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"America is an empire. I hope you know that now. All empires, by definition, are bumbling, shambolic, bullying, bureaucratic affairs, as certain of the rightness of their cause in infancy, as they are corrupted by power in their dotage."

-- Felix Dennis

News and Opinion

Israel Admits It Violated The Ceasefire And Hamas Did Not

As we witness whatever’s going to happen with the highly jeopardized ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, I’d just like to make sure everyone’s aware that official Israeli sources have been telling the press that Israel was violating the ceasefire prior to the current standoff, and that Hamas was not.

Following the announcement by Hamas that it would be delaying the release of Israeli hostages until numerous Israeli ceasefire violations have been addressed, Israeli news outlet Maariv reported that according to the IDF itself, Hamas has not been guilty of any ceasefire violations up to this point.

Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah flagged on Twitter that according to Maariv, “the defense establishment and the IDF say that so far the terrorist organization has not violated the agreement, and therefore it is very doubtful whether Israel can take steps against Hamas at this stage.”

Read it in Israel's mass circulation newspaper Maariv: The Israeli army and "security establishment" confirm that so far Hamas has NOT violated the ceasefire deal. https://t.co/PtoH5UoLXV pic.twitter.com/MJdgDJhoQG

— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) February 11, 2025

Contrast this acknowledgement with a report from The New York Times, which cites multiple anonymous sources to state way down toward the bottom of the article that Hamas’s claims about Israeli ceasefire violations are “accurate”.

Paragraphs 14 and 15 of the New York Times write-up read as follows:

“The current standoff stems in part from Hamas’s accusation that Israel has not upheld its promises for the first phase of the cease-fire. Israel was required to send hundreds of thousands of tents into Gaza, a promise that Hamas says Israel has not kept.

“Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, three Israeli officials and two mediators said that Hamas’s claims were accurate.”

So it’s been established beyond a doubt that Israel is to blame for the precarious state of the ceasefire today. That’s not coming from me, it’s coming from inside the Israeli government and military.

Israeli Officials: Hamas’s Claims About Israel’s Ceasefire Violations Are Accurate
Gaza's Health Ministry said that Israeli forces have killed 92 Palestinians since the ceasefire went into effect
by Dave DeCamp@DecampDave #Gaza #Israel #Palestinians https://t.co/oV6UkTf5pP

— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) February 11, 2025

The ceasefire is deteriorating more rapidly by the day. After some flip-flopping on its position, the Netanyahu government has now clarified that it is demanding the release of “all” hostages held by Hamas by Saturday — a condition which is not part of the ceasefire agreement. This is a brand new condition which was first introduced not by Israel but by the president of the United States the previous day; Donald Trump told the press that Israel should terminate the ceasefire if “all” hostages are not released by Saturday at 12 PM.

Israel making new demands of Hamas which are not in the ceasefire deal as written is a reckless act which could easily lead to the resumption of fighting if Hamas decides it’s been pushed too far or can’t trust Israel to sufficiently hold up its end of the bargain.

And Trump helped bring things to this point. After Netanyahu visited Washington and stayed for nearly a week, the Israeli outlet Haaretz reported that the prime minister was planning to sabotage the ceasefire deal upon his return. Now here we are, watching the ceasefire being actively sabotaged by Netanyahu with a goal assist from Trump.

We can be reasonably certain that the western media will conveniently omit most of these important facts from its reporting in the coming days, so it’s important to hold all this in mind as we watch things unfold.

Aaron Maté : Trump and Ethnic Cleansing

King Abdullah rebuffs Trump’s push for Jordan to take in displaced Palestinians

Donald Trump has pressed Jordan’s King Abdullah to take in Palestinians who would be permanently displaced under the US president’s idea for the US to take over the Gaza Strip – even as the king said his country was firmly opposed to the move. Speaking alongside the Arab country’s ruler in the White House, Trump signaled he would not budge on his idea that involves moving the Gaza Strip’s shell-shocked residents and transforming the war-ravaged territory into what he billed a “Riviera of the Middle East”.

Trump has infuriated the Arab world by saying that Palestinians would not be able to return to their homes under his proposal to redevelop the enclave, which has been devastated by an Israeli offensive. ...

“We’re going to take it. We’re going to hold it, we’re going to cherish it. We’re going to get it going eventually, where a lot of jobs are going to be created for the people in the Middle East,” Trump said in the Oval Office, saying his plan would “bring peace” to the region.

