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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: J.B. Lenoir

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Chicago blues guitarist J.B. Lenoir. Enjoy!

^{J.B Lenoir - Let's Roll}

"President Trump, 2025: [bombs a middle eastern hospital] I bombed that hospital because Muslims are terrorists.

President Harris, 2025: [bombs a middle eastern hospital] Our thoughts are with the victims of this terrible tragedy as we work toward peace and stability in the region."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

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News and Opinion

Iran rejects western plea not to launch retaliatory attack against Israel

Iran has rejected western calls not to retaliate against Israel for the killing in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, late last month. “Such demands lack political logic, are entirely contrary to the principles and rules of international law, and represent an excessive request,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanani, said.

A report on Tuesday from the official IRNA news agency said President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a phone conversation late on Monday with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said that the west’s silence about “unprecedented inhumane crime” in Gaza, and Israeli attacks elsewhere in the Middle East, was “irresponsible” and encouraged Israel to put regional and global security at risk.

Iran and its allies have blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s killing on 31 July during a visit to the Iranian capital for Pezeshkian’s swearing-in as president. Just hours earlier, an Israeli strike in Beirut had killed a senior commander of Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon. Israel has not officially commented on its alleged role in Haniyeh’s death.

“Iran Will Definitely Retaliate – It’s Inevitable and Necessary; the Wrath of Iran is Very Real”

Investigation Details IDF Use of Gaza Civilians as Booby Trap Detectors

Believing that "our lives are more important than their lives," Israel Defense Forces soldiers have widely used Palestinians including civilians as booby trap detectors in Gaza, according to a new Haaretz investigation, the latest of numerous reports detailing IDF use of kidnapped Gazans as human shields.

The report, published Tuesday, features testimonies of IDF soldiers, who said commanders are fully aware of the practice of using captured Palestinians as human shields. One soldier said "there is pride in it," referring to acts considered war crimes under Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.

The IDF's use of human shields in the current Gaza war first drew widespread international attention following a May report from Defense for Children International-Palestine detailing how minors are forced to walk ahead of Israeli soldiers during dangerous raids.

Subsequent Al Jazeera reports of a Palestinian strapped to the hood of an Israeli combat vehicle to deter attack and Gazans being sent into buildings and tunnels to ensure the locations weren't rigged with explosives sparked international outrage and initial IDF denials.

"When I saw the report from Al Jazeera, I said, 'Ah, yes, it's true,'" one IDF conscript who helped use Gazans as human shields told Haaretz. "And then I saw the IDF's response, which totally doesn't reflect reality. It's done with the knowledge of the brigade commander, at the least."

Jenin today. Occupied West Bank. This is what a human shield looks like. But it won’t matter how many of these scenes we see. This won’t end up on your evening news.

Instead, we will hear Israeli spokespersons saying “Hamas uses human shields.” pic.twitter.com/VJ301YbHW3

— Samira Mohyeddin سمیرا (@SMohyeddin) June 22, 2024

The soldier added that IDF commanders "know that it's not a one-time incident of a young and stupid company commander who decides on his own to take somebody."

Another IDF soldier said that "there were times when really old people were made to go into houses."

Yet another soldier said that Palestinian captives are told that if they do one tunnel mission, they'll be set free.

"People began to ask questions, very quickly a mess began about this procedure," one soldier recalled. "Some argued that they weren't willing to carry out operations if it included a Gazan who was forced to sacrifice himself."

"Of course, there were those who supported it, but at least with us there were just a few of them, mostly the commanders who were afraid to deal with the more senior commanders," they added.

Responding to the new report, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said that "IDF instructions and orders prohibit the use of Gazan civilians caught in the field for military missions that pose a deliberate risk to their lives."

"The IDF's instructions and orders on the subject have been made clear to the forces," the unit's statement added. "Upon receipt of the request, the allegations were forwarded to the relevant authorities for review."

Israel has been accused of using human shields in wars going back to the founding of the nation in 1948.

In 2002, the Israeli High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction prohibiting the use of human shields in operations to quash the Second Intifada, or general uprising. Some IDF soldiers ignored the injunction, according to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

In 2010, two staff sergeants in the Givati Brigade were convicted of forcing a 9-year-old Palestinian boy to open bags they thought might contain explosives during the 2008-09 Operation Cast Lead invasion of Gaza. The staff sergeants were slapped on the wrists with suspended sentences and demotions. Neither went to prison.

