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This evening's music features blues shouter Jimmy "T99" Nelson. Enjoy!

"Everyone’s acting shocked and outraged at the Supreme Court ruling that Donald Trump and other former presidents are largely immune from criminal prosecution, as though presidents getting prosecuted for their crimes is something that’s been happening this entire time.

It’s like oh wow you’re saying powerful people won’t have to abide by the same rules as normal people in America anymore?

Guess they’ll have to release all those former US presidents who’ve been imprisoned for their war crimes and crimes against humanity now. Thanks a lot, Supreme Court."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, convicted over 1975 FBI killings, denied parole

Leonard Peltier, the 79-year-old Indigenous activist who has spent nearly 50 years in prison for the 1975 murders of two FBI agents, has been denied parole. Many fear the ruling all but ensures that the longest-imprisoned Indigenous American will die behind bars.

Peltier has maintained his innocence since he was arrested in connection with the deaths that occurred at the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota. For decades, advocates such as Coretta Scott King, Nelson Mandela, Pope Francis and James H Reynolds, the US attorney who handled the prosecution and appeal of Peltier’s case, have fought for his release.

Despite evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and due process violations throughout his trial, Peltier will now remain in prison at least until 2026, when the US Parole Commission set his next hearing. His health has severely declined over the past few years, and his supporters considered his most recent hearing, which occurred last month, his last chance of not dying in prison. ...

Neither Peltier nor his supporters are confident he will live to see his 2026 parole date.

Dennis Kucinich : Why Congress Loves War

Former Israeli PM Admits Israel’s War Crimes Can’t Happen Without US Support

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has been launching a forceful attack on Benjamin Netanyahu in both US and Israeli media for sabotaging peace in Gaza and pushing Israel to the brink with Hezbollah in Lebanon, during which he inadvertently made an interesting acknowledgement which flies in the face of the Biden administration’s feigned powerlessness to rein in Israel’s insanity.

“I accuse the prime minister of Israel of a deliberate attempt to destroy the political-security-military alliance between Israel and the United States,” Olmert writes in an op-ed for Haaretz titled “I Accuse Netanyahu of Betrayal”.

“For many years, Israel’s political stability in the international arena rested on the absolute support of the United States,” writes Olmert, adding, “The entire Israel Air Force relies completely on American aircraft: fighter planes, transport planes, refueler planes and helicopters. All of Israel’s air power is based on the American commitment to defend Israel. We have no other reliable source for essential supplies of equipment, munitions and advanced weapons that Israel cannot manufacture on its own.”

Olmert’s comments echo those made in November of last year by retired Israeli Major General Yitzhak Brick, who said of the Israeli assault on Gaza, “All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the U.S. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability. … Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”

Contrast these frank admissions by longtime Israeli government insiders with the way the Biden administration has been pretending since the early days of this onslaught that there is nothing it can do to force Israel to be less monstrous and murderous in Gaza, constantly posturing as a passive witness to genocidal atrocity after genocidal atrocity while the western press churn out nonstop anonymously-sourced articles about how secretly upset the president is with the Netanyahu regime.

It’s just a simple fact that Israel’s complete dependence on US support means the Biden administration has all the leverage it needs to force an end to Israel’s aggressions at any time, but instead you’ll get White House officials like John Kirby spouting ridiculous nonsense about how Israel is a completely independent nation to whom the US is incapable of dictating any terms whatsoever.

When asked by the press back in February if the US was doing anything to deter Israel from its planned assault on Rafah, for example, Kirby replied as follows:

“[Israel] is a sovereign nation. They plan their military operations, and they conduct their military operations, and they make the choices. It’s not like we give them a homework assignment, and they have to then turn in their plan to us for grading. We have said that from our perspective, as a friend of Israel and as a supporter of their efforts to defend themselves, we would expect that any plan for going into Rafah would properly account for the now more than a million civilians that are seeking refuge down there.”

Israel has since launched a brutal assault on Rafah which features regular massacres of civilians, with the IDF now reportedly working toward the complete capture of the entire city. This despite the White House previously having said that a “major ground operation” in Rafah would be a “red line” for this administration.

The US is just as responsible for what’s happening in Gaza as Israel itself, and will be responsible for everything that happens in Lebanon as well. They could end this at any time, and they choose to keep it going instead. As Noam Chomsky once said during the Second Intifada, “They’re not Israeli helicopters, they’re US helicopters with Israeli pilots.”

