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This evening's music features Chicago blues guitarist Hound Dog Taylor. Enjoy!

"It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."

-- Anne Frank

News and Opinion

Assange Is Free, But US Spite Will Chill Reporting for Years

Assange’s loved ones and supporters are certainly glad to see him come home (Guardian, 6/25/24). But let’s be perfectly clear-eyed: The entire ordeal and his plea deal are proof of a hostile climate toward a free press in the United States and the wider world, and its chilling effect on investigative journalism could substantially worsen.

Assange’s deal has echoes of the end of the West Memphis Three case, where three Arkansas men were wrongfully convicted as teenagers of a heinous triple homicide in 1993 (Innocence Project, 8/19/11). The three re-entered guilty pleas in exchange for time served. They won their freedom, but their names were still attached to a terrible crime, and the state of Arkansas was able to close the case, ensuring the real killer or killers would never be held accountable. It was an imperfect resolution, but no one could blame the victims of a gross injustice for taking the freedom grudgingly offered.

Something similar is happening with Assange. It compounds the persecution already inflicted on him to force him to declare that exposing US government misdeeds was itself a high crime.

“On a human level, we’re thrilled that he’s out of prison, including the time in the embassy,” said Chuck Zlatkin, a founding member of NYC Free Assange, a group that has held regular protests calling for his release. “We’re thrilled for him personally.”

But the deal shows how eager the US government is to both save face and remain a threatening force against investigative reporters.

As Seth Stern, the director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation (6/24/24), said in a statement:

It’s good news that the DoJ is putting an end to this embarrassing saga. But it’s alarming that the Biden administration felt the need to extract a guilty plea for the purported crime of obtaining and publishing government secrets. That’s what investigative journalists do every day.

The plea deal won’t have the precedential effect of a court ruling, but it will still hang over the heads of national security reporters for years to come. The deal doesn’t add any more prison time or punishment for Assange. It’s purely symbolic. The administration could’ve easily just dropped the case, but chose to instead legitimize the criminalization of routine journalistic conduct and encourage future administrations to follow suit. And they made that choice knowing that Donald Trump would love nothing more than to find a way to throw journalists in jail.

And that is all happening while threats against leakers and journalists remain. Edward Snowden, the source in the Guardian’s investigation (6/11/13) into National Security Agency surveillance, still resides in Russia in order to evade arrest. I recently wrote about the excessive sentencing of the man who leaked tax documents to ProPublica and the New York Times showing how lopsided the tax system is in favor of the rich (FAIR.org, 2/2/24). NSA contractor Reality Winner was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking documents to the Intercept on the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 US election (Vanity Fair, 10/12/23).

Laura Poitras, one of the journalists who brought Snowden’s revelations about NSA surveillance to light, said that Assange’s conviction could silence reporters doing investigative reporting on the US government (New York Times, 12/21/20). Chelsea Manning, Assange’s source for these investigations, spent only seven years in prison out of the 35 years of her sentence thanks to presidential clemency, but that is still a harrowing experience (NPR, 5/17/17).

Worse, some in the so-called free press have rallied behind the government. The Wall Street Journal editorial board (4/11/19) cheered the legal crusade against Assange, arguing that the leaks harmed national security. “Assange has never been a hero of transparency or democratic accountability,” the Murdoch-owned broadsheet proclaimed.

The neoconservative journal Commentary (4/12/19) dismissed the free press defenders of Assange, saying of Wikileaks’ investigations into US power: “This was not transparency. It was sabotage.”

And the British Economist (4/17/19) said, in support of Assange’s extradition to the US:

WikiLeaks did some good in its early years, exposing political corruption, financial malfeasance and military wrongdoing. But the decision to publish over 250,000 diplomatic cables in 2010 was malicious. The vast majority of messages revealed no illegality or misdeeds. Mr. Assange’s reckless publication of the unredacted versions of those cables the following year harmed America’s interests by putting its diplomatic sources at risk of reprisals, persecution or worse.

Unsurprisingly, Murdoch outlets gave the plea deal a thumbs down. “Don’t fall for the idea that Mr. Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is a persecuted ‘publisher,’” the Wall Street Journal editorial board (6/25/24) warned.