Numerous subsequent instances of IDF soldiers' use of human shields have gone unpunished.

Palestinian militants including members of Hamas have also been accused of using Palestinians as human shields.

As is the case with the IDF reservists currently accused of gang-raping a Palestinian detainee at the notorious Sde Teiman torture prison, many Israeli government and military officials, as well as journalists and others, have defended the "right" of IDF soldiers to do what they want to Palestinians.

Haaretz explained that "the thinking is that it's better for the Israeli soldiers to remain alive and for the [Palestinians] to be the ones blown up by an explosive device."

War is Inevitable - Alastair Crooke, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen

Nothing gets Israelis madder than telling them it's against the law to use rape as a weapon of war. https://t.co/mr67vxPac4

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) August 9, 2024

'Is This a Joke?': Tlaib Blasts Blinken for Geneva Convention Remarks Amid Gaza Carnage

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib had harsh words for Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he attempted to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions while enabling what many experts consider to be Israel's genocide in Gaza.

"The United States reaffirms our steadfast commitment to respecting international humanitarian law and mitigating suffering in armed conflict," Blinken wrote on social media Monday. "We call on others to do the same."

Tlaib responded early Tuesday, "Is this a joke?"

Is this a joke? https://t.co/WEAuCurNtD

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 13, 2024

"You supported sending more U.S.-made bombs being used to commit war crimes," Tlaib continued. "The government of Israel bombed hospitals, schools, and tents full of displaced Palestinians. How can you say you are for respecting international human rights laws?"

Tlaib also shared a link to an Amnesty International USA report from April finding that U.S. weapons sent to Israel had been used in violation of both international and U.S. law and calling for an "immediate suspension" of weapons transfers to the country.

The U.S. is Israel's leading arms supplier, providing it with 69% of its weapons imports between 2019 and 2023. This has continued in the wake of Israel's war on Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023 in response to Hamas' deadly attack on southern Israel.

The Geneva Conventions of 1949 enshrine protections for vulnerable populations during armed conflict, including wounded soldiers and first responders, prisoners of war, and civilians. They include prohibitions on torture and the targeting of hospitals, and mandate that occupying powers provide food and medical supplies to civilian populations. Despite this, Israel has made it so difficult to get supplies into Gaza that famine has spread across the territory. Reports emerged last week that Palestinians in Israeli custody were subjected to systematic abuse, including rape. And Israel has routinely used U.S. weapons to target civilian areas and infrastructure in Gaza.

Days before Blinken's remarks commemorating the conventions, the Biden administration approved $3.5 billion in new military funds to Israel, as well as new weapons shipments. Hours later, Israel reportedly used U.S.-made weapons to target the al-Tabin school in Gaza, killing around 100 people, including at least 11 children.

"Few people have done more to make the Geneva Conventions a dead letter," author Hari Kunzru wrote in response to Blinken's 75th anniversary commemoration message.

Beyond Gaza, the U.S. under President Joe Biden has also refused to state whether or not the Fourth Geneva Convention protecting civilians in armed conflict and occupied territories applies to Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank. In particular, it has not acknowledged that the convention would prohibit Israeli settlements in the territory altogether.

Tlaib and Kunzru were not the only people to criticize Blinken for his statement.

"Irony is dead," wrote human rights lawyer Mai El-Sadany. "If the U.S. cared anything for the Geneva Conventions, it would not be choosing active complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity every day for the last 10 months."

Rutgers Law professor Adil Haque observed, "The rest of the world has spent the last 10 months defending international humanitarian law from us."

Qasim Rashid, also a human rights lawyer, said, "An actual commitment to respecting international humanitarian law would mean you stop funding [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu as he commits genocide of Palestinians."

Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project policy director Josh Ruebner responded to a separate message that Blinken had posted on the State Department website.

"Nope, Secretary Blinken," Ruebner wrote on social media. "You don't get to praise the Geneva Conventions when you're rushing weapons to Israel to enable it to violate almost every single clause in the convention as it continues to inflict genocidal violence against Palestinians in Gaza."