Phil Giraldi : Tax Free Dollars to the IDF

Israel risking disastrous war against Hezbollah for political reasons, says former US official

Israel risks going to war against Hezbollah to ensure Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival, but it would be a miscalculation that could lead to mass civilian deaths in both Lebanon and Israel, a former US military intelligence analyst has warned. Harrison Mann, a major in the Defence Intelligence Agency who left the military last month over US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, also told the Guardian that such a disastrous new war would pull the US into a regional conflict.

Despite an announcement in June by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that planning for a Lebanon offensive had been completed, and increasingly bellicose rhetoric from Israeli politicians, US officials have been saying privately that Netanyahu’s government is aware how dangerous a war with Hezbollah would be and is not seeking a fight.

Mann, the most senior US military officer to have quit over Gaza to date, said that assessment was optimistic and that there was a high risk of Israel going to war on its northern border for internal political reasons, led by a prime minister whose continuing hold on power and consequent insulation from corruption charges, depends largely on the nation being at war.

“We know specifically that the Israeli prime minister must continue to be a wartime leader if he wants to prolong his political career and stay out of court, so that motivation is there,” Mann said in an interview. He added that any Israeli government would be sensitive to political pressure from tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from the border area because of Hezbollah rocket and artillery attacks.

On top of that, the Israeli military establishment is convinced that the heavily armed, Iranian-backed Shia militia will have to be confronted sooner rather than later, as it grows in strength, Mann said, but he argued the Israelis have miscalculated the costs of a new war in Lebanon. “I don’t know how realistic their assessments are of the destruction that Israel would incur, and I’m pretty sure they don’t have a realistic idea of how successful they would be against Hezbollah,” the former army officer and intelligence analyst said.

Israeli Generals Want Truce in Gaza, Putting Them at Odds With Netanyahu

Israel’s top generals want a ceasefire in Gaza even if it keeps Hamas in power, putting them at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The report, which cited current and former security officials, said one reason Israel’s top brass favored a pause in Gaza was so that the Israeli military could recuperate to prepare for a full-blown war against Hezbollah in Lebanon

They also believe a ceasefire in Gaza could reduce tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border and make it easier to reach a deal with Lebanon, although Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has previously said a pause in Gaza would be an escalation in Lebanon.

The Israeli military also believes a deal with Hamas is the best way to safely free the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. “The military is in full support of a hostage deal and a ceasefire,” former Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata told the Times.

“This Must End”: Israel Orders New Mass Evacuation, Continuing Attacks on Gaza Health System

Family That Evacuated Khan Younis Slaughtered by Israeli Strike in So-Called ‘Safe Zone’

Nine members of the same family who evacuated Khan Younis were killed by an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday in an area of the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah that Israel declared a so-called “safe zone,” The Associated Press has reported.

Around a dozen members of the Hamdan family fled Khan Younis after Israel gave an evacuation order for the eastern portion of the city, which the UN said will impact about 250,000 Palestinians. The Hamdans found refuge with extended relatives in Deir al-Balah, only for most of them to be slaughtered.

According to AP, a total of 12 people were killed in the Israeli strike on the “safe zone,” including five children and three women. Israel has repeatedly bombed areas it declared safe in Gaza, including the al-Mawasi camp on the coast, which is where the Israeli military said Palestinians evacuating Khan Younis should go.

'Complicit in the Genocide': First Muslim Biden Appointee Resigns Over Gaza

A political appointee at the U.S. Interior Department on Tuesday became the youngest—and first Muslim American—appointee of President Joe Biden's to resign as his administration continues to "fund and enable Israel's genocide of Palestinians."

"Marginalized communities in our country have long been denied the justice they deserve. I joined the Biden-Harris administration with the belief that my voice and diverse perspective would lend a hand in the pursuit of that justice," Special Assistant and Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Maryam Hassanein, 24, said in a statement.

"However, over the past nine months of Israel's genocide in Gaza, this administration has chosen to uphold the status quo instead of listening to the diverse voices of staff urgently demanding freedom and justice for Palestinians," she added. "I am resigning today from my position as a Biden administration appointee in the Department of the Interior."

Hassanein told HuffPost that she decided to resign because "I came to understand that even if the agency I'm working at is not producing foreign policy, serving in the administration in any capacity does essentially make you complicit in the genocide of the Palestinians."

