Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues singer John Lee Hooker. Enjoy!

"Violence, less and less embarrassed by the limits imposed by centuries of lawfulness, is brazenly and victoriously striding across the whole world, unconcerned that its infertility has been demonstrated and proved many times in history. What is more, it is not simply crude power that triumphs abroad, but its exultant justification. The world is being inundated by the brazen conviction that power can do anything, justice nothing."

-- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

News and Opinion

They’re Still Slaughtering Civilians In Gaza

Drop Site News reports that more than 80 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF in Gaza since what we’re calling a “ceasefire” went into effect on the 19th of January. The majority have been in Rafah, a now completely destroyed city which the Biden administration had previously said was off limits for a major Israeli offensive.

More than 80. Imagine if 80 Israelis had been killed by Hamas during that time instead. Hell, imagine if 80 Israelis were killed in addition to the more than 80 Palestinians who’ve been killed by Israel. Does anyone believe anything resembling a “ceasefire” would continue to hold had that been the case?

Of course not. Palestinian lives are viewed as expendable, while Israelis are viewed as human beings. Killing a few Palestinians here and there is viewed by Israel as morally equivalent to swatting a few flies who are creating a nuisance.

Five-year-old girl among two Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks amid Gaza ceasefire https://t.co/UOlveZqY6f pic.twitter.com/UZVwlEaMbL

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) January 28, 2025

As an example of the kind of behavior I’m talking about, on Monday Israeli forces killed a five year-old girl in an airstrike on an animal-drawn cart near the Nuseirat refugee camp, apparently for no other reason than because the cart was traveling on a road that had not been “authorized for passage”.

Those are the IDF’s own words, not mine. That’s their own public justification for bombing a cart pulled by a donkey with a small child on it.

“In central Gaza, an [Israeli military] aircraft fired to distance several suspicious vehicles that were moving northward in an area that is not authorized for passage according to the agreement,” the Israeli military said.

The IDF claims that it used strikes from military aircraft to “distance” vehicles it considered “suspicious” because they were not traveling the right direction on the right road. They’ll use airstrikes as a means of communication, the way normal countries use road signs. They’ll say, “We don’t like the way those Arabs are moving so let’s just send them a little message. There. Boom. Now your kid’s dead. Guess you’ll stop traveling the wrong way on that road now.”

In all the dozens of incidents in which Israeli forces have been firing upon Palestinians in Gaza, they have reliably justified their actions as defensive responses to a perceived “threat”. But we can see from the example above how shaky those claims of being under threat actually are.

We also see it illustrated in the way IDF troops on Tuesday “accidentally” killed an Israeli military contractor who happened to look a lot like an unarmed Palestinian civilian. If you read the Haaretz report on the incident you’ll be told that the man “was unarmed and dressed in civilian clothing, making it unclear why he was shot,” but it is not at all unclear why he was shot. The photo the outlet provides makes it clear that the contractor was darker-skinned and did not look like an Israeli of European ancestry, so when he showed up without a weapon or a uniform, the Israeli troops assumed he was a Palestinian civilian and killed him.

Obviously an Israeli military contractor would not have been behaving in a menacing way toward Israeli soldiers. His only mistake was failing to adequately communicate to them that he was Israeli, and therefore worthy of being treated like a human being. Because he didn’t, he was exterminated like the vermin the Israeli troops saw him as in that moment.

Palestinians are so pervasively dehumanized in Israeli society that Israelis tend to think nothing of killing them, which is why the Gaza holocaust has been allowed to happen. Palestinians are also dehumanized in western society, which is why we also allowed it to happen. Despite all the west’s purported values of equality and human rights for all, it’s an easily observable fact that, under the imperial status quo, some human lives are more equal than others.

Israel is DIGGING ITS OWN GRAVE as IDF Collapses on All Fronts w/ Col. Lawrence Wilkerson

Three Israelis and five Thais freed from Gaza as Trump envoy meets hostages’ relatives

Three Israelis and five Thai citizens held in Gaza have been freed, as Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy met hostages’ relatives, reportedly telling them he was optimistic the ceasefire would hold to allow the return of all the living and the dead. The handover on Thursday of seven hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, was delayed by a chaotic crowd surging towards the group, despite an escort of heavily armed militants, jostling and blocking their passage to waiting Red Cross vehicles.

