim-majority countries from Syria to Yemen … during his presidency,” Sitharaman told a press conference on Sunday. “Why would anyone listen to any allegations from such people?“

Trump Tells FORBIDDEN Truth About U.S. Foreign Policy!

Guatemala election takes unexpected turn as centrist claims place in runoff

Guatemala’s presidential election has thrown up a major surprise with the centrist Bernardo Arévalo claiming a spot in the second round amid growing anger over political corruption and the erosion of democracy in Central America’s most populous nation.

Alongside El Salvador and Nicaragua, Guatemala is one of several Central American countries which has taken an alarming authoritarian turn in recent years, with activists denouncing growing attacks on the media and more than two dozen judges and prosecutors forced into exile. Earlier this month, one of the country’s leading journalists, José Rubén Zamora, was jailed for six years in what was widely seen as a political witch-hunt.

On Sunday, more than 5 million voters turned out to choose their next leader with three establishment figures widely tipped as the frontrunners including Sandra Torres, a veteran politician and former first lady who has faced corruption accusations, and Zury Ríos, the daughter of the former military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt.

However, it was centre-left Arévalo, 64, who unexpectedly grabbed the headlines – and a place in a runoff scheduled for 20 August – by claiming second place with about 12% of the vote. He will face Torres, who came first with 15%, and hopes to become Guatemala’s first female leader in what is her third presidential run. An even greater number of voters, about 17%, spoiled their votes in what analysts and Arévalo backers saw as a clear sign of public frustration with the country’s political elites.

SCOTUS Justice Wife CAUGHT In Corrupt Deal

Wife's Oil and Gas Leasing Deal Raises New Ethics Concerns About Justice Alito

Advocates for ethical government on Monday sounded the alarm on a report revealing that the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito leased property in Oklahoma to a fossil fuel company around the same time that the firm was involved in a case before the high court from which the judge did not recuse himself.

According toThe Intercept, Martha Ann Bomgardner Alito last June leased a 160-acre plot of land in Grady County, Oklahoma, just southwest of Oklahoma City, to Citizen Energy III under an agreement that she would be paid 3/16ths of all the money the company made from oil and gas sales.

Last month, Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, which severely curtailed protections under the Waters of the United States rule, as Common Dreamsreported at the time. The environmental legal advocacy group Earthjusticecalled the ruling "a catastrophic loss for water protections across the country and a win for big polluters, putting our communities, public health, and local ecosystems" in peril.

The high court's review was well underway at the time of the lease deal, with the justices agreeing to take the case in January 2022 and hearing arguments that October.

"There need not be a specific case involving the drilling rights associated with a specific plot of land for Alito to understand what outcomes in environmental cases would buttress his family's net wealth," Jeff Hauser, founder and director of the watchdog Revolving Door Project, told The Intercept.

"Alito does not have to come across like a drunken Paul Thomas Anderson character gleefully confessing to drinking our collective milkshakes in order to be a real-life, run-of-the-mill political villain," Hauser added.

As Daniel Boguslaw wrote for The Intercept:

In the past, Alito has often recused himself from cases that pose potential conflicts of interest with his vast investment portfolio. Many of these recusals were born from an inheritance of stocks after the death of Alito's father-in-law, Bobby Gene Bomgardner. Because Citizen Energy III isn't implicated in any cases before the Supreme Court, Alito's holding in Oklahoma doesn't appear to pose any direct conflicts of interest. But it does add context to a political outlook that has alarmed environmentalists since Alito's confirmation hearing in 2006—and cast recent decisions that embolden the oil and gas industry in a damning light.

During his 2006 Senate confirmation hearing, Alito appeared to set a high ethical bar for himself by stating justices should recuse themselves from cases in which "any possible question" might arise regarding "the appearance of impropriety."

The new revelation comes hot on the heels of a ProPublicareport that exposed a previously undisclosed luxury fishing trip in Alaska that Alito was gifted by billionaire and GOP megadonor Paul Singer, whose hedge fund repeatedly had cases before the Supreme Court from which Alito declined to recuse himself.

Biden Admin CONFRONTED On Hunter Lies

List of witnesses against Trump cannot be secret in documents case, judge rules

The federal judge presiding over the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump in the classified documents case ruled against the government in her first pre-trial order on Monday, denying a request from federal prosecutors to file a list of potential witnesses against the former US president under seal.

“The government’s motion does not explain why filing the list with the court is necessary; it does not offer a particularized basis to justify sealing the list from public view,” the US district court judge Aileen Cannon wrote.