The New York Post editorial board (6/25/24) disparaged Assange’s motives, saying he “wasn’t interested in justice or exposing true abuse; he simply relished obtaining and releasing any secret government or political material, particularly if US-based.” Alleging that the documents he published were sensitive, the paper argued in favor of government secrecy: “Uncle Sam needs to keep some critical secrets, especially when lives are on the line.”

In reality, US intelligence and military officials have never been able to trace any deaths to WikiLeaks‘ revelations (BBC, 12/1/10; Guardian, 7/31/13; NPR, 4/12/19)—and certainly have never identified any damage anywhere nearly as serious as the very real harms it exposed. (NPR did quote a former State Department lawyer who complained that WikiLeaks‘ exposes “can really chill the ability of those American personnel to build those sorts of relationships and have frank conversations with their contacts.”)  Alas, some publications side with state power even if journalistic freedom is at stake (FAIR.org, 4/18/19).

Assange’s case is over, but he walks away a battered man as a result of the legal struggle. And that serves as a warning to other journalists who rely on brave people in high levels of power to disclose injustices. Stern is right: Another Trump administration would be horrendous for journalists. But the current situation with the Democratic administration is already chilling.

“All he was being punished for was telling the truth about war crimes committed by this country,” Zlatkin told FAIR.

And without a real change in how the Espionage Act is used against journalists, the ability to tell the truth to the rest of the world is at risk.

“We’re still not in a situation where we as a general population are getting the truth of what’s being done in our name,” Zlatkin said. “So the struggle continues.”

The FBI Wanted Assange to Die in Prison. Here’s the Real Reason They Let Him Out.

There Is No Possibility Of Sovereignty As Long As The US Empire Exists

You can’t separate agendas of sovereignty and self-determination from the massive global power structure which backs those stated agendas for its own interests. You have to be real about this.

You can’t separate the agenda of national sovereignty and self-determination for the Jewish people from the US-centralized empire’s agenda to dominate and destabilize the middle east. You have to be real about the fact that those agendas are inseparably intertwined, and about the fact that Israel being a permanent part of the US power structure isn’t actually independence and self-determination. And you have to respond to this reality accordingly.

You can’t separate the agenda of national sovereignty and self-determination for the Ukrainians from the US-centralized empire’s agenda to weaken Russia and absorb it into the imperial power structure. You have to be real about the fact that these agendas are intertwined, and that the empire actually wants to dominate Ukraine for itself. You can’t just psychologically compartmentalize away from this reality to make your infantile Good Guys vs Bad Guys view of this conflict make sense.

You can’t separate the agenda of national sovereignty and self-determination for Taiwan from the US-centralized empire’s agenda to weaken, balkanize and subjugate China. You have to be real about the fact that the powerful people claiming to want Taiwanese “independence” actually want a vassal state off mainland China’s coast from which Beijing can be undermined and encircled, and that the salami tactics we’re seeing to pull Taiwan into the western power structure are inseparably intertwined with the advocacy for an independent Taiwan.

You can’t separate the agenda of national sovereignty and self-determination for the Kurds from the US-centralized empire’s agenda to balkanize, regime change and absorb Syria. You have to be real about the fact that this imperial agenda is inseparably interwoven with the agenda to create the “Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria” aka Rojava, which is being carved away from Syria at immense cost to Damascus with the direct facilitation of the US war machine. You can’t just pretend this isn’t happening and act like there’s some kind of organic anarchist movement there that is somehow separable from these agendas.

If you desire the sovereignty and self-determination of any group of people, your first and foremost task is to seek the dismantling of the US-centralized empire, because that’s the power structure that is doing the most around the world to undermine this possibility. As long as a population is in any way intertwined with the agendas of a globe-dominating empire that’s doing everything it can to bring everyone under its control, then there is no possibility of that population gaining any real self-determination. If they remain aligned with those agendas, all they can ever hope to be is subjects of the empire.

Anyone who refuses to be real about this fact is acting in service of the empire, either knowingly or unknowingly. They’re either knowingly acting to facilitate the interests of the empire and its managers, or they’re avoiding facing the inconvenient realities of the situation in order to have a simpler, more easy-to-digest worldview.