Israel’s military confirmed that the Israelis Gadi Moses, 80, Arbel Yehoud, 29, and five Thai hostages – Pongsak Thaenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Seathao and Surasak Rumnao – had all been handed over at about 1pm local time. Agam Berger, 20, the last female soldier held in Gaza, had been released earlier from northern Gaza.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, attacked the “shocking scenes” in Khan Younis and suspended the planned release of Palestinian prisoners “until the mediators guarantee the safe exit of the hostages” in future. Buses carrying Palestinian prisoners due to be freed were sent back to Israeli jails in the early afternoon, before a new release time of 5pm was announced. Later on Thursday, buses arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah carrying some of the prisoners. ...

Shortly after the Thursday handover of the seven hostages in southern Gaza, Trump’s envoy for the region, Steven Witkoff, made a brief visit to Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. Many people, when they realised Witkoff was there, raced to pay personal tribute to him for brokering the ceasefire agreement. “Thank you for freeing the hostages, thank you to Mr Trump,” one shouted.

He met families of hostages briefly in a public library beside the square, assuring them he was optimistic the deal would hold, Israeli media reported, and said he was committed to bringing home the living held in Gaza and the dead. ... Witkoff was visiting Israel before negotiations on the second phase of the deal, due to start on Monday, and went from Hostage Square to hold talks with Netanyahu.

Gaza internal checkpoint to be staffed by US private armed contractors

A US security firm is hiring nearly 100 US special forces veterans to help run a checkpoint in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas truce, introducing armed American contractors into the heart of one of the world’s most violent conflict zones. UG Solutions, a low-profile company founded in 2023 and based in Davidson, North Carolina, is offering a daily rate starting at $1,100 with a $10,000 advance to veterans it hires, according to a recruitment email.

They will staff the checkpoint at a key intersection in Gaza’s interior, said the spokesperson, who confirmed the authenticity of the email. Some people have been recruited and are already at the checkpoint, said the spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity. He did not say how many contractors were already in Gaza.

UG Solutions’ role in the ceasefire deal has been reported, but the email disclosed previously unknown details including the aim of recruiting 96 veterans exclusively with US special operations forces backgrounds, the pay and the types of weapons they will carry. Emirati officials had suggested the use of private contractors as part of a post-war peacekeeping force in Gaza, and that the idea had caused concern among Western nations.

The deployment of armed US contractors in Gaza, where Hamas remains a potent force after 14 months of war, is unprecedented and poses the risk that Americans could be drawn into fighting as Donald Trump’s administration seeks to keep the Hamas-Israel conflict from reigniting.

Among the risks facing the Americans are gunfights with Islamist militants or Palestinians angry over Washington’s support for Israel’s Gaza offensive.

Pepe Escobar: What is Sultan Erdogan Up To?

Trump Insists Egypt and Jordan Will Take Palestinians From Gaza

President Trump on Thursday insisted Jordan and Egypt will take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza despite fierce objections from the two Arab nations.

Trump’s recent suggestion to “clean out” Gaza of its Palestinian population and send them to Jordan and Egypt raised fears that the US may support the ethnic cleansing of the territory, but his idea was met with quick rejection from Amman and Cairo and the wider Arab world.

When asked on Thursday about the Egyptian and Jordanian response to his proposal, Trump said, “They will do it. They will do it. They’re gonna do it, okay? We do a lot for them, and they’re gonna do it.”

Israeli Ceasefire Violations Continue, Lebanese Fear IDF Troops Will Remain Past Deadline

The Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon continues, as does Israel’s flaunting of the ceasefire. At least 11 violations of the ceasefire have been reported in the past 24 hours, including airstrikes, drone strikes, and gunfire against Lebanese civilians. ...

Israel is reportedly planning attacks on asserted Hezbollah compounds in the outskirts of multiple southern Lebanese towns. These operations are focused on the area around the Galilee Panhandle.

These planned new attacks, together with yesterday’s announcement by the IDF that it won’t withdraw until it’s satisfied the Lebanese military controls the areas Israel presently occupies, are raising concerns that Israel plans to occupy border areas of Lebanon for a longer time.