King Abdullah said later that he had reiterated Jordan’s “steadfast position” against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, as well as in the occupied West Bank that borders his country. “This is the unified Arab position,” he said in a post on Twitter/X. “Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all.“

Despite the views of his Jordanian counterpart, Trump said Jordan, as well as Egypt, would ultimately agree to house displaced residents of Gaza. Both countries rely on Washington for economic and military aid. “I believe we’ll have a parcel of land in Jordan. I believe we’ll have a parcel of land in Egypt,” said Trump. “We may have someplace else, but I think when we finish our talks, we’ll have a place where they’re going to live very happily and very safely.“

Tariq Ali on Trump's Embrace of Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza & Global Rise of the Far Right

Israel will resume war in Gaza unless more hostages freed this week, says Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel will resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas does not release more hostages by noon on Saturday, endorsing a threat by Donald Trump that could shatter the three-week-old ceasefire between the two sides.
Netanyahu’s ultimatum was delivered during a video address posted to social media account on Tuesday. “If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon – the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” he said. It came a day after Trump told reporters: “If all the Gaza hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12pm, I would say cancel the ceasefire. Let all hell break loose.” ...

Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, said: “Trump must remember there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties, and this is the only way to bring back the [Israeli] prisoners. The language of threats has no value and only complicates matters.” In a statement late on Tuesday, Hamas reiterated that it was committed to the ceasefire deal, and claiming that Israel would be “responsible for any complications or delays.” ...

Replying to reporters’ questions in the West Wing, Trump overturned decades of US policy on Israel by in effect endorsing the annexation of the West Bank. “I think that’s going to work out very well,” he said, adding that it would “work out automatically”. “It’s in good shape. We discussed it, other people are going to discuss it with me. West Bank is going to work out very well.”

Trump BLOWS UP Ceasefire As Bibi Pushes WAR

“We’re going to take it:” Trump’s plan to annex Gaza and the return of imperialist barbarism

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump held a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan after which the American president reiterated his intention to annex Gaza through force and ethnically cleanse its population. “We’re going to have Gaza,” Trump said. “We don’t have to buy. There’s nothing to buy. We will have Gaza. ... We’re going to take it.”

Trump declared that unless Hamas releases all remaining Israeli hostages by this Saturday, “all bets are off” and “all hell will break out,” threatening to kill countless more Palestinians in a genocide whose death toll likely already exceeds 70,000. Asked how he intends to displace the people of Gaza from their land, Trump responded, “It’s a small number of people relative to things that have taken place over the decades and centuries.” The reporters in the room did not ask the obvious question: What “other things” was the president referencing as the precedent for using mass murder to force 2 million people from their land?

Was it the ethnic cleansing of the Native Americans and their concentration into impoverished reservations hundreds of miles from their homelands? Was it the brutal British Raj in India, which killed over 100 million people over a 40-year period? Was it the mass murder and mutilation of the people of Congo by King Leopold of Belgium, which may have led to the deaths of as many as 13 million Congolese? Or was it the mass displacement of 6 million Jews from Germany and Europe during the Holocaust into concentration camps, where they were systematically exterminated?

Trump’s plan to displace the people of Gaza is a flagrant violation of the prohibition under the Fourth Geneva Convention of the forcible transfer of civilians during armed conflicts. And his plan to steal their land violates the 1970 United Nations treaty, ratified by the United Staes, which stipulates that “The territory of a State shall not be the object of acquisition by another State resulting from the threat or use of force.” In declaring that the United States will “own” Gaza, Trump has proclaimed a new era of colonial barbarism and brutality, in which whole peoples, in their millions, will be sacrificed upon the altar of imperialist domination.

Yemen’s Houthis Ready To Restart Attacks on Israel If Gaza Ceasefire Fails

Yemen’s Houthis are ready to restart attacks on Israel if there is an escalation of Israeli attacks on Gaza and the ceasefire falls apart, the group’s leader said on Tuesday.

“Our hands are on the trigger, and we are ready to immediately escalate against the Israeli enemy if it returns to escalation in the Gaza Strip,” said Abdul Malik al-Houthi. ...

Iraqi Shia militias may also resume their drone attacks on Israel if the Israeli military escalates in Gaza. They could also start attacking US bases again due to US support for Israel.

