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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: WAR

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features the band WAR. Enjoy!

^{WAR - The Cisco Kid}

"The victor will never be asked if he told the truth."

-- Adolf Hitler

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News and Opinion

As The Gaza Agenda Moves Forward, The Imperial Narrative Shifts With It

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt acted shocked and appalled by questions from reporters about Trump’s ethnic cleansing plan for Gaza on Wednesday, saying it was “evil” to suggest that these poor victims of Israel’s destruction should be allowed to stay somewhere that’s been completely demolished.

“Again, it’s a demolition site right now,” Leavitt said. “It’s not a livable place for any human being. And I think it’s actually quite evil to suggest that people should live in such dire conditions.”

Of course the question of whether or not it was evil for the US and Israel to deliberately create those conditions in the first place is never raised by the obedient press gaggle.

It’s been truly remarkable watching the official imperial narrative pivot from (A) claiming it’s outrageous to suggest Israel was waging a genocidal campaign of annihilation on Gaza, to (B) saying obviously everyone in Gaza needs to leave because the entire place has been annihilated and how dare you suggest otherwise.

White House was asked to clarify if plan is to permanently or temporarily resettle Palestinians.

Leavitt: They need to be temporarily relocated for rebuilding…I think it’s quite evil to suggest people should live in such dire conditions

Is it evil to create those conditions? pic.twitter.com/GyoThqhc40

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) February 5, 2025

This comes as Donald Trump himself proclaims on Truth Social that under his plan the Gaza Strip “would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting.” Such a land transfer would require Israel to forcibly seize all of Gaza in order to cede the territory to the US. If Gaza becomes as a US territory it would of course no longer exist as a Palestinian territory, and would have already been purged of all Palestinians.

And it’s just so surreal how the narrative is changing now that the agenda has moved from destroying Gaza to ethnically cleansing it. It’s requiring some real Orwellian doublethink revisionism.

Israel apologists in 2023–2024: The IDF is the world’s most moral army! It’s a war of defense! They’re taking extraordinary measures to protect civilian lives!

Israel apologists in 2025: Well obviously Gaza’s an uninhabitable wasteland that’s been carpet bombed to oblivion, duh.

Israel apologists in 2023–2024: Israel would never deliberately target civilian infrastructure!

Israel apologists in 2025: We need to move the entire population of Gaza to Egypt and Jordan because all of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been completely destroyed.

Israel apologists in 2023–2024: How dare you suggest that Israel is deliberately destroying healthcare facilities, you blood libeling antisemite!

Israel apologists in 2025: You can’t expect people to keep living in Gaza! Don’t you know there’s no healthcare there?

Israel apologists in 2023–2024: Israel is only targeting Hamas! The only locations with civilians in them that have been bombed are the ones where they’re being used as human shields!

Israel apologists in 2025: These poor Gazans need to be evacuated immediately! The entire strip is a demolition site with hardly any buildings left standing!

Israel apologists in 2023–2024: Israel is taking the utmost care with its airstrikes to only target terrorists with the most pinpoint precision.

Israel apologists in 2025: Gaza’s not safe for civilians, the whole place is covered with thousands upon thousands of undetonated ordinances!

Israel apologists in 2023–2024: This will all be over as soon as Hamas releases the hostages.

Israel apologists in 2025: Now that we’ve got our hostages back it’s time to end the existence of Gaza as a Palestinian territory and fill it with Jewish settlements.

Israel apologists in 2023–2024: Blame Hamas! Hamas caused this with their unprovoked attack on October 7!

Israel apologists in 2025: The only possible solution to all the death and devastation that’s been inflicted on Gaza is to advance an ethnic cleansing agenda that we’ve been chasing for generations.

Whoever controls the narrative controls the world. When the needs of the empire change, so do the narratives.

’Israel Is Doing Evil As Great As What The Nazis Did' - Princess Bride Actor Wallace Shawn

Trump doubles down on Gaza takeover proposal despite bipartisan opposition

Donald Trump has restated his proposal to take over Gaza amid widespread opposition – even from his own supporters – saying the territory would be “turned over” to the US by Israel after it concludes its military offensive against Hamas.

Trump reinforced his commitment to the idea in a rambling post on his Truth Social network on Thursday, even as it emerged that the proposal – announced without warning during a White House visit by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister – was purely his own and had not been subject to detailed discussion with aides.

“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” he wrote. “The Palestinians … would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region. They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free. No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed!”

The post was Trump’s response to broad condemnation of his original announcement on Tuesday, when he said the coastal territory could be turned into a “Riviera of the Middle East” after the 2.3 million Palestinians living there were left to live in other countries. ...