Per the ceasefire, Israel was to withdraw from southern Lebanon within 60-days, a period that expired Monday morning. The US and Israel, however, extended the ceasefire, and thus, the occupation, until February 18. But will Israel withdraw by February 18? It’s not clear. The IDF’s comments certainly suggest it’s not in any rush to leave.

Hezbollah Blasts International Community’s ‘Chronic Indifference’ to Israeli Violations

The head of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to the Resistance parliament bloc, Mohammad Raad, slammed the international community’s inaction regarding Israel’s ceasefire violations, stressing the Lebanese people’s “legitimate and sacred” right to confront the Israeli occupation. Raad’s statement came a day after the Israeli army launched airstrikes on Nabatieh and Zawtar in south Lebanon – one of the deepest attacks since the ceasefire was reached in late November.

“The treacherous and condemned Zionist aggression on the southern towns of Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Zawtar last night is a new example of the permanent and ongoing threat posed by the Israeli entity against our people and our country and against the security and stability of all the peoples and countries of our region,” Raad said. “The chronic international indifference to the transgressions of this usurping entity and its persistence in aggression has led it … bullying, arrogance, and violation of all international and humanitarian rules, standards, and laws,” he added.

Raad went on to say that “the right of our people in Lebanon to confront the occupation and Israeli attacks is a legitimate and sacred right that they exercise at the time and place they deem appropriate to thwart the enemy’s goals and preserve Lebanon’s security, sovereignty and interests.” He vowed that the “resistant people” of Lebanon “will combine with the efforts of the state and its concerned institutions when they undertake to carry out their duties in protecting the people and the country.”

Mearsheimer: ‘The Israelis lost in Gaza’

Russia May Lift Restrictions on Nuclear Weapons If US Goes Through With Trump Missile Defense Order

Russia may expand its arsenal of nuclear weapons if the US goes ahead with a major missile defense program that’s been ordered by President Trump, Russia’s TASS news agency reported on Thursday.

Trump signed an executive order on Monday to develop an “Iron Dome for America” that can intercept ballistic, hypersonic, and other types of advanced missiles, unlike Israel’s Iron Dome, which is designed to intercept short-range crude rockets. The order also calls for an improvement in missile defense to protect US troops deployed in other countries and the territory of US allies.

Writing in the Russian journal International Affairs, Grigory Mashkov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s special ambassador, said the US’s global missile defense posture was already a threat to Russia and said expanding it further “puts an end to the prospects of strategic offensive arms reduction and preservation of strategic stability on the previous terms.” ...

Trump’s executive order clashes with his recent comments about seeking “denuclearization” with Russia and China since it’s clear the development of a major new missile defense system would spark a new arms race.

German elections; Scholz sinking, Merz losing ground

'Tulsi Gabbard EXPOSED Jake Sullivan's Al-Qaeda Email During Senate Hearing': Aaron Mate

‘I won’t regret this’: young women turn to sterilization as Trump intensifies war on reproductive rights

Madison Clark did not celebrate when Donald Trump won the 2024 election. But one thought gave her solace: “At least I don’t have to worry about having a baby.” In September, Clark, a 24-year-old nursing student from Battle Creek, Michigan, underwent a bilateral salpingectomy, a sterilization procedure that removed her fallopian tubes, ensuring she will never get pregnant. Clark considers the procedure her fail-safe against any further rollbacks of reproductive rights that might occur under the new Trump administration. ...

A study published this month in the Health Affairs journal found that among young adults aged 19 to 26, tubal sterilization visits increased 70% after May 2022 – when the Dobbs decision leaked – in states likely to ban abortion. Tubal ligation, known as getting one’s “tubes tied”, involves cutting or blocking the fallopian tubes with clamps. A salpingectomy for permanent birth control, like Clark received, removes both fallopian tubes altogether.

The study also found that vasectomy procedures, a form of male birth control, increased 95% – but were still not as popular as tubal sterilizations. A previous study, published last spring, found the number of tubal ligations among women ages 18 to 30 shot up after Dobbs, at a rate of increase double that of vasectomies.