Part of coming into maturity is forming a fact-based relationship with the realities of our world. To whatever extent you are failing to be real about the facts of our situation here, your worldview is based on lies.

Max Blumenthal : Israeli Meddling in US Politics.

'Genocide Denial': Tlaib, Lee Slam Bipartisan Effort to Suppress Gaza Death Toll

Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Barbara Lee took to the House floor Wednesday to denounce an amendment to next year's State Department spending bill that would ban U.S. officials from using agency funding to cite casualty figures provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz's (D-Fla.) amendment to H.R. 8771, the State Department Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2025, passed by a vote of 269-144 on Thursday with broad bipartisan support. The bipartisan measure—co-sponsored by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), and Carol Miller (R-W.Va.)—bans State Department officials from using agency funds to cite any statistics from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

"How absolutely unconscionable that my colleagues are offering an amendment to prevent our U.S. government from even citing the Palestinian death toll," said Tlaib (D-Mich.). "Since 1948... there has been a coordinated effort, especially in this chamber, to dehumanize Palestinians and erase Palestinians from existence."

"The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians did not end in 1948," Tlaib continued. "Today... we are witnessing the Israeli apartheid government carry out a genocide in Gaza, and in real time, and this amendment is an attempt to hide it."

NEW: House has voted 269-144 to ban giving funds to the State Department to cite the Gaza Health Ministry, undermining the organization’s death & injury figures.

The amendment was led by Democratic Reps. Moskowitz & Gottheimer and Republicans Wilson (SC), Lawler, Miller (WV). https://t.co/uFnvFPrULQ

— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) June 27, 2024

Noting the "more than 15,000 Palestinian children" killed by Israel's bombs, bullets, and starvation-inducing siege, Tlaib said that "six children... are killed in Gaza every single hour."

"But Palestinians are not just numbers," she said. "Behind these numbers are real people—mothers, fathers, sons, daughters who have their lives stolen from them and their families torn apart, and we should not be trying to hide it."

"These are innocent children and babies who have been bombed in their tents, burned alive, dismembered, and deliberately starved to death. Where is our shared humanity in this chamber?" Tlaib asked. "There is so much anti-Palestinian racism in this chamber that my colleagues don't even want to acknowledge that Palestinians exist at all—not when they're alive, and now, not even when they're dead."

"It's absolutely disgusting," she said. "This is genocide denial."

"I won't remain silent as the only Palestinian-American serving in Congress, while folks attempt to erase those who were killed with our own weapons," the congresswoman vowed, holding up a thick ream of paper that she said was a list of Palestinians killed during the war, to be entered into the Congressional Record.

"The list is too long that I can't even submit it because of the text limit," she added.

Lee (D-Calif.) said that the Gaza Health Ministry's data is "often the only information available about what is happening on the ground in Gaza."

"This amendment would severely inhibit the United States government's ability to assess the situation," she warned.

"Israel has sealed Gaza's borders barring foreign journalists and others who can offer this reporting," Lee added. "The journalists and medical professionals who are there are unable to account for all of the bodies trapped under rubble and discovered in mass graves."

Lee noted that the Gaza Health Ministry's figures "have been found to be credible in the past, holding up to United Nations scrutiny, independent investigations, and even Israel's tallies."

Israel Defense Forces officials have also concurred with the roughly 2:1 civilian-to-militant fatality figure claimed by the Gaza Health Ministry.

In February, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged that "over 25,000" Palestinian women and children had been killed in Gaza up to that date, although the Pentagon subsequently attempted to walk back his admission.

President Joe Biden has been accused of genocide denial for casting aspersions on Gaza Health Ministry casualty reports.

"The president paved the way for horrific amendments like these when he questioned Palestinian death counts that were deemed credible by independent human rights organizations and our own State Department," said Tariq Habash, a former U.S. Education Department official who resigned earlier this year over the Biden administration's support for Israel's war on Gaza.

Moskowitz—whose all-time top campaign contributor is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)—contended Wednesday that "at the end of the day, the Gaza Ministry of Health is the Hamas Ministry of Health" while disdaining "the idea that the United States government would rely on a terrorist organization for statistics."

However, the State Department has repeatedly—and uncritically—cited the ministry's figures in past reports on previous Israeli attacks on Gaza.

