Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features r&b vocal group The Falcons. Enjoy!

"I tremble for my country when reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever."

-- Thomas Jefferson

News and Opinion

You Can Only Support Trump Or Harris If You Don’t See The US Empire For The Beast It Is

People who think of either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris as decent or acceptable simply have not realized how immensely evil you have to be to become a US president.

In order to support either Harris or Trump you need to have an extreme ignorance of the murderousness and depravity of the US empire, which they both serve. Only a complete failure to see and understand the vast scale of the abusiveness of the US power structure could cause you to view these two candidates as meaningfully different from each other — let alone see one of them as decent enough to be worthy of your support.

Both Trump and Harris are auditioning for a role that will necessarily entail the creation of mountains of human corpses by US-sponsored violence, as has every viable US presidential candidate throughout our lives.

This is because the US empire is deeply evil. Not the country called the United States in and of itself, but the globe-spanning power structure which functions as an empire that’s structured around it. This vast power structure is held together by rivers of human blood, and if you’re the Democratic or Republican nominee to lead it as president then you are necessarily a deeply evil person, because you have sufficiently assured all the necessary powers that be that you will continue that bloodshed in order to become the nominee.

Most Americans (and most westerners generally) fail to truly see and understand how profoundly evil the US-centralized empire is, which is the only thing that allows all this political energy to go into pretending there are these hugely significant differences between the Democrat and the Republican presidential candidate every four years. If they could really ingest the scale of the empire’s brutality and tyranny with a deep sense of empathy for their fellow human beings upon whom it is inflicted, they would never support anyone who is pledged to help operate the slaughter machine, and they would not see any would-be operators of that machine as meaningfully different from any other. All they would see is the need for the slaughter machine to be dismantled.

The most sophisticated propaganda engine ever created exists to prevent this understanding from taking root, in the west generally and in the United States in particular. Americans are the most propagandized population on this planet, and their propaganda indoctrination is at its most intensive during the quadrennial performance ritual known as the US presidential race. The whole thing is geared toward falsely exaggerating the differences between the two candidates while drawing emphasis away from the 99 percent of the issues on which they are indistinguishable from each other. And those 99 percent similarities happen to be on all the most murderous and tyrannical behaviors of the US government.

If Americans weren’t so aggressively propagandized and indoctrinated, this would all be obvious to them, and this election race performance wouldn’t get them clapping along like children at a puppet show. The abusive status quo necessary for maintaining the US-centralized empire would not be consented to at all, and would be forced to collapse. There’s too much power riding on preventing this from happening for Americans to be allowed to have a real say in their elections, so they are propagandized to the gills into clapping along instead.

Israeli parliament votes to ban Unrwa from Israel within 90 days

Israel’s parliament has voted to ban the UN relief and works agency (Unrwa) from the country within 90 days, in defiance of US and other international pressure to maintain the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the country’s Palestinian population.

In a 92-10 vote late on Monday, the Knesset banned the agency, which operates in Israel according to a 1967 treaty, from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel, including the areas of annexed East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank.

Israeli lawmakers also voted to declare Unrwa a terror group, effectively banning any direct interaction between the UN agency and the Israeli state.

Taken together, the legislation – which will not come into effect immediately – is expected to lead to the closure of Unrwa’s East Jerusalem headquarters and would effectively block the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza via Rafah. The severing of diplomatic relations would preclude Israel from issuing entry and work permits to foreign Unrwa staff and prevent coordination with the Israeli military to permit aid shipments. ...

Speaking at a daily briefing, the US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said Washington was “deeply concerned” about the vote and had urged Israel to “pause implementation” of the legislation, which could “have implications under US law”. US law prevents Washington from providing military aid to countries that restrict US humanitarian assistance, although that legislation is rarely enforced.

Matt Hoh : Is Iran an Enemy of the US?

US Was Prepared To Rescue Israeli Pilots Attacking Iran If Needed

The US placed a fleet of fighter jets in the Middle East on stand-by to rescue Israeli pilots if their attack on Iran failed, Israel’s Army Radio reported on Sunday.

“Israel and the US coordinated a plan to ensure the safe extraction of pilots should the operation have not succeeded,” the report said, according to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.