“Patients are scared of losing access to all kinds of reproductive care,” said Dr Sarah K Horvath, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Penn State College of Medicine. “There are people who had the idea of permanent contraception hovering somewhere on their to-do list, and now they’re pushing it up to number one.”

On TikTok, sterilization content has swelled. In one video with more than 73,000 likes, a creator posted footage of herself driving to an appointment and waiting on a hospital bed, with the caption: “Getting sterilized because y’all couldn’t act right in the voting booth.” One popular TikTok doctor shared a “how to” video about tubal sterilization a week after Trump’s inauguration. “I go on Thursday to get this procedure done,” a user wrote in the comments. “I was so worried the current administration would prevent this option so we got it scheduled Asap.”

Democrats All Sounded EXACTLY Like Trump & Supported Mass Deportation!

Biggest US trading allies brace for a ‘game of chicken’ with Trump’s tariffs

America’s biggest trading partners are bracing for Donald Trump to impose sweeping tariffs on their exports after the US president repeated his threat to hit Canada and Mexico with new duties. Officials in Ottawa and Mexico City have drawn up plans to retaliate against Washington with tariffs of their own, raising the prospect of a damaging trade war. Businesses inside the US and across the world have warned of widespread disruption if the Trump administration pushes ahead.

Trump repeatedly pledged on the campaign trail to use tariffs to revive the US economy, disregarding many economists’ concerns that imposing higher duties on goods from overseas would exacerbate inflation, rather than rapidly bring down prices, as the president has promised.

While the Trump campaign mooted a universal tariff on all foreign goods, the Trump administration has so far opted to target specific US trading partners. The president has made clear that China and the European Union are in his sights, but has so far focused on America’s closest neighbors.

Weeks after his election victory last November, Trump announced on his own social network that upon his return to office he would “sign all necessary documents” to impose a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada. Mexico must stop “illegal aliens” from crossing its border with the US, he said, and Canada must halt the flow of drugs like fentanyl. “Until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!” Trump did not, in fact, sign these documents following his inauguration. Instead, he introduced a deadline – 1 February – by which both countries are supposed to resolve his concerns.

Democratic governors criticize Chuck Schumer for weak resistance to Trump

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, has reportedly been criticised by some of the party’s state governors for not resisting Donald Trump’s agenda and cabinet nominees strongly enough.

The exchange took place in a conference between Schumer and six Democratic governors that laid bare differences within the party over how to counteract a seemingly rampant Trump as he wreaks upheaval across the political landscape with an avalanche of executive orders, the New York Times reported.

The governors, led by JB Pritzker of Illinois and Maura Healey of Massachusetts, pleaded with Schumer to slow down the confirmation of Trump’s cabinet by persuading fellow senators to vote against his nominees wherever possible. They said the party needed to generate more public opposition than senators had managed in the chamber so far. ...

Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor who was running mate of the defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in last November’s election, said the party needed a higher television profile to project its governing alternative, rather than simply complaining about Trump’s actions.

Microplastics in placentas linked to premature births, study suggests

A study has found microplastic and nanoplastic pollution to be significantly higher in placentas from premature births than in those from full-term births. The levels were much higher than previously detected in blood, suggesting the tiny plastic particles were accumulating in the placenta. But the higher average levels found in the shorter pregnancies were a “big surprise” for the researchers, as longer terms could be expected to lead to more accumulation.

Preterm birth is the leading cause of infant death worldwide, and the reasons for about two-thirds of all preterm births were unknown, said Dr Enrico Barrozo, of Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, US. The established link between air pollution and millions of premature births had spurred the research team to investigate plastic pollution.

The new study only demonstrates an association between microplastics and premature births. Further research is needed in cell cultures and animal models to determine if the link is causal. Microplastics are known to cause inflammation in human cells, and inflammation is one of the factors that prompts the start of labour.

“Our study hints at the possibility that the accumulation of plastics could be contributing to the occurrence of preterm birth,” said Prof Kjersti Aagaard, at Boston children’s hospital in the US. “Combined with other recent research, this study adds to the growing body of evidence that demonstrates a real risk from exposure to plastics on human health and disease.” ...

The research was presented on Thursday at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s annual meeting in Denver, and has been submitted to an academic journal. The researchers analysed 100 placentas from full-term births (37.2 weeks, on average) and 75 from preterm births (34 weeks), all from the Houston area.