In November, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf testified before Congress that the true death toll from the current Israeli war on Gaza is likely "even higher" than reported, as thousands of Palestinians are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed-out buildings.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 37,765 Palestinians—mostly women and children—have been killed during Israel's 265-day assault on the embattled strip. More than 86,400 Gazans have been wounded, and over 11,000 others are missing.

Israel's conduct in the war is the subject of an ongoing genocide trial at the International Court of Justice. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is also seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including extermination and forced starvation, as well as three Hamas leaders for alleged extermination and other crimes.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also recently added Israel and Hamas—whose political wing has governed Gaza for a generation—to its "List of Shame" of countries and governments that kill and harm children.

Prof. John Mearsheimer : Israel’s Deep Troubles

Close Ties to Israel Risk Cyprus Being Drawn Into Lebanon War

While there is much focus on a possible Israeli re-invasion of Lebanon, the first since 2006, it appears the nearby island nation Cyprus may become embroiled, with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warning Cyprus against giving Israel access to military bases or airports. ...

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides meantime has downplayed the possibility of such entanglement in the conflict, insisting Cyprus remains uninvolved and will remain uninvolved in Israel’s wars.

However, Cyprus’ involvement in the Gaza War and potential involvement in the invasion of Lebanon, is more complicated than this blanket denial claims. Turkey, for one, has been very public in accusing Cyprus of “serious militarization” that it claims is turning the small nation into a military base targeting Gaza.

At the core of the issue are British military bases in Cyprus. The United States openly uses one of these bases to transport American arms to Israel for use in the Gaza War. Britain refuses to confirm or deny whether its bases are used by Israel to bomb the Gaza Strip, but it has been reported that Britain has flown surveillance flights over the Gaza Strip from Cypriot bases.

Turkey says Cyprus has become a military base targeting Gaza

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara has received intelligence reports that indicated Cyprus had become a military base for operations in Gaza.

“We constantly see in intelligence that the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus is a base for certain countries in operations targeting Gaza,” he said during an interview broadcast by Haberturk on Monday.

“When we brought this to the agenda, our European counterparts suddenly declared it a logistics base.”

Fidan added that using the island for military operations nearby would benefit neither Greece nor the Greek administration in the divided island, and said that calling it a “logistics hub” was an attempt to veil military operations.

“The regional actors need to see this. There is serious militarisation there,” he said. “It needs to be prevented.”

Israel Pounds South Lebanon Town With White Phosphorous

Amid growing fear of a full-scale invasion, Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes against the southern Lebanon town of Khiam, using incendiary white phosphorous bombs, according to the National News Agency.

Israel has not commented on the use of white phosphorous in a populated civilian area, nor is it likely to. The extent of any casualties is not known at the present.

US imposes fresh sanctions on Iran over apparent nuclear escalations

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has announced fresh sanctions against Iran’s petroleum sector in response to what he described as an expansion of the country’s nuclear programme which has provoked renewed fears that it is preparing to build an atomic bomb.

The embargoes – on three unnamed entities involved in the transport of Iranian petroleum or petrochemical products – were announced amid a chorus of warnings of a renewed conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Iran’s proxy Hezbollah, the powerful Shia group that dominates Lebanon.

In a statement on Thursday, Blinken said Iran had expanded its uranium enrichment programme in the past month “in ways that have no credible peaceful purpose”. ...

“Iran’s actions to increase its enrichment capacity are all the more concerning in light of Iran’s continued failure to cooperate with the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and statements by Iranian officials suggesting potential changes to Iran’s nuclear doctrine,” Blinken said.

He was referring to recent comments by Kamal Kharazzi, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that the country could revise its defence doctrine to permit the building of nuclear weapons following a series of military exchanges with Israel in April. “We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb but should Iran’s existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine,” Kharrazi said. “In the case of an attack on our nuclear facilities by the Zionist regime, our deterrence will change.”

Dr. Gilbert Doctorow : Russian Retaliation!

CNN: Biden Will Pay US Military Contractors to Work Inside Ukraine

President Joe Biden is preparing to sign off on hiring American military contractors to work in Ukraine. If the White House moves forward with the proposal, it will be another significant escalation in the proxy war in Ukraine.

