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This evening's music features Chicago blues guitarist and harmonica player Louis Myers. Enjoy!

"The most horrifying thing about all the footage of HTS thugs massacring people in Syria is not the violence itself, it’s how happy its perpetrators are in the videos. Grinning. Laughing. Joking. It’s deeply disturbing how easily people can be turned into monsters."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

People Who Defend Trump’s Assault On Free Speech Are Mindless Sheep

President Trump has taken to social media to boast about his administration’s arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil for leading Columbia University campus demonstrations against Israel’s genocidal atrocities in Gaza, proclaiming that “This is the first arrest of many to come.”

“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” Trump said.

And judging from what I’m seeing online, and the responses I’ve been getting to my criticisms of these abuses, most Trump supporters seem perfectly fine with these measures. Many are actively defending them.

Words can’t express how disgusted I am with Trump supporters who defend their president stomping out speech rights for Israel after spending years wailing about the loss of free speech in America. It’s beyond mere political differences. I don’t respect them as people.

Of all the pathetic, groveling, bootlicking positions anyone could possibly espouse, it’s hard to imagine one more egregious than twisting yourself into cognitive knots trying to find ways to excuse a president crushing free speech in your country to advance the interests of a foreign state after spending years yelling “America First” and whining about freedom of speech, just because that President happens to be a Republican.

If you are doing this, you’re just admitting that you don’t stand for anything, and you’re just drifting along with the herd and supporting whatever the man in charge tells you to support. You’re unthinking human livestock. A mindless, useless, pointless NPC. You have wasted all of your time on this planet, because you did not use that time to mature into a sovereign adult with basic intellectual agency and integrity.

Republicans have this adorable story about themselves where they believe they have changed since the George W Bush administration, but that’s not what I’m seeing on social media today. I’m seeing the same shitbrained, power-worshipping sheep who cheered on every authoritarian abuse rolled out by the Bush administration. That’s all this so-called “populist” movement calling itself “MAGA” turned out to be: all the same authoritarian bootlicking, but with more presents for Israel.

https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO/status/1899232271426879977

I saw a tweet from Michael Tracey the other day, “GOP free speech: You can say ‘retarded’ again, but you can’t protest Israel.”

That’s the long and short of it, right there. When Trump supporters spent all those years yelling about the First Amendment, it turns out they weren’t talking about the need to stop the powerful from silencing inconvenient political speech — they just wanted to be allowed to say “retard” and “tranny” on social media. As long as they get those completely irrelevant concessions from the powerful, they’ll happily let their government set all kinds of speech-suppressing legal precedents, because they don’t actually have any values or positions which pose any kind of challenge to the powerful. They’re George W Bush Republicans LARPing as populist revolutionaries.

Someone who actually supports free speech says “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Trump supporters say “I may not agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death my government’s right to silence you as long as a Republican is in office.”

Worthless, spineless cucks. What an undignified way to live.

Israel FREAKS After US Envoy Says 'NOT A CLIENT STATE'

US envoy’s secret talks with Hamas anger Netanyahu administration

A US envoy has said Hamas proposed a five-to-10-year ceasefire and a full prisoner exchange during backroom talks that have provoked angry responses from the administration of Benjamin Netanyahu and his conservative backers in Israel and the US. Adam Boehler, the US special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, told Kan News, an Israeli public broadcaster, that he “does believe” Hamas would eventually lay down its weapons and leave power in Gaza. While he said the series of interviews was meant to explain the US position, he also defended the talks by saying that Washington is “not an agent of Israel”.

“We weren’t prepared to just sit back for two weeks,” Boehler said, adding: “You’ve got a real chance for some movement and seeing hostages home in the next few weeks.” Those remarks are said to have provoked behind-the-scenes fury from Netanyahu’s strategic affairs adviser Ron Dermer, as well as public anger from rightwingers in the government including the ultranationalist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.

“[Boehler] attempted to negotiate the release of American hostages. We made it clear to him that he cannot speak on our behalf, and if he wishes to negotiate on behalf of the United States, then good luck to him,” Smotrich told Israel’s Army Radio, according to the Times of Israel. The Israeli minister did not specify how this message was conveyed to Boehler. However, on Monday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, further sought to tamp down concerns over the talks between Boehler and Hamas.

“That was a one-off situation in which our special envoy for hostages, whose job it is to get people released, had an opportunity to talk directly to someone who has control over these people and was given permission and encouraged to do so. He did so,” Rubio told reporters while flying to Saudi Arabia.

