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This evening's music features "The Philosopher of Soul" Johnnie Taylor. Enjoy!

“Politics: the art of using euphemisms, lies, emotionalism and fear-mongering to dupe average people into accepting--or even demanding--their own enslavement.”

-- Larken Rose

News and Opinion

Peace Is Not On The Ballot In November

I keep seeing liberal commentators like George Takei trying to frame Kamala Harris as the best candidate to bring peace to the middle east, despite her coming directly out of the administration which has been lighting the region on fire with its insane warmongering.

So let’s be clear here: Peace is not on the ballot in November. Americans are voting for Red War or Blue War. That’s it. Those are the choices.

I repeat: Peace. Is. Not. On. The. Ballot. Nobody who stands an actual chance at winning is going to bring about peace, because the US president is a manager of the US empire, and the US empire depends on constant warmongering.

Any debates over whether Trump or Harris are the one to bring about peace are nonsensical, because neither of them are. It’s like arguing over which car salesman might start handing out free cars — that’s not the job. It’s not what the people who have that job do.

It's astounding that somehow people have psyopped themselves into branding Kamala Harris as the peace candidate when she has said/done nothing to indicate this.

American voters have to be the single dumbest demographic on the planet. https://t.co/rvbgg0RSI8

— Bryce Greene (@TheGreeneBJ) August 14, 2024

Americans don’t get to vote on changes to US foreign policy; that can only come by way of mass-scale direct action. These elections are here to give Americans the illusion of democratic control and to let them feel okay about their political systems so they don’t start thinking about revolution. It’s all about feelings, so if you want to vote then vote in whatever way makes your feelings feel nice. That’s all this performative spectacle is ever about.

All this murderousness will only come to an end when enough people use the power of their numbers to force it to end, and people will only use the power of their numbers to force it to end when enough of them have awakened from their propaganda-induced coma to get a real revolutionary movement happening.

So that’s where the focus needs to be. Not on which empire manager you should vote for, but on sowing the seeds of revolution by showing as many people as you can that everything they’ve been trained to believe about their nation, their government and their world is a lie. Showing them how depraved their rulers are and how badly they’re being screwed over by exploitative status quo systems, and letting them know that a better world is possible.

There’s always something you can do every day to help accomplish this. Attending demonstrations. Participating in activist organizations. Distributing literature, online and offline. Making videos. Making memes. Having conversations. Today I saw a video of a young woman on a train giving a short speech about the genocide in Gaza and distributing flyers. Anything you can do to spread awareness of what’s really going on and how the media and politicians are lying about it all.

So the bad news is that not until a critical mass of people have reached a sufficient level of awareness will there be a real chance at meaningful change. But the good news is that you absolutely have the power to work towards expanding that awareness.

Bernie does his sheepdog act. What a moron.

"Incomprehensible": U.S. Approves $20 Billion in New Arms for Israel as Gaza Death Toll Tops 40,000

Israeli forces in Gaza ‘use civilians as human shields’ against possible booby-traps

Israeli soldiers are using Palestinian civilians as human shields in Gaza to enter and clear tunnels and buildings they suspect may have been booby-trapped, a leading Israeli NGO and newspaper have reported.

The practice was so widespread across different units fighting in Gaza that it could in effect be considered a “protocol”, said Nadav Weiman, the executive director of Breaking the Silence, a group founded by Israeli combat veterans to document military abuses.

The group has collected testimony describing the practice from veterans of the 10-month war in Gaza. The accounts they have heard match those reported in an investigation by the newspaper Haaretz, which claimed that the chief of staff’s office was aware of the practice.

“The senior ranks know about it,” one source said to have taken part in finding civilians to serve as human shields told the paper. “Our lives are more important than their lives,” Haaretz quoted commanders telling their soldiers.

The practice is said to be so routine that Israeli soldiers have a name for the human shields, who are referred to as shawish – informal slang for a low-ranking soldier – and the process was described by several witnesses.

Mehdi Hasan REVEALS IDF Soldiers CELEBRATE War Crimes

Hamas unlikely to take part in new round of Gaza ceasefire talks

Hamas appears unlikely to participate in a new round of talks on a Gaza ceasefire deal on Thursday, further eroding hopes of an agreement that might stave off expected retaliatory strikes by Iran against Israel for the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran last month.