The report said the US didn’t participate directly in the attack but was prepared to intervene for a rescue mission. “The Americans’ advanced capabilities in the region would allow them to carry out a rescue operation,” it said. ...

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US was responsible for the attack since it provided Israel with an “air corridor” for its jets to launch the airstrikes, which killed at least four Iranian soldiers.

Prof. Mohammad Marandi | Israel’s Deadly Miscalculation: Consequences of Attacking Iran & Hezbollah!

South Africa Files 750 Pages of 'Overwhelming' Evidence in ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel

South Africa filed 750 pages of "overwhelming" proof that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands on Monday, the deadline for submitting final evidence in the ongoing trial.

South African Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusi Madonsela delivered the legal document—known as a memorial—to the ICJ headquarters in the Dutch city. Under the court's rules, the contents of the memorial cannot be made public at this time.

According to a statement from the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the memorial is a "comprehensive presentation of the overwhelming evidence of genocide in Gaza."

The office said the document "contains evidence which shows how the government of Israel has violated the Genocide Convention by promoting the destruction of Palestinians living in Gaza, physically killing them with an assortment of destructive weapons, depriving them access to humanitarian assistance, causing conditions of life which are aimed at their physical destruction, and ignoring and defying several provisional measures of the International Court of Justice, and using starvation as a weapon of war and to further Israel's aims to depopulate Gaza through mass death and forced displacement of Palestinians."

"The evidence will show that undergirding Israel's genocidal acts is the special intent to commit genocide, a failure by Israel to prevent incitement to genocide, to prevent genocide itself, and its failure to punish those inciting and committing acts of genocide," Ramaphosa's office added.

South Africa's filing comes amid Israel's ongoing 387-day assault on Gaza, which according to Palestinian and international agencies has killed at least 43,020 people—most of them women and children. At least 101,110 others have been wounded and over 10,000 Gazans are missing and believed dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed homes and other structures. Millions more Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened by Israel's invasion and "complete siege" of Gaza.

The filing also comes one week after senior members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right Cabinet and national lawmakers spoke at a conference advocating the ethnic cleansing and recolonization of Gaza.

Ramaphosa's office lamented that "Israel has been granted unprecedented impunity to breach international law and norms for as long as the United Nations Charter has been in existence."

"Israel's continued shredding of international law has imperiled the institutions of global governance that were established to hold all states accountable," the presidency's statement asserted. "The glaring genocide in Gaza is there for all who are not blinded by prejudice to see."

Ramaphosa's statement continues:

The Palestinian struggle against imperialism, Israeli apartheid, and settler colonialism is the daily reality of the Palestinian people. Since 1948, they have faced various forms of colonization, often backed by historical colonial powers and, more recently, by states intent on shaping a world order in their interests. The global fight against settler colonialism persists in some parts of the world, including in occupied Palestine, both in Gaza and the West Bank. The international community cannot stand idly by while innocent civilians—including women, children, hospital workers, humanitarian aid workers, and journalists—are killed for simply being. That is a world we cannot accept.

"We reiterate our appeal for an immediate cease-fire in Palestine, in Lebanon, and entire region, and the start of a political process to ensure a just and lasting peace," Ramaphosa's office added.

South Africa also thanked the more than 30 countries and regional blocs, including the African Union and Arab League, that are supporting its case.

It could take years for the ICJ to deliver judgment in the case. In July, the tribunal issued a nonbinding advisory opinion that Israel's occupation of Palestine—including the West Bank, Eastern Jerusalem, Gaza, and Syrian Golan Heights—is an illegal form of apartheid that must end "as rapidly as possible."

South Africa's filing came on the same day that Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, published a report on Israeli "genocide as colonial erasure" in Palestine.

Devastatingly important - 'Genocide as colonial erasure', the new report by Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. https://t.co/nD1T8nC3gm pic.twitter.com/Nc6mB1CKBx

— Andy Worthington (@GuantanamoAndy) October 28, 2024

Israel vehemently denies it is committing genocide in Gaza, a position shared by the Biden administration, the country's main benefactor.

Palestine advocates welcomed Monday's filing, with Council on American-Islamic Relations national executive director Nihad Awad thanking South African leaders "for helping expose the far-right Israeli government's genocide and genocidal intent in Gaza to the world community."