“As of now, it hasn’t borne fruit. Doesn’t mean he was wrong to try, but our primary vehicle for negotiations on this front will continue to be Mr Witkoff and the work he’s doing through Qatar,” Rubio added, referring to Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

Child deaths surge amid ‘Gazafication’ of West Bank

Israel has brought the military tactics of its war in Gaza to the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians face mass forced displacements, a surge in airstrikes and a sharp rise in attacks on children and other civilians, a Palestinian-Israeli rights group has said. B’tselem has detailed the impact of Israel’s most intense operations in the area for at least two decades in a report that describes what it calls the “Gazafication” of Israel’s occupation there.

Israeli airstrikes in the West Bank since 7 October 2023, the beginning of the Gaza war triggered by Hamas’s attack on southern Israel, have killed more Palestinians than during the violence of the second intifada of the 2000s, with children killed at a rate unprecedented during the territory’s occupation, according to data collected by B’tselem over more than two decades.

Military operations launched in three West Bank refugee camps in January also forced 40,000 people from their homes, the largest displacement since Israel’s occupation began in 1967. Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said troops would remain “for the coming year”, meaning residents would not be allowed back in that time.

Israel says its operations target militant Palestinian groups. The refugee camps are historically home to fighters who consider themselves armed resistance.

“Israel’s complete disregard for international law in the war in Gaza is now being replicated to the West Bank,” said B’Tselem’s executive director, Yuli Novak. “Its activity there, as yet on a smaller scale than in Gaza, is already causing indiscriminate and disproportionate killing and destruction.”

Noura Erakat: Trump’s Abuses & Mahmoud Khalil’s Arrest Are Products of U.S. Imperialism Coming Home

Trump calls arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil ‘first of many to come’

Donald Trump said on Monday that the arrest of a prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests last year, was the “first arrest of many to come”.

“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” the US president wrote in a post on Truth Social.

He added: “Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country – never to return again. If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply.”

The White House amplified Trump’s comments in a post on X reading “Shalom, Mahmoud”, using a Hebrew word for goodbye. Trump’s remarks come as over the weekend federal immigration authorities arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent US resident with a green card who is a recent Columbia graduate, and took him into custody, reportedly acting on a state department order to revoke his green card.

In his statement on Monday, Trump said that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) took Khalil into custody after his executive order and claimed, without evidence, that similar activists on college campuses are paid agitators, not students.

Judge Blocks Mahmoud Khalil’s Deportation as Trump Vows More Arrests

Judge blocks pro-Palestinian activist's deportation

A judge has blocked pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation from the US.

New York judge Jesse Furman issued the order on Monday after Donald Trump confirmed the arrest of the permanent US resident with a green card. A hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday.

Khalil was detained by Ice agents despite having a green card and therefore being a permanent US resident. Khalil’s attorney said Ice agents hung up the phone during the detention when she asked if they had a warrant.

“A Devastating Tragedy”: 1,000+ People Killed in Syria Amid Reports of Massacres Against Alawites

CIA-Backed Jihadist Death Squads Terrorizing Syria! w/ Jeffrey Sachs

‘No military solution’ to Ukraine war, Rubio says ahead of Saudi meetings

There is “no military solution” to the conflict in Ukraine, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said ahead of high-stakes meetings on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia aimed at repairing a severely damaged relationship that has left embattled Kyiv without Washington’s support.

Ukraine’s delegation, led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, will meet Rubio, and other senior White House officials on what is seen as neutral ground in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

Ukraine’s position in the talks would be “fully constructive”, said Zelenskyy, its president, on Monday, adding that he hoped for practical outcomes from the negotiations on ending the Russian war in his country.

On his way to Jeddah, Rubio stressed the need to gauge Kyiv’s readiness to make concessions to reach peace. He told reporters on the plane: “The most important thing that we have to leave here with is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things, to end this conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form. “I think both sides need to come to an understanding that there’s no military solution to this situation.

“The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014.”

US and Ukraine meet in Saudi Arabia

Ontario sets 25% surcharge on energy exports to US to counter Trump tariffs

The Canadian province of Ontario is imposing a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the states of New York, Michigan and Minnesota in protest against Donald Trump’s tariffs, the premier, Doug Ford, said on Monday. “President Trump’s tariffs are a disaster for the US economy. They’re making life more expensive for American families and businesses,” Ford said in a statement.

“Until the threat of tariffs is gone for good, Ontario won’t back down. We’ll stand strong, use every tool in our toolkit and do whatever it takes to protect Ontario.”

Ford said the government had told the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator that any generator selling electricity to the US was now required to add a 25% surcharge valued at $10 per megawatt-hour to the cost of power. At this level, the surcharge will generate revenue of C$300,000 to C$400,000 (US$432,000 to US$576,000) a day, the statement said.

US stocks register heavy falls as White House tries to talk up Trump tariffs

The US stock market continued to drop on Monday as the White House denied that Donald Trump’s trade policies were causing lasting chaos within the economy. The S&P 500 fell 2.7%, the Dow Jones dropped 2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 4% as investors sold shares in the so-called “magnificent seven” – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla. Tesla’s shares had their worst day since September 2020, falling 15%.