Most charges against Gaza protesters dismissed but ‘intent is to scare people’

As pro-Palestinian demonstrations broke out across the US during the first year of war in Gaza, thousands of people were arrested, charged, or cited for their involvement. Most of the cases against them did not stick, a new Guardian analysis of prosecution data in a dozen major cities finds. About 60% of alleged offenses committed by protesters did not result in prosecutions. The Guardian identified about 2,800 charges, summons and citations brought or requested against Gaza protesters. Around 1,600 were dropped, dismissed or otherwise not filed, data shows.

The figures are probably an undercount – data between October 2023 and November 2024 was collected from prosecutors’ offices and attorneys who represented large numbers of protesters, but may not include every case in a city. Some cases are still working through the legal system.

Legal advocates argue that the high number of dismissals reflects policing tactics, such as mass arrests, that are often designed to silence protesters and chill dissent, but frequently cannot hold up in court. They say the tactics are also used as a means to make it appear as if protesters were more violent than they were, and turn public opinion against them. “The state’s intent is not really to prosecute – the intent is to scare people out of wanting to participate in protests at all,” said Ria Thompson-Washington, a board member with the National Lawyers Guild, which represented many protesters. ...

While the majority of cases did not result in prosecution, advocates say that some of the ones that did were motivated by pro-Israel bias. In Michigan, the Guardian revealed that the attorney general, Dana Nessel, had personal, financial and political connections to University of Michigan regents and pro-Israel donors who wanted charges brought against largely student protesters. Nessel so far has charged 11 people who were arrested on campus in 2024. Those cases are still moving through the legal system. Nessel’s charges came after local prosecutors dropped 36 out of 40 charges stemming from a late 2023 protest in a UM campus building.

Observers say that, broadly speaking, protesters for progressive causes are facing an escalating crackdown by the right and moderate Democrats. Often with political support, police and prosecutors have recently charged Gaza or police reform protesters with domestic terrorism, racketeering or ethnic intimidation for acts like kicking over an Israeli flag. “Political prosecutions have political intentions,” Xavier de Janon, director of mass arrest for the National Lawyers Guild said. “As movements have grown stronger, the charges are becoming worse and worse.”

“Ukraine Is Selling HALF The Weapons We Send Them To Our Enemies!

Ukraine ‘may be Russian some day’, Trump says ahead of Zelenskyy meeting with Vance

US president Donald Trump has floated the idea that Ukraine “may be Russian some day”, as his vice-president JD Vance gears up to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy later this week.

Pushing for an end to the nearly three-year war with Russia, Trump discussed the conflict in an interview with broadcaster Fox News that aired on Monday. “They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian some day, or they may not be Russian some day,” he said.

Trump also emphasised reaping a return on investment with US aid to Ukraine, suggesting a trade for Kyiv’s natural resources, such as rare minerals.

Trump is pressing for a swift end to the conflict, while Zelenskyy is calling for tough security guarantees from Washington as part of any deal with Russia. Kyiv fears that any settlement that does not include hard military commitments – such as Nato membership or the deployment of peacekeeping troops – will just allow the Kremlin time to regroup and rearm for a fresh attack.

Sanctions driving growth in Russian economy

Canada’s Liberal party was left for dead, but Trump might have just given it a second chance

Until just a few weeks ago, it was an exhilarating time to be a Conservative in Canada. After nearly 10 years of Liberal rule, a deepening cost of living crisis had soured public support for Justin Trudeau and his shop-worn government. The Tory leader, Pierre Poilievre, had seized on a controversial carbon levy, and pledged to make the next federal vote an “axe the tax” election. Pollsters predicted his party would seize a convincing majority of seats. The country was on the cusp of a new Conservative era.

And then Donald Trump suggested the US might take over Canada. The US president’s threats – ranging from “economic coercion” to outright annexation – have upended Canadian politics in a way few could have predicted. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday as he travelled to the Super Bowl game, Trump further escalated his rhetoric, claiming that Canada is “not viable as a country” without US trade, and warning that it can no longer depend on the US for military protection. ...

Since Trump’s comments, Canada has seen a groundswell of visceral patriotism. Maga-style hats emblazoned “Canada Is Not for Sale” went viral. Canadians jeered visiting American sports teams, even during a children’s ice hockey tournament in Quebec City. And amid a shift in the public mood, the Canadian prime minister has positioned his government as leading a “Team Canada” approach to the emerging threat from the south. ...

One poll, from Ipsos, found the Conservatives had shed roughly 12 points of support within two weeks. Another survey in Quebec, from the firm Leger, found that if the Liberals put former central banker Mark Carney atop their ticket, the party vaulted far ahead of both the Conservatives and the separatist Bloc Québécois.