"This detailed submission also further exposes the Biden administration's criminal complicity with Israel's genocide in Gaza," Awad addded. "President [Joe] Biden should end his complicity with genocide by stopping arms deliveries to Israel and forcing an immediate cease-fire."

The Biden administration and Congress have provided Israel with tens of billions of dollars worth of armed aid and diplomatic cover to continue its war.

Francis Boyle, a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, noted that "Israel has violated three prior orders from the court" and "has also violated the decision on Rafah of May."

"Just after that decision, Biden put out his ridiculous statement that Israel had agreed to a cease-fire, which it obviously didn't," he continued. "The Biden administration's phony 'cease-fire negotiations' maneuvers have simply bought Israel more time to commit more crimes, including its recent annihilation of northern Gaza."

"Given Israel's lack of respect for decisions of the court, it becomes imperative that these decisions have teeth," Boyle added. "The U.S. veto at the U.N. Security Council has prevented that body from doing its job. So, the U.N. General Assembly should utilize its Uniting for Peace procedure to take control of the situation and recommend an arms embargo and economic sanctions against Israel as well as other measures. That's what was done to apartheid South Africa because of its illegal occupation of Namibia."

Turkey Files 'Premeditated Murder' Charge After Israel Kills Turkish-American Activist

Turkey's Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau has reportedly filed charges of "premeditated murder" against the Israeli soldiers who, according to eyewitnesses, deliberately targeted a Turkish-American activist who was fatally shot in the head while peacefully protesting the expansion of Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Anadolu reported Sunday that the Turkish agency is classifying the September 6 killing of 26-year-old International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi as a "crime against humanity."

The agency submitted evidence including eyewitness statements, photos, video footage, and an autopsy report to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office as part of an effort to identify the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers responsible for Eygi's killing.

Last month, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the country intends to seek international arrest warrants for those who killed Eygi.

Eygi, a recent University of Washington graduate, was shot during a march in Beita against Israel's apartheid settlements. American activist Alex Chabbott said Israeli soldiers fired tear gas immediately after the march began. Chabbott and other witnesses said they heard gunshots coming from a nearby rooftop and then saw Eygi lying on the ground and bleeding profusely from her head.

Chabbott said Eygi was "directly targeted with intent to kill." British activist Dominic Robin Sedol accused IDF soldiers of shooting with "the intent to kill Ayşe directly." Jonathan Pasternak, an Israeli activist who attended the march with Eygi, said the troops "had directly targeted Ayşenur."

While admitting that it is "highly likely" that Israeli troops shot Eygi, IDF officials have called the killing "unintentional," claiming the fatal shot "was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of... a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and hurled rocks" at occupation forces.

Progressive members of U.S. Congress, rights groups, and others including the parents of Rachel Corrie—the U.S. ISM volunteer crushed to death in 2003 by an IDF bulldozer while trying to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank—have joined Eygi's family in calling for an independent investigation of the activist's killing.

However, U.S. President Joe Biden—who has approved billions of dollars in military aid as part of his "unwavering" support for Israel—was widely denounced for repeating the IDF's claim that Eygi was accidentally killed when a bullet "ricocheted off the ground."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken—who called Eygi's killing "unprovoked and unjustified"—nevertheless signaled that there would be no U.S. probe of the incident, prompting Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in Congress, to lament that the Israeli military "can kill Americans and get away with it."

Last week, a group of Department of Justice lawyers sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for an investigation into Israel's killing of Americans including Eygi, Kamel Ahmad Jawad, Jacob Flickinger, Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Khdour, Omar Assad, and Shireen Abu Akleh.

On Friday, more than 500 people gathered at the University of Washington in Seattle for an "evening of reflection" on Eygi's life and activism.

"We deserve to know what happened," Özden Bennett, Eygi's older sister, said during the event, according toThe Daily. "We deserve to know who killed her, and we deserve to know why. We're asking once again, for President Biden, Vice President [Kamala] Harris, and Secretary of State Blinken, who we still have not heard from, to act."

Larry Johnson : Israel and Ukraine Covering Up Failures

Israeli prison staff accused of assaulting Marwan Barghouti

Palestinian prisoner rights organisations have accused Israeli prison authorities of “brutally assaulting” Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody.