The ruling from Cannon means that the list of 84 witnesses who may testify against Trump at trial would be made available publicly and offer clues about the case prosecutors are bringing, unless the government files a new motion with a detailed rationale for submitting it under seal.

CNN Airs LEAKED Trump Tape; Documents-Obsessed MSM DOESN’T Care if Trump Gets Fair Hearing

Louisiana may gain new majority-Black district after supreme court order

Louisiana may have to redraw its congressional map to add a second majority-Black district ahead of the 2024 election after a supreme court order on Monday.

The justices on Monday lifted a pause it had imposed in a lawsuit challenging the map last year. Last June, US district judge Shelly Dick ruled that the state’s congressional plan likely violated the Voting Rights Act and ordered the state to redraw it. Black voters comprise about a third of Louisiana’s population but only make up a majority in one of the state’s six congressional districts. The court paused the ruling while it considered a similar case challenging Alabama’s congressional map.

The court resolved the Alabama case, Allen v Milligan, earlier this month, ruling – in a surprising move – that Alabama had to add a second majority-Black district. The decision shores up the legal precedent to require Louisiana to do the same. ///

There are high levels of racially polarized voting in Louisiana, experts have testified in the case, with Black voters preferring Democratic candidates. Democrats are likely to add another district in Alabama. There are also political implications for control of the US House, where Republicans currently have a 222-212 advantage (there is currently one vacancy in a Democratic district in Rhode Island).

Shipping emissions could be halved without damaging trade, research finds

Greenhouse gas emissions from shipping could be halved by 2030 without damaging trade, new research has found, as countries prepare to meet to discuss a potential new tax on carbon produced by ships.

Emissions from maritime transportation amount to about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and there are few alternatives to the cheap, heavy and dirty diesel oil used by ships.

But the sector has been slow to take up emissions-cutting technologies, and an increasing number of countries want to see a tax on shipping to encourage shipowners to invest in emissions reduction and fund the rescue of countries stricken by climate disaster.

The International Maritime Organization, the UN division that governs global shipping, will meet in London today for a fortnight of talks on decarbonising and the potential for a new levy of up to $100 (£78) a tonne of carbon produced by ships.

A shipping levy was discussed by nearly 40 world leaders and the heads of global financial institutions last week in Paris. The summit for a new global financing pact, hosted by French president Emmanuel Macron, heard arguments from developed and developing countries in favour of a tax, the revenues of which would flow to the “loss and damage” fund, to help countries suffering the ravages of extreme weather.

Weather tracker: extreme heat to spread across southern US and Mexico

Extreme and prolonged heat looks set to continue across the southern states of the US and Mexico through this week. This heatwave, which has already brought record temperatures across Texas through the past two weeks, will extend into states such as Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana over the coming days.

At least 50 million people have been placed under extreme heat advisories as temperatures are forecast to soar at least 5-10C above the climatological average, with daily maximum temperatures reaching 40-45C (104-113F). San Angelo airport in Texas has already recorded two consecutive days where the temperature hit 45.6C (114F), which surpasses its highest ever temperature by three degrees.

This heat will continue to put stress on power grids across the southern states and Mexico. Texas in particular is uniquely vulnerable to power failures as it is the only state in the contiguous US that is disconnected from the national grid. As a result, the power grid operator for Texas has asked residents to voluntarily cut back on electricity due to anticipated record demand.

Also of Interest

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

Putin Orders Reality Check – No Ukrainians Left on the Battlefield, No Sovereignty in Kiev

Patrick Lawrence: Breaking Bread with Authoritarians

West Bank: Over 85 settler attacks recorded under one week

‘You Can’t Win War with Antibiotics’: Israel-Ukraine Relations Deteriorates

What’s The Good Future Look Like In Environmental Collapse?

Marjorie Taylor Greene implies she thinks she’s being spied on via her TV

Camera brings ‘unprecedented clarity’ to restoration of historic artworks

NYC Cracking Down On PIZZA?! Wood-Burning Pizza Ovens Are LATEST Dem Target

A Little Night Music

Billy Gayles (With Ike Turner's Rhythm Rockers) - Do Right Baby

Billy Gayles - Take Your Fine Frame Home

Billy Gayles (With Ike Turner's Rhythm Rockers) - If I Never Had Known You

Billy Gayles ft. Ike Turner's Rhythm Rockers - Dreaming Of You

Billy Gayles (With Ike Turner's Rhythm Rockers) - I'm Tore Up

Billy Gayles & Group - Let's Call It A Day

Billy Gayles - Just One More Time

Billy Gayles (With Ike Turner's Rhythm Rockers) - No Coming Back

Billy Gayles (With Ike Turner's Rhythm Rockers) - Sad As A Man Can Be