Palestinian Reverend Munther Isaac to U.S. Faith Leaders: If You Are Silent, You Approve of Genocide

US $20 BILLION To Israel As Iran War LOOMS

Gaza’s Coming Ceasefire Talks; Iran Says Won’t Hit Israel With Deal

Israeli media outlets published leaked statements by Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant about the stalemate of captives-for-prisoners swap talks during a private briefing for a parliamentary committee on Monday. In them, Gallant blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for obstructing the talks saying: “The reason a hostage deal is stalling is in part because of Israel.” Gallant also described Netanyahu’s promises of “absolute victory” in the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip and his idea of destroying the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) as “gibberish.”

Netanyahu responded by accusing Gallant of adopting an “anti-Israel narrative” in a statement on Monday. “Israel has only one choice: to achieve a complete victory,” the statement from his office added. Recent recriminations between the top Israeli officials, who have led a genocidal aggression on the Gaza strip for more than 10 months, are not the first sign of the tension within the Israeli government. Last month, Netanyahu and other Israeli ministers accused Gallant of playing politics by refusing to support a draft law to enlist ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews without earning broad consensus.

Meanwhile, [ahead of ceasefire talks scheduled for Thursday], Hamas, in a statement on Sunday, called on mediators to present a plan “based on [U.S. President Joe] Biden’s May 31 ceasefire proposal, the framework laid out by mediators [in] Qatar and Egypt on May 6, and U.N. Security Council Resolution 2735.”

The comments by Hamas and Israeli government officials regarding Gaza’s ceasefire and captives deal surfaced as the international community has been pushing forward negotiations to avoid the outbreak of a regional war. [Iran said it would not retaliate against Israel for its assassination of Hama’s political leader on Iranian soil only if a permanent ceasefire is reached in Gaza.]

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: Can Diplomacy Bring Middle East Peace?

Why Did Washington Memory-hole Gaza?

Is Kamala hiding from the Israel–Gaza issue? And are the mainstream media and the Biden administration helping her do it?

Consider that just four months ago, her boss had stood up at the State of the Union and pledged a military “surge” of humanitarian aid into Gaza to save starving Palestinians on the ground. “To the leadership of Israel I say this: Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip,” Biden said. “Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority.”

By July—just four months later—the humanitarian pier project was built and then dismantled amid stunning failure. A major reason: The Israelis never provided safe passage for the aid delivery. The entire spectacle has been memory-holed. But the population in Gaza is getting less aid than it was in March, and is now at risk of suffering from diseases not seen since the 1950s—like polio—and somehow the “priority” has just vanished as a topic at White House and State Department briefings.

Calls for Israel to allow more trucks into Gaza? Silence. Questions about what aid organizations are equipped to deliver global donations waiting at the border? Crickets. Updates on the maritime corridor which in May was hailed as a “multinational and combined effort” between the U.S., Cyprus, Israel, the UN, and international donors, including the UAE, the United Kingdom, and the European Union? None.

“For the White House, no news on Gaza is good news, for food aid or otherwise,” charged Steve Semler, journalist and co-founder of the Security Policy Reform Institute (SPRI). He diligently tracked the rise and fall of the military “pier” that was supposed to bring salvation to the 2 million population, but ended up floating away with millions of U.S. tax dollars instead. “The Biden-Harris administration realizes its Israel policy is a massive political liability, but refuses to compromise with its base on that policy. Instead, the administration tries all sorts of things to make the issue go away,” he told TAC. “It stops talking about food aid in press conferences, it omits details about taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel, it pretends Biden has no leverage over Israel to open humanitarian corridors despite those billions in military aid.”

Aaron Maté : Biden Says US Not at War

UN envoy calls Canada’s use of migrant workers ‘breeding ground for slavery’

Canada’s reliance on temporary foreign workers is “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”, a UN special rapporteur has warned, amid growing calls to overhaul the controversial program. The damning report from the UN investigator Tomoya Obokata found that deep power imbalances and discriminatory practice in Canada cuts costs for companies but exploits against workers from the global south.

Obokata toured Ottawa, Moncton, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver to study the decades-long program, which relies heavily on workers from Mexico, Guatemala and Jamaica. Throughout the country, he found workers were locked in debt bondage. Many had borrowed money to participate in the program and relied on their Canadian wages to repay accrued debts.

He also heard testimony of widespread emotional and physical abuse, wage theft, hazardous work conditions, long hours, sexual harassment and exploitation.