Last week, another poll from the Globe and Mail and Nanos found that 40% of Canadians felt Carney – the former governor of the Bank of England – was best suited to face off against Trump. Only 26% of respondents felt that person was Poilievre.

Elon Musk Will Personally Profit from Gutting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Ex-CFPB Official

Trump empowers Musk by ordering agencies to cooperate with Doge

Donald Trump handed Elon Musk even more control over the federal government by preparing an executive order requiring agencies to cooperate with Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), a team Trump has assembled, when told to cut their workforces and limit the hiring of replacements.

The White House order, titled Implementing The President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Workforce Optimization Initiative, said the goal is to “restore accountability to the American public” and that “this order commences a critical transformation of the Federal bureaucracy. By eliminating waste, bloat, and insularity, my Administration will empower American families, workers, taxpayers, and our system of Government itself.”

The order notes that agency heads “will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components (or agencies themselves) may be eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law”.

It also said that agencies should “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from federal service” and “shall not fill any vacancies for career appointments that the DOGE Team Lead assesses should not be filled, unless the Agency Head determines the positions should be filled”. Exceptions are planned for military personnel and agencies dealing in immigration, law enforcement and public safety.

Trump and Musk are encouraging federal workers to resign in return for financial incentives, though a judge is currently reviewing the legality of the orders. Administration officials said more than 65,000 workers have opted to take the buyout option.

Trump reportedly fires watchdog who oversees USAid after damning report

Donald Trump reportedly fired the federal watchdog responsible for overseeing the US Agency for International Development (USAid) on Tuesday, one day after the independent inspector general issued a damning report detailing the impact of the president’s sudden dismantling of the agency. ...

Paul Martin, who was appointed by Joe Biden in December 2023, found that “widespread staffing reductions across the agency … coupled with uncertainty about the scope of foreign assistance waivers and permissible communications with implementers, has degraded USAid’s ability to distribute and safeguard taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance”. ...

Among the effects of the sudden halt in the agency’s work Martin documented are more than $489m of food assistance at ports, in transit and in warehouses being at risk of spoilage or loss. He also noted that the agency had lost almost all ability to track $8.2bn in unspent humanitarian aid – affecting its ability to ensure none of it falls into the hands of violent extremist groups or goes astray in conflict zones.

The agency requires that programs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria the West Bank and Gaza be vetted to ensure safe usage of US taxpayer funds. However, a lack of workers to vet the programs could lead to funding unintentionally being funneled into terrorist groups, according to the report.

Danes offer to buy California

Since returning to the presidency last month, Donald Trump has called for Canada to become the 51st US state, suggested he might take over the Panama Canal, floated US ownership of Gaza – and tried to buy Greenland.

Now, Denmark – which owns Greenland – is clapping back. More than 200,000 Danes have signed a satirical petition to buy California from the US.

“Have you ever looked at a map and thought, ‘You know what Denmark needs? More sunshine, palm trees, and roller skates.’ Well, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make that dream a reality,” the petition reads. “Let’s buy California from Donald Trump!” Across the top of the petition’s website, a slogan calls to “Måke Califørnia Great Ægain” and supposed supporters like Lars Ulrich of Metallica and Viggo Mortensen of Lord of the Rings fame offer their reasons for making California “New Denmark”.

“We’ll bring hygge to Hollywood, bike lanes to Beverly Hills and organic smørrebrød to every street corner. Rule of law, universal healthcare and fact-based politics might apply,” the petition continues. “Let’s be honest – Trump isn’t exactly California’s biggest fan. He’s called it ‘the most ruined state in the union’ and has feuded with its leaders for years. We’re pretty sure he’d be willing to part with it for the right price.”

Microplastics can block blood vessels in mice brains, researchers find

Microplastics can move through mice brains and block blood vessels, essentially mimicking blood clots that could potentially be fatal or otherwise disrupt brain function.

The findings are detailed in a peer-reviewed paper for which researchers for the first time used real-time imaging to track bits of plastic as they moved through and accumulated in brain blood vessels. When one piece of plastic got stuck, others accumulated behind it, like a “car crash”, the authors reported.

The authors then found decreased motor function in those mice exposed to microplastics, suggesting impacts on the brain. While mounting evidence has linked microplastics to neurotoxicity, the research is the first to suggest how – it probably reduces blood flow. “This revelation offers a lens through which to comprehend the toxicological implications of microplastics that invade the bloodstream,” the Peking University authors wrote. ...