Trump’s latest statement came after the White House appeared to hurriedly retreat from the idea under a hail of criticism. It emerged that Trump had discussed it with few aides before publicly announcing it, while no feasibility studies had been conducted by the state department or the Pentagon, as is customary with major foreign policy initiatives.

UN special rapporteur and human rights lawyer Francesca Albanese on Wednesday slammed US President Donald Trump’s proposal to have the US take control of Gaza for the foreseeable future. pic.twitter.com/mH6VBYNNAe

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) February 5, 2025

‘Worst nightmare’: Egypt and Jordan put in impossible bind by Trump Gaza plan

International outrage in recent days has focused on Donald Trump’s proposal that the US take “ownership” of Gaza, and that more than two million Palestinians be displaced to allow the territory to be transformed from “a demolition site” into a “riviera” in the Middle East. In Jordan and Egypt, the demand that both countries accept huge numbers of Palestinians from Gaza – potentially on a permanent basis – has prompted equal concern. Leaders of both countries immediately rejected the proposal, and the Jordanian king, Abdullah II, and the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, are heading to Washington in an attempt to convince Trump to change course. ...

Abdullah and Sisi know that they are vulnerable to Trump’s trademark transactional style of geopolitics as their countries’ economies and security depend heavily on huge levels of US aid and trade. ...

Security services in Egypt struggle to keep a lid on discontent and officials fear new instability could lead to another mass protest movement like in 2011. Brahimi said: “As with King Abdullah of Jordan, there’s the potential for political calamity too, in that neither Arab leader can afford to be complicit in the systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Frankly, Trump has given voice to the worst nightmares of the leaderships in Amman and Cairo.”

Trump appears to disagree. In the press conference with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the US president said Abdullah and Sisi would come around to his proposal and “open their hearts [to] give us the kind of land that we need to get this done and people can live in harmony and in peace”.

COL. Douglas Macgregor : Can the US Own Gaza?

Your tax dollars at work:

US Coordinated With Israel on Strikes in Gaza Knowing Hundreds of Civilians Would Be Killed

The US coordinated closely with Israel on massive strikes in Gaza on residential buildings, knowing that more than 100 civilians would be killed even though Israel didn’t have precise intelligence about the location of a Hamas commander it was claiming to target, the Israeli outlet 972 Magazine reported on Thursday.

The report also detailed how Israel weaponized deadly carbon monoxide gas released by conventional bombs underground to kill Hamas commanders hiding in the tunnels, and in some cases, the gas killed Israeli hostages.

The report, which cited 15 Israeli military intelligence and Shin Bet officers, said Israel frequently “bombarded residential areas in Gaza when it lacked intelligence on the exact location of Hamas commanders hiding underground.”

In these strikes, the Israeli military authorized the killing of “triple-digit numbers” of Palestinian civilians, which it framed as “collateral damage.” The report said the Israeli military maintained close “real-time coordination” with US officials on these bombings regarding the number of civilian casualties, meaning the US was a direct accomplice in the slaughter.

Glenn Reacts to Trump's Gaza Take Over

Trump imposes sanctions on ICC, accusing it of targeting US and Israel

Donald Trump has signed an executive order that authorises aggressive economic sanctions against the international criminal court (ICC), accusing the body of “illegitimate and baseless actions” targeting the US and Israel.

The order grants the US president broad powers to impose asset freezes and travel bans against ICC staff and their family members if the US determines that they are involved in efforts to investigate or prosecute citizens of the US and certain allies. ...

In the order, Trump said the ICC had “abused its power” by issuing the warrants which he claimed had “set a dangerous precedent” that endangered US citizens and its military personnel.

“This malign conduct in turn threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States government and our allies, including Israel,” he added.

Neither the US nor Israel are member states of the ICC, a permanent court of last resort for the prosecution of individuals accused of atrocities. In his order, Trump argued the court must “respect the decision” of countries “not to subject their personnel to the ICC’s jurisdiction”.

INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern

Netanyahu gives Trump ‘golden pager’ in apparent reference to Lebanon attack

Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly gave Donald Trump a “golden pager” during their meeting in Washington DC this week, in an apparent reference to Israel’s deadly attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon last year. In photos circulating online, the golden pager can be seen mounted on a piece of wood, accompanied by a golden plaque that reads in black lettering: “To President Donald J. Trump, Our greatest friend and greatest ally. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Israeli media reported that the Israeli prime minister, who is wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes, also gave the US president a regular pager.