“The special rapporteur retains the view that the temporary foreign worker program serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, as it institutionalizes asymmetries of power that favour employers and prevent workers from exercising their rights,” said the report.

Under the current rules, Canada’s temporary foreign worker program allows companies to bring in foreign workers for sectors when an employer is not able to find local workers. In the past the agricultural sector has relied heavily on seasonal migrant workers.

Arizona to vote on enshrining abortion rights in state constitution in November

Arizona voters will decide this November whether to add abortion rights into their state constitution, a prospect that could turbocharge voter turnout in a critical battleground state in the 2024 election.

Late Monday, the Arizona secretary of state’s office announced that it had validated an estimated 577,971 signatures in support of a ballot measure, the Arizona For Abortion Access Act, to establish a constitutional right to abortion in the state.

On X, the office called the measure “the largest petition effort in Arizona history”. The measure will be listed on the ballot as Proposition 139.

Arizona is not the only state to face the prospect of an abortion-related ballot measure this November. So far, states including Colorado, Florida and Nevada – another key battleground state – are also set to hold similar ballot measures. Tuesday also marks the deadline for the state of Missouri to determine whether to add its own abortion-related measure to its ballots.

US workers launch Heat Week to fight for ‘the right to water, shade and rest’

As temperatures in Baltimore neared 100F earlier this month, 36-year-old sanitation worker Ronald Silver II died after he was found lying on the hood of a car and asking for water. It’s the kind of tragic workplace heat-related death that advocates say could have been avoided with the right labor protections. So this week, during what will probably be the US’s hottest summer on record, frontline workers are organizing actions in 13 cities across the country, raising the alarm about workplace heat exposure.

“We have to keep struggling until the right to water, shade and rest is given to all workers in this country,” Lourdes Cardenas, an agricultural worker with United Farm Workers in California, told reporters on Monday speaking via translator.

As part of Heat Week, Cardenas and other farm workers are joining fast-food workers represented by the Union of Southern Service Workers and Starbucks Workers United, as well as laborers from other sectors, to lead marches and town halls. Airport service workers will deliver letters to the country’s four largest airlines calling for heat protections, and on Thursday, workers and allies from across sectors will take a coordinated drink of water in a display of solidarity aimed at showing the importance of workplace heat safety.

The campaign comes one month after the White House revealed a long-anticipated proposal to establish the country’s first-ever federal workplace heat standard, which, if finalized, would require access to water, shade, breaks and training for about 36 million workers. But the rule could take many months for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) to finalize, and could be torpedoed by Donald Trump if he wins November’s presidential election.

Ex-Kansas police chief who raided local newspaper criminally charged

A former Kansas police chief who led a raid last year on a weekly newspaper has been charged with felony obstruction of justice and is accused of persuading a potential witness to withhold information from authorities when they later investigated his conduct.

The single charge against Gideon Cody, the former Marion police chief, alleges that he knowingly or intentionally influenced the witness to withhold information on the day of the raid of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher or sometime within the following six days. The charge was filed on Monday in state district court in Marion county and is not more specific about Cody’s alleged conduct.

The raid sparked a national debate about press freedom focused on Marion, a town in Kansas of about 1,900 people set among rolling prairie hills. Also, newspaper publisher Eric Meyer’s mother, who co-owned the newspaper and lived with him, died the next day of a heart attack, and he blames the stress of the raid.

Meyer said last week that authorities appear to be making Cody the “fall guy” for the raid when numerous officials were involved. He said on Tuesday that he suspects the criminal case ultimately will be resolved through a plea bargain so that Cody will not have a trial that would more fully disclose details about the raid. “We’re just being basic journalists here,” he said. “We want the whole story. We don’t want part of it.”

Ohio officer indicted in fatal shooting of pregnant Black woman

A police officer in Ohio was indicted by a grand jury on murder charges on Tuesday for the 2023 fatal shooting of Ta’Kiya Young, a pregnant Black woman who had been suspected of shoplifting, authorities said. Young, who was 21, had been suspected of stealing bottles of alcohol from a store last August when Connor Grubb, a Blendon township police officer, and another officer approached her car, the Associated Press reported at the time.