Four unnamed US officials told CNN that Biden is shifting his policy and would soon allow private soldiers from American mercenary firms to aid the fight in Ukraine. The change is expected to take effect sometime later this year.

Initially, the White House sees the contractors fixing American-made advanced military equipment, such as the F-16 fighter jet. The Kremlin says the warplanes, which are set to arrive in Ukraine later this year, present a nuclear threat to Moscow, and vows to eliminate the bases they are stationed at, inside or outside of Ukrainian borders.

Russian promise, Pentagon worries

Moscow Signals It May Downgrade Relations With the West

Amid recent escalations in the Ukraine proxy war, the Russian Federation is considering downgrading relations with the West, though no decision has been made yet. This comes less than a week after Kiev launched long-range missile strikes on Crimea, leaving four Russians dead and well over 100 wounded. Moscow vowed “retaliatory measures” would follow.

Downgrading ties with the West as a result of NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine would be unprecedented. At the height of the previous Cold War, during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, relations between the two nuclear superpowers were never abandoned. Currently, the US and its allies in Europe maintain embassies in Russia and, likewise, Moscow still operates its diplomatic facilities in Washington and European capitals. However, diplomats report working in the most hostile environment in decades. ...

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described “the issue of lowering the level of diplomatic relations” as “standard practice for states” facing “unfriendly or hostile manifestations.” He added: “Due to the growing involvement of the West in the conflict over Ukraine, the Russian Federation cannot but consider various options for responding to such hostile Western intervention in the Ukrainian crisis.”

Oklahoma state superintendent orders public schools to teach the Bible

Oklahoma’s state superintendent has announced that all schools are required to teach the Bible and the Ten Commandments, a dramatic move that reignites the conversation about the separation of church and state.

In a state board of education meeting on Thursday, state superintendent of public instruction Ryan Walters announced a new memo “that every school district will adhere to, which is that every teacher, every classroom in the state will have a Bible in the classroom and will be teaching from the Bible in the classroom to ensure that this historical understanding is there for every student in the state of Oklahoma in accordance with our academic standards and state law”.

Walters called the Bible “one of the most foundational documents used for the constitution and the birth of our country”.

He added: “The Bible is a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country, to have a complete understanding of western civilization, to have an understanding of the basis of our legal system.”

Walters is also behind the recent push to create a new religious charter school which, like public schools, are funded by taxpayer dollars. But in a 6-2 decision, the Oklahoma supreme court ruled that the contract between the Oklahoma statewide virtual charter school board and the religious charter school was unconstitutional.’

“Step Aside Joe”: After First Pres. Debate, Democrats Reeling from Biden Missteps & Trump Lies

DEBATE REACTION: Biden's Undeniable Decline on Display; Dems in Panic

Jamaal Bowman, AIPAC, Phony Progressives, and Black Misleadership

It is clear that Congressional Black Congress Member Jamaal Bowman succumbed to the power of the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) and the $20 million it raised for his primary opponent, George Latimer. But perhaps that analysis is too obvious and lets Bowman off the hook for his own political demise. Black Agenda Report had previously reported on the shallow nature of Bowman’s political appeal. He is a self-described “progressive” and a member of the Squad, a group of pretend leftists who give the Democratic Party leadership cover to cut deals with republicans, corporate interests, and the military industrial complex.

Bowman gets media attention for arguing with Marjorie Taylor Greene, the conservative liberals love to hate, and for making a video of himself which consists of nothing but laughter and calling Donald Trump a clown. The coup de grace of foolishness was his lack of impulse control which caused him to pull a fire alarm when there was no fire. He later claimed to have done so by mistake when he hurried to the House floor to vote, an embarrassment for which he was also censured..

Bowman is in short a fake and a phony but one need not have substance in order to come under attack from the Israel lobby. After Bowman rightly pointed out that Israel was committing genocide and that the United States should work towards a ceasefire in Gaza, zionist democrats took revenge and recruited George Latimer to challenge him in the primary.

This race brings up an age old political question for Black people. Should the light weight goofball be supported when in danger of losing his office because of big money pressure from a group of white people or should he be treated with the same indifference that he meted out to them? Bowman’s absence, like his presence, probably won’t matter very much.