Trump's Ukraine dilemma, escalate or walk away

US supreme court may revive doctrine that would curb federal agencies’ power

The US supreme court may soon revive an obscure, pro-big business legal doctrine that could make it virtually impossible for the US government to develop new laws and regulatory rules that protect Americans. The theory, called the “nondelegation doctrine”, could also potentially invalidate large pieces of bedrock American laws and protections put in place since the first Congress.

The case comes after the conservative court substantially curbed regulatory power in recent years, and the nondelegation doctrine is viewed by some as a potentially extreme power grab by unelected rightwing judges. Nondelegation posits that the constitution prohibits the US Congress from giving power to federal agencies to make rules. Instead, Congress should essentially agree on and spell out most significant details in the laws it passes, which critics say is highly unlikely in a bitterly partisan and combative political era.

In the case before the supreme court, US Federal Communications Commission v Consumers’ Research, the latter challenged the FCC’s ability to issue a fee to cover the cost of providing broadband and telecommunication services in rural and low-income areas. Nondelegation proponents say the fee amounts to a tax issued by unelected officials. But observers note Congress directed the FCC to provide service to the entire country, and set restraints in the law about how the agency can do that, and how it can raise funds. That makes the case a “poor vehicle” for pushing nondelegation, Daniel Farber, a University of California, Berkeley, constitutional law professor said.

Much of the country, geographically speaking, could lose phone or internet service unless Congress steps in.

Should the court revive nondelegation, nearly every function of governance could be challenged: consumer safeguards against price gouging, limits on pollution, social security, food safety standards, clean water rules, sex offender laws, Medicare, union protections and far more. The doctrine is being pushed by major corporate trade groups from those in big pharma to big oil.

Democrats call for investigation into potential security breaches by Elon Musk

Senior Democrats are demanding an investigation into potential national security breaches created by Elon Musk’s takeover of certain federal agencies through his self-styled “department of government efficiency” (Doge).

In a letter published on Thursday, the members of the House oversight committee say they are worried that Musk and his operatives have illegally accessed classified information and sensitive personal data at agencies including the office of personnel management (OPM), the US treasury and the US Agency for International Development (USAid).

“There is no evidence that he, or any of his associates working under the ‘Doge team’ moniker, are entitled to access our government systems, nor is there any evidence that they have undergone the proper vetting to ensure the security of taxpayer and government data,” the letter said.

It calls on deputy inspectors general at those agencies, and others including the education department, the General Services Administration and the Small Business Administration, to investigate potential national security breaches involving Musk’s team. ...

The development comes as Democrats begin to crank up their opposition to Musk’s upending of US government systems and as a judge temporarily limited the unofficial department of government efficiency’s (Doge) ability to access the highly sensitive payment system of the US treasury that Musk’s associates reportedly attempted to use to block USAid payments. The ruling marked the first time that courts have limited Doge, which, in the last two weeks, has dug into the federal bureaucracy, pushing to shut down USAid and sowing chaos in the civil service.

Kids Of DOGE: Engineer 'Big Balls' Goes Viral; Another Musk Staffer RESIGNS After Racist Posts

DOGE Goon Given Access to Treasury Payment System Resigns After Racist Eugenics Remarks Revealed

Marko Elez, a 25-year-old staffer with Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has resigned from his role after The Wall Street Journal inquired over his ties to a social media account that advocated for a "eugenic immigration policy," among other racist views, the outlet reported Thursday.

Elez was stationed at the Treasury Department, where he reportedly had direct access to Treasury Department systems responsible for nearly all payments made by the U.S. government. Earlier Thursday a district court judge placed limits on Elez's and a fellow DOGE staffer's ability to share the sensitive Treasury data.

Elez also worked for Musk at SpaceX, Starlink, and X, according to the Journal.

The X account, which was deleted in December, used the handle @nullllptr—a misspelling of a keyword in the C++ programming language, the Journal reported. However, the account previously went by the username @marko_elez, according archived posts the outlet reviewed. The person using the @nullllptr account also described themselves as an employee at SpaceX and Starlink.

"Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool," @nullllptr posted over the summer, and in September: "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity." The account also called for a rollback of the Civil Rights Act.

Trump thinks that billions of dollars have been german christmas bread?

pic.twitter.com/ajcmLKZWDv

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2025

Trump repeats rightwing claim that USAid subscriptions to Politico were ‘payoffs’

Donald Trump has amplified a viral rightwing claim that media outlets, particularly Politico, were getting large payments from USAid, the foreign aid agency that his government is trying to shut down.