Body-cam footage showed the officers ordering Young out of her car and confronting her about the accusations of shoplifting; she refused and denied stealing anything. Instead, she began to move the car in the direction of Grubb, who was standing in front of the vehicle. Grubb then fired a single shot through her windshield into her chest, killing her. The fetus she was carrying also died.

Authorities said last year that the officers then broke her car window, pulled Young out and tried to save her life but were unsuccessful.

In September, Grubb was placed on paid administrative leave while the Ohio bureau of criminal investigation examined the shooting, the AP reported.

On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted Grubb on four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and two counts of involuntary manslaughter.

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WHO to scrap weak PFAS drinking water guidelines after alleged corruption

The World Health Organization (WHO) is poised to scrap controversial drinking water guidelines proposed for two toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”. The move follows allegations that the process of developing the figures was corrupted by industry-linked researchers aiming to undercut strict new US PFAS limits and weaken standards in the developing world.

Many independent scientists charged that the proposed WHO drinking water guidelines for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) were weak, did not fully protect human health, ignored credible research, and were far above limits set by regulators in the US and EU. The guidelines would have allowed far more PFAS in drinking water than what is allowed by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Though the earlier guidelines were drafts, and proposed rules all go through a revision process, the WHO is conducting an entirely new review of scientific literature and disbanded the panel of scientists who developed the draft guidelines. It established a new panel with fewer industry-linked scientists and more regulatory officials, moves that have not happened in other revisions, said Betsy Southerland, a former EPA manager in the agency’s water division. “This is unprecedented, but the WHO got unprecedented criticism,” Southerland said. ...

The EPA found virtually no level of exposure to PFOA and PFOS in drinking water is safe, and this year set its legal limits for the compounds at four parts per trillion (ppt), which is the level at which testing technology can reliably measure and remove PFAS from water.

Canada’s 2023 wildfires produced nearly a decade’s worth of blaze emissions

Canada’s “record-shattering” wildfires last year produced nearly as much greenhouse gas emissions in one season as would be expected over a decade of fires in normal circumstances, data has shown. The fires, in Canada’s “wildest season ever”, were made at least three times more likely by the climate crisis, and produced about 2bn tonnes of CO₂, about a quarter of the total global emissions from wildfires last year, according to data in the State of Wildfires report, published on Wednesday.

The health impacts from last year’s fires will also continue to be felt for decades.

Carbon dioxide from wildfires is a growing source of greenhouse gas emissions globally, reaching about 8.6bn tonnes last year, considerably more than the 4.8bn annual emissions of the US from all sources. However, the net impact of fires is likely to be reduced by the regrowth of vegetation taking up carbon from the atmosphere. ...

Canada’s fires, with a burned area that was six times greater than the average year, were some of last year’s worst. Brazil’s Amazonas state also had record highs, owing to a severe drought, while fires in Hawaii and Texas killed more than 100 people. The biggest single fire ever recorded in the EU burned 900 sq km of Greece.

However, lower than usual levels of burning in African savannah meant the greenhouse gas emissions from wildfires last year were only 16% above average – if savannahs had burned at their usual rate, rather than experiencing such relative calm, last year would have set a new record.

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Also of Interest

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

Craig Murray: We Are the Bad Guys

The Empire Is The Real Enemy

Kamala Harris in Her Own Words

Why should US troops pay the price for Biden’s failure to rein in Netanyahu?

Short Take: the NATO Incursion into the Kursk Oblast

Vivaldi taught Venetian orphan girls – did they help write his music in return?

How Amazon "Lied, Spied, Cheated Its Way to the Top": WSJ Reporter Dana Mattioli

Hunter Biden CAUGHT RED-HANDED Lobbying On Behalf Of Burisma

IDF SHOOTS American For West Bank Settlers

Japan DARES To Snub Israel From Nagasaki Commemoration!

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A Little Night Music

J.B. Lenoir – Everybody Wants To Know

J.B. Lenoir – Alabama Blues

J.B Lenoir - The Mojo Boogie

J.B. Lenoir – I've Been Down So Long

J.B. Lenoir – I Want to Go

J.B. Lenoir – Don't Touch My Head

J.B. Lenoir – Natural Man

JB Lenoir & His African Hunch Rhythm - I Sing Um the Way I Feel

J B Lenoir - The Whale Has Swallowed Me

J B Lenoir - How Much More

J.B. Lenoir - I Feel So Good

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