Prison staff assaulted Barghouti in his solitary confinement cell at Megiddo prison in northern Israel on 9 September, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club and a support group for Barghouti said in statements. The rights groups said they were informed of the incident by a lawyer who was able to meet Barghouti on Sunday. It was his first visit in three months, the prisoners’ club told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The assault “resulted in several injuries to Barghouti’s body, to his ribs … as well as bleeding of the right ear and a wound to his right arm, along with severe back pain”, the groups said.

The Israeli prison service said in a statement to AFP that “Since October 7, Barghouti has petitioned twice, regarding claims of mistreatment in prison. The court has examined every one of his claims and concluded that there has been no violation of the law by IPS. “Nonetheless, prisoners and detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined and addressed by official authorities.” ...

A former high-ranking member of the Palestinian Fatah party, Barghouti was arrested in 2002 by Israel and sentenced to life in 2004 for murders. Israel considers him a terrorist and has sentenced him to five life sentences for his role in the second intifada, or uprising, from 2000-05.

Sally Rooney, Rachel Kushner and Arundhati Roy call for boycott of Israeli cultural institutions

Sally Rooney, Arundhati Roy and Rachel Kushner are among more than 1,000 writers and publishing professionals who have signed a letter pledging to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that “are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians”.

Signatories to the pledge say they will not work with Israeli publishers, festivals, literary agencies and publications that are “complicit in violating Palestinian rights”, including operating “discriminatory policies and practices” or “whitewashing and justifying Israel’s occupation, apartheid or genocide”. Institutions that have never publicly recognised the “inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as enshrined in international law” will also be boycotted.

The campaign was organised by the Palestine festival of literature (also known as PalFest), which runs an annual festival with free public events in cities across Palestine. “We, as writers, publishers, literary festival workers, and other book workers, publish this letter as we face the most profound moral, political and cultural crisis of the 21st century,” begins the statement, which goes on to say that Israel has killed “at the very least 43,362” Palestinians in Gaza since last October, and that this follows “75 years of displacement, ethnic cleansing and apartheid”.

Culture “has played an integral role in normalising these injustices”, it says. Israeli cultural institutions, “often working directly with the state, have been crucial in obfuscating, disguising and art-washing the dispossession and oppression of millions of Palestinians for decades”. Industry workers have a “role to play”, states the pledge. “We cannot in good conscience engage with Israeli institutions without interrogating their relationship to apartheid and displacement,” it reads, noting that “countless authors” took the same position against apartheid in South Africa.

Rus Scents Victory, Full Donbass Control Months, Prepares Ultimatum; Kiev Panics; Khamenei Warning

Minneapolis police say they 100% failed Black man allegedly shot by white neighbor

Minneapolis police have apologized for failing to address a local Black man’s complaints of repeated, racist harassment from his white neighbor until after the neighbor shot the victim in the victim’s own yard.

The attack on 34-year-old Davis Moturi this past Wednesday as he performed yard work left him with a fractured spine, two broken ribs and a concussion. Authorities by Thursday had obtained criminal charges against John Herbert Sawchak, who is accused of shooting from an upstairs window in his home to wound Moturi – but they waited until early Monday to arrest him.

“We failed this victim 100%,” Brian O’Hara, Minneapolis police chief, told reporters. “And to that victim, I say I am sorry that this happened to you.”

Moturi’s shooting comes after a US justice department investigation last year concluded that the Minneapolis police department had a “pattern or practice” of discrimination against Black Americans, among other findings.

Since Moturi purchased his home in 2023, he and his wife contacted authorities at least 19 times to report Sawchak for vandalism, property destruction, harassment and threats of physical harm while hurling racist slurs, court records state. Police obtained at least three warrants to arrest Sawchak in connection with threats or violent acts against Moturi and other neighbors. But none resulted in his capture, with police claiming Sawchak “actively evaded [them] during prior attempts to contact or arrest him”.

Early ballots burned in suspected attacks in Washington and Oregon

Hundreds of early ballots cast for the US presidential election have been burned in two suspected attacks in Washington and Oregon, exacerbating tensions ahead of next Tuesday’s knife-edge contest. Police said Monday that the fires in the two states were believed to be connected and that a vehicle involved had been identified, according to the Associated Press.