With ongoing efforts by Elon Musk and the “department of government efficiency” to shutter USAid, a false claim has gained traction on social media that Politico has received $8m from the foreign aid group. The money in question was payment for subscriptions to the news outlet from the entire federal government, not “payoffs” or even grants or other aid from USAid as rightwing accounts have claimed. ...

The payments that came from USAid directly to Politico were far smaller than Trump and his allies have claimed. Accounts on X used a government spending website to grab screenshots of payments and imply, or outright state, that payments the whole federal government made to the news agency for subscriptions over many years were from just USAid.

In reality, $44,000 of the payments to Politico came from USAid, for subscriptions to E&E, an energy-focused offshoot of the company, in 2023 and 2024, the Dispatch reported after reviewing the purchases.

These were not grants or aid – they were payments for subscriptions to Politico’s products, including the more costly Politico Pro, a premium service that offers exclusives, analysis and legislative tracking. The high cost for these subscriptions then became fodder for further misinformation, with some rightwing accounts claiming there had to be money laundering involved.

"Authoritarian Rampage": Trump/Musk Sued to Block DOGE Access to Confidential Info of Millions

Judge temporarily blocks Trump’s buyout deadline for federal employees

A federal judge temporarily blocked a Thursday deadline for federal workers to decide whether to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration. The offer, which was set to expire on 6 February at 11.59pm ET, was emailed from the Trump administration’s office of personnel management (OPM) last week. The senior district judge George O’Toole paused the deadline on Thursday and extended it to at least Monday, giving time for legal briefs to be filed before a hearing on Monday.

Reports said that more than 40,000 workers had already chosen to take the deferred resignation offer.

On Tuesday, the unions representing US government employees filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration’s buyout plan. The resignation option was apparently available to all full-time federal employees except for military personnel of the armed forces, US Postal Service employees, those in roles related to immigration enforcement and national security, and those in any other positions specifically excluded by the employee’s employing agency. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also announced buyouts for its entire workforce on Tuesday.

Federal employee unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Federation of Federal Employees, have advised their members to reject the offer, and have raised concerns about its legality and the administration’s ability to fulfill its side of the deal.

US Senate confirms Russell Vought to lead office of management and budget

The US Senate has voted on party lines to confirm Russell Vought, a key architect of Project 2025, to lead the office of management and budget despite intense opposition from Democrats.

In an 53-47 vote, the full Senate approved Vought’s confirmation, which came after Democratic senators held an all-night session express their deep concerns that he intends to work with Donald Trump to dismantle the federal government.

“He is the architect of the dismantling of our federal government,” the senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii said on Wednesday in a video announcing the all-night debate, which was intended to show the Democratic base that the party is putting up a fight against Trump’s nominees. All 47 Democrats were united in opposition to Vought’s nomination.

During the marathon 30-hour session, the Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin said that Vought “has openly called for the president to defy Congress and take control of federal funding decisions that are constitutionally vested in the legislative branch”.

“At stake is our very notion of self-government, a notion that Mr Vought appears to disdain,” the New Hampshire senator Maggie Hassan said.

DoJ sues Chicago claiming city impedes Trump’s immigration policies

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) sued the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago on Thursday, accusing the authorities there of impeding the Trump administration’s anti-immigration enforcement policies and seeking a court order sweeping aside so-called sanctuary laws.

The department cited a national emergency declared by Donald Trump on the same day he was inaugurated, amid a flurry of executive orders and proclamations as he began his second administration.

The DoJ is seeking to block the enforcement of several state and local laws that the federal government argues “interfere with and discriminate against” the administration’s enforcement of federal immigration law. The complaint was filed in Chicago federal court. ...

The newly installed US attorney general, Pam Bondi, issued a memo on Wednesday that said sanctuary jurisdictions should not receive federal justice department grants and the department should take actions against jurisdictions that impede immigration enforcement.

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Trump’s EPA to prioritize AI, lobbyists and staff cuts in ‘mission to traumatize’

A new and starkly different vision for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been outlined by the Trump administration – one that involves mass staff cuts, an influx of industry lobbyists and, unusually, the promotion of artificial intelligence as a key agency priority.

A set of five “pillars” issued by new EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, to guide the agency, set up under President Richard Nixon in 1970 to protect US public health and the environment, does include one referencing “clean land, air and water for every American”.

But the other four priorities move into areas beyond the traditional mission of the EPA, such as bolstering “American energy dominance”, a pledge to speed up the approvals of new projects such as oil and gas drilling, a focus on ensuring “a great comeback of the auto industry” and a promise to “make the United States the Artificial Intelligence capital of the world”.