Most observers already had low expectations of the ceasefire talks, with Israel hardening its position in recent weeks and fears that Hamas, now led by its most hardline faction, would offer few concessions.

Iran this week rejected calls by western powers not to retaliate for the apparent assassination in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, on 31 July, just hours after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed a senior commander of Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon.

The prospect of imminent Iranian strikes against Israel has raised fears of a wider conflict after more than 10 months of war in Gaza. US and Iranian officials have both suggested significant progress towards a ceasefire in Gaza might bring immediate regional de-escalation.

Asked on Tuesday if he thought Iran might forgo a retaliatory strike if a Gaza ceasefire was reached, the US president, Joe Biden, said: “That’s my expectation.”

Four-day-old twins killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrike as father registered births

Four-day-old twins have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza while their father went to register their birth, he has said, as Israel continued its bombardment of the territory.

Mohamed Abuel-Qomasan said his wife, Joumana Arafa, a pharmacist, had given birth by caesarean section four days earlier and announced the twins’ arrival on Facebook, the Associated Press reported.

On Tuesday, he had gone to register the births at a local government office. While he was there, neighbours called to say the home where he was sheltering, near the central city of Deir al-Balah, had been bombed.

“I don’t know what happened,” he told the AP while sitting at the hospital where their bodies were taken, holding the twins’ birth certificates. “I am told it was a shell that hit the house.”

The strike that killed the newborns – a boy, Asser, and a girl, Ayssel – also killed their mother, Arafa, as well as her mother, the twins’ grandmother. Abuel-Qomasan and his wife had heeded orders to evacuate Gaza City in the opening weeks of the war. They sought shelter in central Gaza, as the army had instructed.

Matt Hoh: The Israeli Torture Regime

Ben Gvir Says Changing Status Quo at al-Aqsa Is ‘Our Policy’ in Latest Provocative Visit to the Religious Site

On Tuesday, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir made another provocative visit to the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, known as the Temple Mount to the Israelis, and rejected statements from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the status quo at the sensitive religious site hasn’t changed.

Under the decades-old status quo at al-Aqsa, non-Muslims can visit the site but cannot pray there. Ben Gvir made two visits to the site last month and declared Jewish prayer was allowed, and both times Netanyahu quickly released a statement saying the status quo hasn’t changed.

Undeterred, Ben Gvir said on Tuesday that it was “our policy” to allow Jewish prayer at al-Aqsa. “There is great progress here on sovereignty and rule, images of Jews praying here as I’ve said. Our policy is to allow prayer,” he said in a video with al-Aqsa Mosque’s Dome of the Rock in the background.

Extremist Israeli Leaders Slammed for 'Reckless Pursuit' of New West Bank Colony

The Israeli government said Wednesday that it has completed plans for the first new apartheid settlement in the occupied West Bank since 2017, a move the country's far-right finance minister said was due in part to increasing international recognition of Palestinian statehood amid Israel's obliteration of Gaza and a recent World Court affirming the occupation's illegality.

The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, also known as the Civil Administration, announced what's known as a "blue line"—which defines and delimits the boundaries of a new settlement—for Nahal Heletz, one of five Jewish-only colonies proposed for construction or expansion on stolen Palestinian land. If built, the nearly 150-acre colony would connect the Gush Etzion settlement bloc with Jerusalem.

"The connection of Gush Etzion to Jerusalem by establishing a new settlement is a historic moment," Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a settler, said Wednesday. "No anti-Israel and anti-Zionist decision will stop the continued development of the settlement enterprise."

"We will continue to fight the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state and establish facts on the ground," Smotrich continued, referring to the longtime Israeli practice of violating international law by colonizing and annexing Palestinian land to establish what one legal scholar described as "de facto possession with the aim of attaining de jure possession."

Smotrich added: "This is my life's mission and I will continue it as long as I can... Together we will continue to pursue Zionism. We will build, develop, fight, and win."