The substance has been found throughout the human body, and can cross the placental and brain barriers. Recent research found microplastics to be accumulating in human brains at much higher levels than eight years ago. The substance is linked to an increased risk of heart attack and cancer, and is considered to be a neurotoxicant that can cause multiple forms of brain dysfunction, such as Parkinson’s disease.

‘Ridiculous blunder’: Trump wades into California’s water wars – and strikes some of his strongest supporters

Under orders from Donald Trump, billions of gallons of irrigation water were laid waste in California’s thirsty agricultural hub this month, a move that left water experts shocked and local officials scrambling. The water, stored in two reservoirs operated by the army corps of engineers, is a vital source for many farms and ranches in the state’s sprawling and productive San Joaquin valley during the driest times of the year. It will be especially important in the coming months as the region braces for another brutally hot summer with sparse supplies. The reservoirs are also among the few the US president can control directly.

Staged to give weight to Trump’s widely debunked claims that flows could have helped Los Angeles during last month’s devastating firestorm and to show that he holds some power over California’s water, he ordered the army corps to flood the channels. Less than an hour of notice was reportedly given to water authorities down-river who rushed to prepare for the unexpected release, which threatened to inundate nearby communities.

The move is just the latest in a series of misinformed attempts Trump has made to wade into California’s water wars, adding new challenges and conflicts over the state’s essential and increasingly scarce water resources. But in what now appears to be just a political stunt, Trump has struck some of his strongest supporters. Many counties across California’s rural Central valley – home to much of its roughly $59bn agricultural industry – backed Trump in the last election, forming a red strip at the heart of the blue state.

“It is almost mind-boggling that this has happened,” said Thomas Holyoke, a professor of political science and water expert at California State University, Fresno, calling the act a “ridiculous blunder”.

Experts, who were left scratching their heads in the aftermath, have found no justification for the order. The reservoirs were not at risk of overflowing and irrigation is not necessary during the wetter winter months. These releases also did not support threatened ecosystems such as those in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta, where contentious debates continue about flows and diversions. Some have suggested the flows will help bolster groundwater stores, “but a lot of that water will end up evaporating,” said Holyoke. “It’s just going to be water lost – and they know it.”

California utility sued for falsely claiming it could mitigate wildfire risk

The parent company of Southern California Edison has been sued for allegedly defrauding shareholders before the recent Los Angeles-area wildfires by assuring them it could shut down power lines to reduce the risk of catastrophic damage.

Tuesday’s proposed class action against Edison International appeared to be the first shareholder lawsuit stemming from the Eaton fire, which broke out on 7 January east of Los Angeles in Altadena, California, during a Santa Ana windstorm.

The fire burned more than 14,000 acres (5,665 hectares), destroyed more than 9,400 structures and killed 17 people. ...

Shareholders led by Felipe Antillon said Edison made materially false and misleading statements over nearly four years before the fire, in assuring that its utility unit used a power shutoff program to “proactively de-energize power lines” to reduce wildfire risks during “extreme weather events”.

The shareholders said the truth began to emerge amid reports that Edison had not de-energized nearby power lines, while lawsuits blamed the company’s electrical equipment for starting the Eaton fire, which has since been contained. Edison’s share price has fallen 34% since the fire broke out.

Also of Interest

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

Patrick Lawrence: All the Gloves Come Off on Gaza

Trump Vows to Press King of Jordan on Gaza Cleansing

Gaza Ceasefire Deal In Danger Of Collapse

Ukraine - There Is Nothing Left To Trade For More War Or A Peace Deal

The Pentagon Is Recruiting Elon Musk To Help Them Win a Nuclear War

The Execution of the CFPB: Capitalism Survives Another Attempt to Save It

Judge blocks Trump from cutting billions in medical research funding

Judge orders CDC and FDA to restore webpages removed after Trump order

The Power of Black Self-Defense in Lincoln Heights

A Little Night Music

Sunnyland Slim - Tin Pan Alley

Sunnyland Slim - Everytime I Get To Drinkin'

Sunnyland Slim & King Curtis - Baby How Long

Sunny Land Slim - Bassology

Sunnyland Slim - You Put That Thang On Me

Sunnyland Slim - Going Back To Memphis

Sunnyland Slim - Highway 61

Sunnyland Slim - Chicago Jump

Sunnyland Slim - Substitute Woman

Sunny Land Slim - It`s You Baby