Firefighters went to the scene after smoke was reported coming from a ballot drop box in the city of Vancouver in Washington state at 6.30am on Monday, according to local media.

KATU, a local television channel, reported capturing footage of responders releasing a pile of burning ballots to the grounds. The ballots continued to smolder after the flames had been doused.

Hundreds of ballots were believed to have been inside when smoke was reported billowing from the box, which had last been emptied at 8am on Sunday. KATU reported that only a few of the ballots deposited there after that had been saved. The elections auditor for Clark county, the local authority administering the boxes, said voters who had cast their ballots into it after 11am could seek new voting documents at a link on the county’s election web page.

These people are hilarious:

Writers at L.A. Times & WaPo Resign After Billionaire Owners Block Kamala Harris Endorsements

Daughter of Los Angeles Times’ Owner Says Paper Is Refusing to “Endorse a Candidate Overseeing a War on Children”

The daughter of Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong is weighing in on the controversy that has erupted around the paper’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate in 2024, saying that “for me, genocide is a line in the sand.”

In a thread of social media posts on Thursday, Nika Soon-Shiong attributed the decision to an opposition to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ position on the war on Gaza. She wrote that her father, a South African transplant surgeon, had worked as an emergency surgeon at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto during apartheid. “For my family, Apartheid is not a vague concept.” Maintaining that the decision to endorse was one made by the Los Angeles Times editorial board, Nika added, “This is not a vote for Donald Trump. This is a refusal to ENDORSE a candidate that is overseeing a war on children.” She continued, “I’m proud of the LA Times’ decision just as I am certain there is no such thing as children of darkness. There is no such thing as human animals.”

The posts arrive as the Times faces an internal and external firestorm over its decision not to endorse a candidate in the 2024 election. Three editorial board members have resigned since the decision was made public, with one, Mariel Garza, saying in an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review that owner Patrick Soon-Shiong had made his wish not to endorse clear through a message conveyed by Times executive editor Terry Tang. Previously, Garza had been drafting an outline of an editorial that would announce an endorsement of Harris, she said.

In his own statement to The New York Times on Saturday, Patrick Soon-Shiong said via a spokeswoman, “Nika speaks in her own personal capacity regarding her opinion, as every community member has the right to do. She does not have any role at the L.A. Times, nor does she participate in any decision or discussion with the editorial board, as has been made clear many times.” ...

While some outlets have suggested that Patrick Soon-Shiong may have pushed for a non-endorsement in order to curry favor with former President Donald Trump in the event he is re-elected, two well-placed sources at the Times suggest that the real reason is antipathy toward Harris for her and the Biden administration’s stance on Israel.

Billionaires Spew More CO2 Pollution in 90 Minutes Than Average Person in a Lifetime

With the world on track for 3.1°C of warming this century, Oxfam International on Monday blamed global billionaires who—with their superyachts, private jets, and investments—emit more carbon pollution in 90 minutes of their lives than the average person does in a lifetime.

That's according to Carbon Inequality Kills, Oxfam's first-of-its-kind study tracking planet-heating emissions from the pricey transportation and polluting investments of the world's 50 richest people, which was released ahead of COP29, the United Nations climate summit scheduled for next month in Baku, Azerbaijan.

"The superrich are treating our planet like their personal playground, setting it ablaze for pleasure and profit," said Oxfam executive director Amitabh Behar in a statement. "Their dirty investments and luxury toys—private jets and yachts—aren't just symbols of excess; they're a direct threat to people and the planet."

The report explains that "Oxfam was able to identify the private jets belonging to 23 of 50 of the world's richest billionaires; the others either do not own private jets or have kept them out of the public record."

"On average, these 23 billionaires each took 184 flights—spending 425 hours in the air—over a 12-month period. That is equivalent to each of them circumnavigating the globe 10 times," the publication continues. "On average, the private jets of these 23 superrich individuals emitted 2,074 tonnes of carbon a year. This is equivalent to 300 years' worth of emissions for the average person in the world, or over 2,000 years' worth for someone in the global poorest 50%."

For example, Elon Musk, the world's richest person based on Monday updates to the Bloomberg and Forbes lists, "owns (at least) two private jets which together produce 5,497 tonnes of CO2 per year," the study highlights. "This is the equivalent of 834 years' worth of emissions for the average person in the world, or 5,437 years' worth for someone in the poorest 50%."