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that an "occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." Since Israel conquered the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and Syria's Golan Heights in 1967, Israeli settlement population has increased exponentially from around 1,500 colonists in 1970 to roughly 140,000 at the time of the Oslo Accords in 1993—under which Israel agreed to halt new settlement activity—to more than 500,000 today.

Settlers often destroy property and attack Palestinians, sometimes en masse in deadly pogroms, in order to terrorize them into leaving so their land can be stolen. As the world's attention is focused on Gaza, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed more than 500 Palestinians in the West Bank since October, including at least 143 children, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.

Columbia University president Minouche Shafik resigns in wake of Gaza protests

The president of Columbia University, Minouche Shafik, has resigned following months of criticism of her handling of campus protests over the war in Gaza.

“This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,” Shafik wrote in an email to staff and students on Wednesday. “It has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.”

She added: “Over the summer, I’ve been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead.”

Her resignation, effective immediately, was unexpected, with the university’s fall semester just weeks from beginning. It comes on the heels of two other Ivy League presidents’ resignations in the past year.

Immediately after the news, reports of pro-Palestinian protesters celebrating near the university began appearing on X as some members of the Columbia community voiced their support for the change of leadership.

WSJ Nord Stream story; trouble for Zelensky, Zaluzhny & Germany

US considers breaking up Google after illegal monopoly ruling, reports say

A week after a judge ruled that Alphabet’s Google illegally monopolized the online search market, the US Department of Justice is considering options that include breaking up the tech giant, worth some $2tn, according to reports from the New York Times and Bloomberg News.

Divesting the Android operating system was one of the remedies most frequently discussed by justice department attorneys, the reports said.

Officials were also considering trying to force a possible sale of AdWords, Google’s search ad program, and a possible divestment of its Chrome web browser, according to the reports.

A justice department spokesperson said it was evaluating the court’s decision and would assess the appropriate next steps consistent with the court’s direction and the applicable legal framework for antitrust remedies. ...

The justice department’s other options include forcing Google to share data with competitors and instating measures to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage in AI products, the reports said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Alaska officer kills 16-year-old girl in sixth local police shooting since May

Anchorage police officers fatally shot a 16-year-old girl holding a knife, the fourth deadly officer-involved shooting in Alaska’s largest city since mid-May. The girl’s family has since identified her as Easter Leafa, telling local television station Alaska’s News Source she had moved to Anchorage from American Samoa four or five months ago, seeking a better life and better opportunities in school.

In a press conference, Sean Case, the Anchorage police chief, told reporters officers had responded to a family disturbance around 11.30pm on Tuesday after a caller said her sister had threatened her with a knife. He said the teen approached officers with the knife, and two opened fire. In a statement, police said the officers had given Leafa “multiple commands”.

“One single officer fired multiple rounds,” Case said. “A second officer fired a round with a less-lethal projectile.”

Leafa’s family recounted the events differently. “They asked her to put the knife down once. She made one movement, a little tiny movement, [and] they shot her three times,” her sister, Rosalie Tialavea, told Alaska’s News Source. “We all started crying and tried to run towards her.” ... Leafa was transported to a hospital, where she was declared dead. Her family told reporters they still have not been told which hospital it was.

Kamala Harris Might Be INSTALLED In Biden's Stead As PRESIDENT Before Election

1968? MASSIVE Gaza Protests CRASH Kamala DNC Party

Liquefied natural gas pollution linked to 60 premature US deaths a year

The expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports is responsible for scores of premature deaths and nearly $1bn in annual health costs, according to a new report from the green groups Greenpeace and Sierra Club. The report links air pollution from LNG export terminals to an estimated 60 premature deaths and $957m in total health costs each year, and found that if all planned and proposed terminals come online, those numbers would shoot up to 149 premature deaths and $2.33bn.

The analysis comes seven months after the Biden administration froze all new LNG export approvals until energy regulators update their approval process to consider the climate impact of new proposals. Federal officials are currently defending the pause in court.

“We often hear about the LNG buildout impacting climate, which, of course, is true and devastating,” said Johanna Heureaux-Torres, energy campaigns analyst for the Sierra Club and report co-author. “But there’s also public health ramifications, often for communities who are already overburdened.”