The new set of priorities come amid tumult at the EPA, where more than 1,000 members of staff have been told they face being immediately fired. Career staff who oversee the enforcement of pollution laws and hazardous waste cleanup have already been reportedly demoted, with Donald Trump stacking the agency with a new cohort of former industry lobbyists who have spent their careers attacking protections covering everything from water quality to greenhouse gas emissions to toxic chemicals.

There is a “strong desire by the American public to unleash American prosperity,” Zeldin told Breitbart. “In order to do so, we need to become energy dominant. We need to bring back American auto jobs. We have to make the United States the AI capital of the world. We need to pursue permitting reform that can allow more investment into the American economy.”

Trump Guts EPA's Environmental Justice Office, Putting Poorest Communities of Color at More Risk

Hottest January on record mystifies climate scientists

A run of record-breaking global temperatures has continued, even with a La Niña weather pattern cooling the tropical Pacific. The Copernicus Climate Change Service said last month was the warmest January on record, with surface – air temperatures 1.75C above preindustrial levels.

The EU-funded Earth observation programme highlighted wetter-than-average conditions in eastern Australia and drier-than-average conditions in other parts of the country.

Samantha Burgess, the strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said: “January 2025 is another surprising month, continuing the record temperatures observed throughout the last two years … Copernicus will continue to closely monitor ocean temperatures and their influence on our evolving climate throughout 2025.” Sea-surface temperatures remained unusually high in many ocean basins and seas.

January marked the 18th month of the past 19 to record global-average surface temperatures above the 1.5C preindustrial level. Under the Paris climate agreement, world leaders said they would try to prevent global temperatures rising by more than 1.5C – but the threshold was based on long-term multidecadal warming and not short-term monthly temperatures.

Climate scientists had expected this exceptional spell to subside after a warming El Niño event peaked in January 2024 and conditions shifted to an opposing, cooling La Niña phase. But the heat has lingered at record or near-record levels, prompting debate about what other factors could be driving it to the top end of expectations.

Asteroid’s chances of hitting Earth in 2032 just got higher – but don’t panic

It might not be the world-ending apocalypse foretold in the Netflix drama Don’t Look Up, but astronomers have significantly upped the odds of a direct hit from a giant asteroid currently hurtling towards Earth.

According to Nasa’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (Cneos), the odds of a strike in 2032 by the space rock that goes by the somewhat unassuming name 2024 YR are calculated to be 2.3% – a one-in-43 chance. ...

Fluctuations in the chances of a strike so far out from an object’s arrival are common, and in a YouTube video entitled “How asteroids go from threat to no sweat”, Esa explains that the likelihood of 2024 YR4 ever striking the planet will drop to virtually zero once updated data on speed and trajectory is received in the coming weeks and months.

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Also of Interest

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

Trump Wants More War for Gaza Ploy

Craig Murray: UN Censures UK Abuse of Terrorism Act

Violent Israeli raids forcibly displace 26,000 Palestinians in West Bank

My Call Of Half A Million Gaza Deaths Appears Close + Trump’s Gaza Policy

Counting the Victims of Israel’s War on Gaza Is Low on Media’s Priority List

Trump Sanctions on ICC Decried as 'Lawless Israel First' Policy

Trump might want to revive America’s imperial heyday – but does his base?

Under Trump’s Orders, Pentagon Draws Up Plans for ‘Permanent Withdrawal’ From Syria

Ukraine - Intensity Of War Has Decreased

It is Elon Musk who is now running the United States. Not Donald Trump

Tesla Sales Plummet in Germany Amid Musk's Support for AfD

Joe Biden and the Dems Helped Build up Trump’s Border-and-Deportation Arsenal

Louisiana coerced unhoused people into an unheated warehouse – and paid $17.5m for it

Holding Musk Accountable: Rep. Ro Khanna on Stopping DOGE's "Unconstitutional" Power Grab

JFK Files: Will Trump's Executive Order Break Through CIA Blockade?

Bannon/Musk WAR, Health Clinics CLOSED, Social Security NEXT

Sh*tlibs ATTACK 3rd Party Voters For Trump Policy On Gaza!

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A Little Night Music

WAR - Slippin' Into Darkness

WAR - The World Is A Ghetto

WAR - Good, Good Feelin'

Eric Burdon & War - Spill The Wine

WAR - Summer

WAR - Peace Sign

War - Galaxy

WAR - Why Can't We Be Friends?

WAR - Low Rider

Eric Burdon & War - Spirit/Love Is All Around/Mystery Train

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