Asteroid triggers global defence plan amid chance of collision with Earth in 2032

A 100 metre-wide asteroid has triggered global planetary defence procedures for the first time after telescope observations revealed it has a chance of colliding with Earth in 2032.

Asteroid 2024 YR4 was spotted by an automated telescope in Chile on 27 December last year but has since risen to the top of impact risk lists maintained by the US and European space agencies.

Based on measurements gathered so far, the asteroid has a 1.3% chance of smashing into Earth on 22 December 2032, or put another way, a nearly 99% probability of barrelling past without incident.

“Most likely this one will pass by harmlessly,” said Colin Snodgrass, a professor of planetary astronomy at the University of Edinburgh. “It just deserves a little more attention with telescopes until we can confirm that. The longer we follow its orbit, the more accurate our future predictions of its trajectory become.”

The asteroid ranks as a three on the Torino Impact Hazard Scale, indicating a close encounter that merits attention from astronomers because there is a 1% or greater chance of a collision in the next decade that would inflict “localised destruction”. The Torino scale ranges from zero, when there is no risk, to 10 when a collision is certain and poses a threat to the future of civilisation as we know it.

Some US firefighters are paid as little as fast-food workers

Firefighters from across the US fought side by side to quell the firestorm in Los Angeles this month, working tirelessly together in dangerous and chaotic conditions. But there was one glaring difference among them: federal firefighters are paid just a fraction of what state and local crews make doing the same work.

It’s a problem that’s long plagued the federal crews who play a crucial role in protecting the country when catastrophes unfold. Salaries that rival those of fast-food workers, and outdated job descriptions that don’t capture the extreme hazards and levels of expertise needed in their work, are contributing to severe levels of physical and mental strain, federal firefighters say. Many take on more than a thousand hours of overtime in a season, trying to make a livable wage.

As the climate crisis turns up the dial on disasters and their services are increasingly needed, many federal wildland firefighters are struggling to make ends meet. Scores have left federal agencies in recent years, taking valuable experience and knowledge with them, as those still in the trenches try to pick up the slack. Budget constraints have also forced the United States Forest Service (USFS), the country’s largest employer of wildland firefighters, to leave staffing gaps on engines unfilled and cut their seasonal employees even as fire risks linger through the year. ...

In 2021, Joe Biden instituted a temporary pay bump and ensured wages couldn’t dip lower than $15 an hour. With funds from the bipartisan infrastructure act, federal firefighters were given a bonus of either $20,000 or a 50% rise in their base pay, whichever was less.

The boost was intended only as a salve to stem a mass exodus, help with recruiting and buy legislators time to codify a fix. Those funds have expired and long-term solutions have languished in Congress as bills proposed to support federal wildland firefighters have stalled for years.

Also of Interest

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

The Ceasefire So Far

Richard Wolff: Settler Colonialism – ‘It Ends With Us’ in Palestine and Israel

Syria - New York Times Claims Mysterious Coalition Installed Dictatorship

AI Will Degenerate In Much The Same Way Google Did

The west is already losing the AI arms race

The CIA Illegally Spied on Puerto Rican and Mexican American Activists for Decades

Higher Impact of Inflation on Lower Income Households Means US Poverty Is Understated

‘The world order could start to evolve from the Arctic’: Trump, thin ice and the fight for Greenland’s Northwest Passage

In the most untouched, pristine parts of the Amazon, birds are dying. Scientists may finally know why

Tulsi's Hearing Exposes Bipartisan Rot of DC Swamp

A Little Night Music

John Lee Hooker - Walkin' The Boogie

John Lee Hooker – I'm In The Mood

John Lee Hooker – I'm Bad Like Jesse James

John Lee Hooker, Canned Heat - Cuttin' Out

John Lee Hooker – Boogie With The Hook

John Lee Hooker – Stella Mae

John Lee Hooker - "Big Legs Tight Skirt"

John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom

John Lee Hooker And Van Morrison - Baby Please Don't Go

John Lee Hooker - Endless Boogie, Parts 27 And 28

John Lee Hooker & Ry Cooder - Full Concert - 10/10/92 - Shoreline Amphitheatre