Palestine defenders applauded Hassanein's resignation—which made her at least the 11th American official to step down over U.S. support for Israel's war on Gaza, according to HuffPost.

New ATACMS airbase plan as Ukraine offensive plan fades

Hungary’s Orban Visits Ukraine, Suggests Zelensky Consider a Ceasefire

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made his first wartime visit to Ukraine on Tuesday and suggested to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he agree to a ceasefire with Russia.

Zelensky’s so-called “peace formula,” which he has been pushing as a way to end the war, requires a full Russian withdrawal from Ukraine before negotiations can even happen, a non-starter for talks with Moscow. Orban said he told Zelensky that he should consider agreeing to a ceasefire first. ...

Ihor Zhovkva, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential official, later said that Zelensky dismissed Orban’s proposal. “The President of Ukraine listened to him, but in response, he stated Ukraine’s position – clear, understandable, and well-known,” Zhovkva said, according to The Kyiv Independent.

New Cuban radar site near US military base could aid China spying

Satellite images appear to show that Cuba is building a new radar site likely to be capable of spying on the US’s nearby Guantánamo Bay naval base, in the latest upgrade to the country’s surveillance capabilities long thought to be linked to China.

The base, under construction since 2021 but previously not publicly reported, is east of the city of Santiago de Cuba near the El Salao neighborhood, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report published on Monday and later referenced by the Wall Street Journal.

Cuban vice foreign minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio denied that Cuba was harboring Chinese military interests on the island. “[The] Wall Street Journal persists in launching an intimidation campaign related to #Cuba. Without citing a verifiable source or showing evidence, it seeks to scare the public with tales about Chinese military bases that do not exist and no one has seen, including the US embassy in Cuba,” de Cossio said on social media.

Cuba’s proximity to the US and its southern military bases makes it a good location for China, Washington’s top strategic rival, to seek to collect signals intelligence. The CSIS called the new site a “powerful tool” that once operational will be able to monitor air and maritime activity of the US military.

The facility, known as a circularly disposed antenna array with a diameter of approximately 130-200 meters, could be able to track signals as far as 3,000-8,000 nautical miles (3,452-9,206 miles) away, the CSIS said.

Keir Starmer May Win UK Elections, But Labour Party’s Policies Incite ‘Enormous Anger for Millions’

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Rapper BG ordered to have all future songs approved by US government

A US federal judge has refused prosecutors’ request to prohibit the maker of the 1990s rap classic Bling Bling “from promoting and glorifying future gun violence/murder” in songs and at concerts while on supervised release from prison, saying such a restriction could violate his constitutional right to free speech.

But the artist known as BG must provide the government with copies of any songs he writes moving forward, ahead of their production or promotion – and, if they are deemed to be inconsistent with his goals of rehabilitation, prosecutors could move to toughen the terms governing his supervised release.

That mixed ruling came Friday from US district court judge Susie Morgan in the latest development to a case that prompted discussions in some circles about an American musician’s rights to free expression under his country’s constitution – as well as his need to financially support himself – with federal authorities’ obligation to enforce the supervised prison release plan which he accepted.

Music industry giants including Megan Thee Stallion, Jay-Z, Coldplay and Christina Aguilera have condemned prosecutors’ practice of using rap lyrics as evidence in US criminal courts, saying it disproportionately targets Black artists. But prosecutors have generally not cared to halt the tactic, as the case of BG, whose legal name is Christopher Dorsey, demonstrates.

Tulsa race massacre survivors condemn dismissal of reparations case and urge Biden to act

Tulsa race massacre survivor Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109, made her first public appearance since the Oklahoma supreme court dismissed her historic lawsuit last month. Randle, along with fellow survivor Viola Fletcher, 110, had sought restitution for the survivors and descendants of the 1921 massacre, in which an estimated 300 Black Tulsans were killed, thousands were displaced, and Greenwood, the thriving district once known as “Black Wall Street”, was decimated in an act of racist violence.

A judgment in Randle and Fletcher’s favor would have been the first ruling to address the longstanding damage the massacre had on Tulsa’s Black community. But the court said that while the plaintiffs’ grievances were legitimate, the suit did not fall within the scope of the state’s public nuisance statute.