"The two private jets owned by Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon, collectively spent almost 25 days in the air, emitting 2,908 tonnes of CO2. It would take the average U.S. Amazon employee almost 207 years to emit that much," the document adds. Bezos is the world's second- or third-richest person, according to the various billionaire indexes.

The report says that "the number of superyachts has more than doubled since 2000, with around 150 new launches every year. Not only do these giant ships guzzle an immense amount of fuel for propulsion, their air conditioning, swimming pools, and extensive staff further add to emissions. Although they are moored for most of the year, about 22% of their overall emissions are generated during this 'downtime.'"

"Superyachts are exempt from both E.U. carbon pricing and International Maritime Organization emissions rules," the publication points out. "Oxfam was able to identify 23 superyachts owned by 18 of the 50 billionaires in our study. These floating mansions traveled an average of 12,465 nautical miles a year: This is equivalent to each superyacht crossing the Atlantic almost four times."

According to the group:

Oxfam estimates the average annual carbon footprint of each these yachts to be 5,672 tonnes, which is more than three times the emissions of the billionaires' private jets. This is equivalent to 860 years of emissions for the average person in the world, and 5,610 times the average of someone in the global poorest 50%.

The Walton family, heirs of the Walmart retail chain, own three superyachts worth over $500 million. They traveled 56,000 nautical miles in a year with a combined carbon footprint of 18,000 tonnes: This is equivalent to the carbon emissions of around 1,714 Walmart shop workers. The company that has generated their extreme wealth has also been found to drive economic inequality in the USA through low wages, workplace discrimination, and huge CEO pay.

In terms of investments, the study says, "the richest 1% control 43% of global financial assets, and billionaires control (either as CEOs or principal investors) 34% of the 50 largest listed companies in the world, and 7 out of the 10 largest. The investment footprint of the superrich is the most important element of their overall impact on people and the planet."

The organization found that "the average investment emissions of 50 of the world's richest billionaires were around 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents (CO2e) each. That is around 340 times their emissions from private jets and superyachts combined."

"Each billionaire's investment emissions are equivalent to almost 400,000 years of consumption emissions by the average person, or 2.6 million years of consumption emissions by someone in the poorest 50% of the world," the report says. "Almost 40% of the investments analyzed in Oxfam's research were in highly polluting industries including: oil, mining, shipping, and cement. Only one billionaire, Gautam Adani, has significant investments in renewable energy—which account for 18% of his overall investment portfolio. Just 24% of the companies that these billionaires invested in have set net-zero targets."

This video is a real definition of climate inequality ,, richest 1% individuals indulge in their lavish lifestyles while the rest of humanity struggles. https://t.co/aywQeQOEiY

— Ayan Harare (@ayanthecritique) October 28, 2024

The publication also features "a new analysis of the inequality in the impacts of climate breakdown."

Behar concluded that "Oxfam's research makes it painfully clear: The extreme emissions of the richest, from their luxury lifestyles and even more from their polluting investments, are fueling inequality, hunger, and—make no mistake—threatening lives. It's not just unfair that their reckless pollution and unbridled greed is fueling the very crisis threatening our collective future—it's lethal."

The document's final section includes detailed recommendations to reduce the emissions of the richest, make polluters pay, and "reimagine our economies and societies to deliver well-being and planetary flourishing."

The report is a reminder of how rich and powerful people are impeding efforts to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement, whose government signatories will be gathering in Baku next month to discuss efforts to limit global temperature rise this century to 1.5°C.

"The wealth of the world's 2,781 billionaires has soared to $14.2 trillion," the study notes. "If it was invested in renewable energy and energy efficiency measures by 2030, this wealth could cover the entire funding gap between what governments have pledged and what is needed to keep global warming below 1.5°C, according to estimates by the International Renewable Energy Agency."

Planet-heating pollutants in atmosphere hit record levels in 2023

The concentration of planet-heating pollutants clogging the atmosphere hit record levels in 2023, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said. It found carbon dioxide is accumulating faster than at any time in human history, with concentrations having risen by more than 10% in just two decades. ...