Green Party Jill Stein on RISING!

US supreme court puts hold on EPA attempt to reduce pollution that drifts across states

The US supreme court has decided to put a hold on an attempt by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce harmful air pollution that drifts across state lines. The conservative-dominated court has granted a temporary halt to the EPA rule while a lower court challenge to it plays out, siding with three states – Ohio, West Virginia and Indiana – and industry allies that are attempting to derail requirements that prevent pollution from billowing into neighboring states.

A 5-4 majority of the court, with Amy Coney Barrett joining the three liberal justices in dissent, decided that the EPA “offered no reasoned response” to concerns from upwind states over changes in their future obligations under the plan. “The court grants the states’ application to put the rule on hold while the case proceeds in the lower courts,” the majority ruled, adding that it was likely the EPA would lose its case in the lower Washington DC circuit court. Barrett, in her dissent, wrote that the court “justifies this decision based on an alleged procedural error that likely had no impact on the plan”.

The supreme court took up an emergency request by the three states to hear the case, thereby fast-tracking it for oral arguments that took place in February. The decision to side with the challenge to the EPA rules, which environmental groups have called “extraordinary, premature and harmful”, threatens the future of what is known as the US’s “good neighbor” pollution regulations.

“Giving corporate polluters a pass to keep prioritizing profits over people is a devastating outcome for public health, especially as we prepare for a summer that could be one of the worst smog seasons on record,” said Holly Bender, chief energy officer at the Sierra Club. Bender said that the decision sets a “dangerous precedent” by allowing polluting industries to get emergency hearings in the supreme court. “Today’s decision is not only harmful to communities breathing polluted air, but to democracy itself,” she added.

British Columbia investigates claims energy company ‘dramatically’ influenced climate policy

British Columbia’s attorney general has called for an investigation into possible violations of provincial law after a Canadian oil and gas executive claimed the company improperly used political connections to “dramatically’’ weaken the province’s environmental policies.

In leaked audio recordings first published by the Narwhal and heard by the Guardian, the executive, Liam Iliffe, claimed that TC Energy, a Calgary-based pipeline company with operations spanning the continent, had ghostwritten ministerial briefing notes and planted employees “next to the strawberries or the romaine lettuce” at a Costco supermarket to choreograph seemingly impromptu meetings with senior bureaucrats in order to push the company’s agenda.

Iliffe, who has since resigned, was a former senior adviser to British Columbia premier John Horgan, and joined TC Energy less than a year after leaving government.

The recordings were made during two “lunch and learn” sessions attended by roughly 150 people in both February and March 2024. In them, Iliffe and other TC Energy employees can be heard making claims about the company’s efforts to influence and shape climate policy in British Columbia, with the aim of expanding its liquified natural gas operations. In the presentation, they allege that the company had worked to shift the views of BC premier David Eby, who has over recent years appeared to soften his previously stated position that it would not be possible to continue expanding fossil-fuel infrastructure and still meet climate goals.

“We’ve had some really remarkable results in terms of our message being repeated back to us by key decision-makers in government,” Iliffe can be heard saying. Iliffe also suggested the company was able to “dramatically” influence the province’s recent carbon-tax rate adjustment.

Also of Interest

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

German Foreign Minister Baerbock supports Israel’s genocide and war offensive in the Middle East

Ketanji Brown Jackson pens fiery dissent in abortion ruling: ‘Facilitating suffering of people’

Kinky Friedman, country singer known as ‘Jewish cowboy’, dies aged 79

Whole Foods Selling Rubberized Fruit As Organic!

Phil Giraldi : Boots On The Ground Fraud.....

A Little Night Music

Hound Dog Taylor & Little Walter - Wild About You Baby

Hound Dog Taylor - Sadie

Hound dog Taylor And the Houserockers - She's Gone

Hound Dog Taylor - Taylor's Rock

Hound Dog Taylor - Sitting Here Alone

Hound Dog Taylor - Ain't Got Nobody

Hound Dog Taylor - Take Five

Hound Dog Taylor - 55th Street Boogie

Hound Dog Taylor - Talk To My Baby aka I Can't Hold Out

Hound Dog Taylor - Dust My Broom