The report, which Greenpeace and Sierra Club submitted last month to the Department of Energy and made public on Wednesday, aims to quantify the harms of LNG terminals on communities living near them.

The US only began exporting LNG in 2016, but the country is now the world’s largest such exporter.

'Major Power Milestone': US Green Groups Cheer Wind, Solar Overtaking Coal

U.S. climate advocates this week are celebrating new federal data that show wind and solar have generated more power than coal during the first seven months of 2024 and are on track to do so for the entire calendar year.

"This is the kind of news we like to see!" Food & Water Watch said of the data on social media Tuesday. "Ensuring a livable climate for all depends on us making a swift and just transition to clean energy like wind and solar."'

The group shared reporting from E&E News, which noted that "the milestone had been long expected due to a steady stream of coal plant retirements and the rapid growth of wind and solar. Last year, wind and solar outpaced coal through May before the fossil fuel eventually overtook the pair when power demand surged in the summer."

"Renewables' growth has been driven by a surge in solar production over the last year," the news outlet continued. "The 118 terawatt-hours generated by utility-scale solar facilities through the end of July represented a 36% increase from the same time period last year, according to preliminary U.S. Energy Information Administration figures. Wind production was 275 TWh, up 8% over 2023 levels. Renewables' combined production of 393 TWh outpaced coal generation of 388 TWh."

How does today’s extreme heat compare with Earth’s past climate?

Climate records are tumbling at a galloping pace. The world has just experienced its hottest ever single day on record, amid a string of record-breaking months that followed the planet’s hottest recorded year. But how does this cascade of new highs in the era of modern record-keeping compare with the Earth’s deeper history?

Those who piece together what past climates were like in eras before thermometers and satellites – a practice known as palaeoclimatology – find that today’s temperatures are, when narrowly viewed, unremarkable. For example, the Eocene, an epoch lasting from 56m years to 34m years ago, was “screamingly hotter” than today, by about 10-15C, according to Matthew Huber, an expert in historical climates at Purdue University in the US.

But, crucially, in the timespan in which humans evolved and formed organised societies, today’s global climate – a bit more than 1C hotter on average than it was in the preindustrial period before people started burning huge quantities of fossil fuels – is unparalleled. It has not been as hot as this for at least 125,000 years, prior to the last ice age, and most likely longer, potentially going back at least 1m years.

“Humans have not faced a climate like this over our long history; we are starting to hit temperatures that are unprecedented,” said Huber. “It’s not like we will all become extinct, but we are messing with a thermostat that is pushing [us] outside a window we have been in during all of human civilisation.” ...

“There is no one perfect temperature for the Earth, but there is for us humans,” as Katharine Hayhoe, a leading climate scientist at the Nature Conservancy, has put it. “We are perfectly adapted to our current conditions. Two-thirds of the world’s largest cities are located within a metre of sea level. “What happens when sea level rises a metre or more, as it’s likely to this century? We can’t pick up Shanghai or London or New York and move them. Most of our arable land is already carefully allocated and farmed.”

Also of Interest

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

He Had Two Babies

U.S. Tries To Deter Iran From Taking Revenge

Patrick Lawrence: James Baldwin at 100

NATO Countries Think Ukraine Won’t Be Able To Hold Territory in Russia’s Kursk

Ex-US air force specialist with Christian nationalist ties leads combat trainings

Stonehenge megalith came from Scotland, not Wales, ‘jaw-dropping’ study finds

Colombia Faces "One of the Largest Humanitarian Crises on Earth" as Armed Groups Grow Stronger

War Isn’t Murder

A Little Night Music

Johnnie Taylor - Doing My Own Thing Part 1

Johnnie Taylor – Toe Hold

Johnnie Taylor - Cheaper To Keep Her

Johnnie Taylor - If I Had To Do It Over

Johnnie Taylor - It's September

Johnnie Taylor - Love Bones

Johnnie Taylor - Sundown

Johnnie Taylor - Next Time

Johnnie Taylor - We're Getting Careless With Our Love

Johnnie Taylor - I'm Not The Same Person

Johnnie Taylor – Somebody's Sleeping In My Bed

Johnnie Taylor ~ Last Two Dollars