Randle and Fletcher’s statement on Tuesday, recited by a litigation associate on their behalf, read: “We are deeply saddened that we may not live long enough to see the state of Oklahoma or the United States of America honestly comfort and right the wrongs of one of the darkest days in American history. At 109 and 110 years old, we are elderly and we know that we are living on borrowed time … Oklahoma and the United States of America have failed its Black citizens. This failure is profound, systemic and marred by lip service and clever platitudes.”

Multiple speakers at the press conference cited Joe Biden’s meeting in 2021, when he met with Randle, Fletcher, Fletcher’s younger brother, Hughes Van Ellis, who died last year at 102, and other descendants. “He sat down with my clients. He promised them that he would see that they get justice,” Damario Solomon-Simmons, the lead attorney for the Tulsa survivors, said. “Then he went to the next room and had a robust speech where he told the nation that he stood with the survivors and descendants of the Tulsa race massacre. But now that we have been failed by the courts, now that we have been failed by the Congress, we are calling upon President Biden to fulfill his promise to these survivors, to this community and for Black people across the nation.”

The survivors have called for the president and the Department of Justice to investigate the Tulsa race massacre. With the Oklahoma supreme court’s decision, those calls have been amplified. In the meantime, the survivors’ counsel have filed a petition for a rehearing. During the press conference, they highlighted inconsistencies and alleged issues with the supreme court’s decision.

Biden to meet Democratic governors to assuage fears after debate performance

Joe Biden will meet with Democratic governors on Wednesday as the president faces increasingly concerning polls and growing calls to withdraw his candidacy, including from a congressional Democrat.

Biden will talk with governors and Capitol Hill leaders this week, officials said on Tuesday, to reassure them of his competence and address escalating discontent among party leaders after last week’s calamitous debate performance against Donald Trump. News of the meetings comes after Lloyd Doggett, a congressman from Texas, became the first Democrat in the House of Representatives to publicly urge the president to step aside.

As of Tuesday evening, a House Democratic aide said, there are 25 Democratic members of the House of Representatives preparing to call for Biden to step aside.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday also found that one in three Democrats said Biden should end his re-election campaign following the debate in Atlanta where he gave a low-energy, garbled performance.

How to Replace Biden: Longtime DNC Member Jim Zogby Proposes Process to Pick New Nominee

‘Waiting in the wings’: as Biden stumbles, Gavin Newsom’s name is on everyone’s lips

To paraphrase Jan Brady of the Brady Bunch, lately it’s been “Newsom, Newsom, Newsom” all day long.

He’s been at the Vatican for a climate summit, and in Alpharetta, Georgia, for a televised debate with Florida governor Ron DeSantis. He’s all over the TV, actually – on Fox News and MSNBC, and in advertisements airing in Tennessee.

And ever since Joe Biden’s catastrophic performance at the first presidential debate on CNN, his name has popped up in nearly every list of possible successors. With just four months to go until the presidential election, chances that the president would step aside now are exceedingly remote – but that hasn’t stopped the speculation. Online political betting odds that Gavin Newsom, the California governor, would end up at the top of the presidential ticket this year tripled to a one-in-four chance last week.

For the ambitious governor of the most populous US state, this crowning moment has been a long time in the making. For years, Newsom’s flair for a photo op and steady pursuit of network news spots have fueled speculation about his presidential ambitions, and sparked scepticism among constituents who’d rather he stick to his day job. Now, it seems, the man who has spent the last several years seeking a national stage has finally found himself at the centre of one.

Science, Not Scaremongering: St. Vincent & Grenadines PM on Hurricane Beryl & Climate Crisis

Brutal heatwave to cook US west as Fourth of July wildfire risks loom

A brutal and long-lasting heatwave is threatening to wreak havoc across the US west this week, as sweltering conditions, power shutoffs and a severe uptick in wildfire risks coincide with Fourth of July celebrations. Nearly 90 million people were under heat alerts from the National Weather Service (NWS) on Tuesday morning, as swaths of the south-central and western US were scorched. As pressure builds over the west through the week, the dangerous weather event is expected to stretch for days with little reprieve.

Starting Wednesday, parts of California will be subject to “extreme” levels of heat risk – reaching the highest level on the National Weather Service’s index – that will last until Sunday or longer. In some areas of the state, life-threatening triple-digit temperatures could linger for longer than a week.