The concentration of CO2 reached 420 parts per million (ppm) in 2023, the scientists observed. The level of pollution is 51% greater than before the Industrial Revolution, when people began to burn large amounts of coal, oil and fossil gas. Concentrations of strong but short-lived pollutants also surged. Methane concentrations hit 1,934 parts per billion (ppb), a rise of 165% from preindustrial levels, and nitrous oxide hit 336.9 parts per billion (ppb), a rise of 25%, it said. ...

There has been a slight slowdown in the growth of global emissions over the last decade but continued strong growth in atmospheric concentrations, said Glen Peters, a climate scientist at the Cicero in Norway, who was not involved in the study. “[That] should give us cause for thought on how strong carbon sinks will remain in a changing climate.”

The Earth last experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 a few million years ago, when the planet was 2-3C hotter and the sea level 10-20 metres higher. Peters said the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are humanity’s “most accurate measure” of progress. “The data shows, again, we are not making much progress on reducing emissions.”

Miscarriages due to climate crisis a ‘blind spot’ in action plans

Miscarriages, premature babies and harm to mothers caused by the climate crisis are a “blind spot” in action plans, according to a report aimed at the decision-makers who will attend the Cop29 summit in November.

Potential collapse of the Amazon rainforest, vital Atlantic Ocean currents and essential infrastructure in cities are also among the dangers cited by an international group of 80 leading scientists from 45 countries. The report collects the latest insights from physical and social science to inform the negotiations at the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan. ...

Increasing climate extremes are causing more lost babies, premature births and cognitive damage to newborns, the report said. For example, a study in India found a doubled risk of miscarriage in pregnant women suffering heat stress, while another in California found a significant association between long-term heat exposure and stillbirth and premature birth.

Flooding is responsible for more than 100,000 lost pregnancies a year in 33 countries in South and Central America, Asia, and Africa, according to another study, with the danger highest for women with lower income and education levels. Rising heat also increases the intimate partner violence suffered by women, a south Asian analysis found.

However, only 27 out of 119 national climate plans submitted to the UN include action related to mothers and newborns, making this a major “blind spot”, the report said.

Hedgehogs ‘near threatened’ on red list after 30% decline over past decade

Hedgehogs are now listed as “near threatened” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list after a decline in numbers of at least 30% over the past decade across much of their range.

While hedgehogs were once common across Europe, and were until now listed as of “least concern” on the red list, they are being pushed towards extinction by urban development, intensive farming and roads, which have fragmented their habitat.

Their population has suffered from vehicle collisions, the use of pesticides and poorly managed domestic gardens. Pesticides kill the insects that hedgehogs eat and may also poison them directly.

Abi Gazzard, a programme officer at the IUCN, said: “Unfortunately, evidence points towards a worrying and widespread downward trend. The red list assessment also highlights data uncertainties – for example, the limits of this species’ distribution are not entirely clear, and there are gaps in knowledge of its populations. There is still a chance to halt the decline of the western European hedgehog, and we must aim to prevent any further worsening of status.”

The Mammal Society is calling for people to look after hedgehogs by gardening in a wildlife-friendly way. This includes leaving small gaps in fences to allow hedgehog movement between gardens, not using pesticides and creating shelter with log piles or hedgehog houses. One in four UK mammal species are threatened with extinction, and many others are in decline.

Also of Interest

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

Does Britain Owe Reparations to the Palestinians for Engineering Their Loss of Their Country?

Middle East War: The Israeli Ground Forces Still Can’t Deliver

Once a refuge, southern Lebanese city of Tyre empties as airstrikes rain down

Israeli War Crimes Documented by the Israeli Defense Forces

Israel Kills Five Journalists in Sunday Gaza Attacks

Uruguay presidential election heads to runoff with center-left candidate in lead

CNN Panel FLIPS OUT When Shark Tank Host Criticizes Kamala!

A Little Night Music

The Falcons – I Found A Love / Alabama Bound (Live)

The Falcons – Billy The Kid

The Falcons - The Teacher

The Falcons feat. Wilson Pickett - Take This Love I've Got

The Falcons – You're Mine

The Falcons – She's My Hearts Desire

The Falcons – Swim

The Falcons – Let's Kiss & Make Up

The Falcons – Lonely Nights