“This is going to be a severe, prolonged, potentially record-breaking heatwave that may have large impacts for much of California,” said climate scientist Dr Daniel Swain during a broadcast discussion of the heat event on Monday. The long duration will only add to the potential impacts and intensity, especially because little relief can be expected even after the sun sets. “It just isn’t going to cool off – even at night,” he said.

While central and northern California are expected to bear the brunt of this event, areas in the southern part of the state are also going to cook. Heavily populated centers and rural agricultural enclaves alike could see record-setting highs during the day as well as record overnight temperatures. ... NWS warnings, watches and advisories for excessive heat stretch from south-west Washington into Arizona. In Oregon, areas around the Willamette Valley and Medford will spend days above 100F, and temperatures could reach up to 115F.

Google’s emissions climb nearly 50% in five years due to AI energy demand

Google’s goal of reducing its climate footprint is in jeopardy as it relies on more and more energy-hungry data centres to power its new artificial intelligence products. The tech giant revealed Tuesday that its greenhouse gas emissions have climbed 48% over the past five years.

Google said electricity consumption by data centres and supply chain emissions were the primary cause of the increase. It also revealed in its annual environmental report that its emissions in 2023 had risen 13% compared with the previous year, hitting 14.3m metric tons.

The tech company, which has invested substantially in AI, said its “extremely ambitious” goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2030 “won’t be easy”. It said “significant uncertainty” around reaching the target included “the uncertainty around the future environmental impact of AI, which is complex and difficult to predict”.

Ford chief says Americans need to fall ‘back in love’ with smaller cars

It is time for the US to “get back in love” with smaller cars, according to the chief executive of Ford. In a wide-ranging interview at the Aspen Ideas festival, Jim Farley said the auto industry needs to focus on smaller EVs and commercial vehicles. He acknowledged that American consumers are in “love with these monster vehicles” but said they need to “get back in love” with small cars.

“We have to start to get back in love with smaller vehicles. It’s super important for our society and for EV adoption,” Farley said. “We are just in love with these monster vehicles, and I love them, too, but it’s a major issue with weight.” The average weight of a new vehicle sold in the US last year was 4,329lbs (2,000kg) – an increase of 1,000lbs (450kg) from 1980.

Ford expects to introduce a $30,000 all-electric vehicle that will be profitable in roughly two and a half years, breaking a price barrier that has made the adoption of EVs an unobtainable luxury to all but the auto industry’s wealthiest customers.

Farley told the festival last week that the company’s new EV vehicle would be a competitor of China’s BYD, which the Biden administration is looking to effectively ban from the US market by quadrupling import tariffs. It would also rival a new, entry-level electric car from the US maker Tesla, expected next year.

Farley said Ford would focus on the new vehicle – not larger all-electric trucks and SUVs. Larger vehicles, using internal combustion engines, have traditionally driven US carmakers’ profits, especially at Ford. ... “If we cannot make money on EVs, we have competitors who have the largest market in the world, who already dominate globally, already setting up their supply chain around the world,” Farley said. “And if we don’t make profitable EVs in the next five years, what is the future? We will just shrink into North America.”

Also of Interest

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

Oh No, Now The US Has To Stop Imprisoning Ex-Presidents For Their Crimes!

Confronting NATO’s War Summit in Washington

Air Force base hosted charity golf tournament for Ukrainian neo-Nazis

Julian Assange Freed by the Prospect of Justice

Argentina’s president butts heads with South American leftist leaders

Joe Biden is taking advice from his son, Hunter. This does not inspire confidence

Robert F Kennedy Jr brushes off sexual assault allegation: ‘I am who I am’

Mexico Scores Major Victory Against Bayer-Owned Monsanto As Corn War With US Reaches Pivotal Moment

A Little Night Music

Jimmy "T99" Nelson - I Sat And Cried

Jimmy "T99" Nelson - T 99 Blues

Jimmy Nelson - Meet Me With Your Black Dress On

Jimmy (T99) Nelson - Free And Easy Mind

Jimmy (T99) Nelson - Great Big Hunk of Man

Jimmy "T-99" Nelson - Little Miss Teasin' Brown

Jimmy "T-99" Nelson - Big-Eyed, Brown-Eyed Girl Of Mine

Jimmy (T99) Nelson - She Moves Me

Jimmy (T99) Nelson - Tell me who

Jimmy Nelson - Sweet Sugar Daddy