The fall came a day after Trump skirted around questions about a potential recession on Sunday. Asked if he expected a recession, Trump said: “There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big … It takes a little time, but I think it should be great for us.”

Kevin Hassett, the head of the national economic council, told CNBC on Monday that any uncertainty around Trump’s trade policies would be resolved by early April and that the policies were “creating jobs in the US”.

“It’s starting to have the intended effect of onshoring in the US,” Hassett said, citing recent job figures that showed an increase of 10,000 manufacturing jobs in February. For context, the increase represents about a 0.08% increase in manufacturing jobs, of which there are about 12.7m in the US. Hassett insisted: “There’s a lot of reasons to be extremely bullish going forward,” saying that the Trump administration was still aiming for “the biggest tax cuts in history, massive deregulation and a productivity boom from artificial intelligence”. ...

Over the last week, as the US stock market has slumped, Trump and his administration have been busy working the talkshow circuits trying to allay growing concerns of a recession and continue to push for his trade policies.

Doge takeover of social security seemed ‘based on myth’, says ex-senior official

A former chief of staff at the US Social Security Administration (SSA) described how agents of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) – Elon Musk’s government cost-cutting operation – were imposed on the agency, assailing senior staff with questions “based on the general myth of supposed widespread fraud” and acting with dangerous disregard for data confidentiality.

In a declaration filed with a lawsuit on Friday and referring to the Doge agents Mike Russo and Akash Bobba, Tiffany Flick said: “We proposed briefings to help Mr Russo and Mr Bobba understand the many measures the agency takes to help ensure the accuracy of benefit payments, including those measures that help ensure we are not paying benefits to deceased individuals.

“However, Mr Russo seemed completely focused on questions … based on the general myth of supposed widespread social security fraud, rather than facts.” Flick also said she was “not confident” Doge agents had “the requisite knowledge and training to prevent sensitive information from being inadvertently transferred to bad actors”, given its agents have “never been vetted by SSA or trained on SSA data, systems or programs”. ...

Russo is now the SSA’s chief information officer. And Bobba is one of a number of young aides to Musk whose work for Doge – imposing staff as well as budget cuts – has proved hugely controversial.

Trump Says the US Can’t Cut Military Spending Now

President Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday that he would like to cut military spending but couldn’t do it now.

The president denied that he said he wanted to cut military spending despite his recent suggestions that the US, Russia, and China could work out a three-way deal to slash their military budgets in half.

“I never said cut, not in these days. I’d love to cut defense spending but not now, because you have China, you have Russia, you have a lot of problems out there,” Trump said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

The president has backed a House GOP budget plan that would increase the military budget by $100 billion and has also ordered the development of a massive new missile defense system for the US, dubbed the “Iron Dome for America,” which will come with a huge price tag.

For killing worker in Texas factory, Tesla to pay fine of $49,000, or what CEO Elon Musk makes in 8 seconds

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a $49,650 (€ 45,780) fine against Tesla for the August 1, 2024 death of journeyman electrician Victor Joe Gomez Sr. at its “Gigafactory” in Austin, Texas. The worker in question was electrocuted while working on a panel that was supposed to have not been energized.

The details in the OSHA reports make clear this was a foreseeable and preventable death, but it was made inevitable given the lack of safety measures at the plant. As of this writing, there is no indication that the citation has been contested, but the case status is still listed as “open.”

The fine amounts to less than a slap on the wrist for the world’s most valuable car company, with a market capitalization of nearly $700 billion at this time. The fine is less than 0.0003 percent of the company’s $17.45 (€16.09) billion in profit last year.

Financial news outlets estimate that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and open fascist who heads the infamous Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration, makes an income of $6,420 (€5,920) per second, meaning he could pay off the fine in less than 8 seconds, the time it takes to put on his shoes. ...

Tesla is one of the poster-children for workplace injuries. The Austin, Texas, plant had the eighth most injuries of any workplace in America, or roughly one injury for every 13 workers at the facility, according to OSHA’s 2023 data, the latest available from the agency. The third-most dangerous plant, according to the same figures, was Tesla’s plant in Fremont, California, which had 2,149 injuries.

Judge Napolitano w/ Prof. Aleksandr Dugin {Moscow, Russia} pt.2

Microplastics hinder plant photosynthesis, study finds, threatening millions with starvation

The pollution of the planet by microplastics is significantly cutting food supplies by damaging the ability of plants to photosynthesise, according to a new assessment. The analysis estimates that between 4% and 14% of the world’s staple crops of wheat, rice and maize is being lost due to the pervasive particles. It could get even worse, the scientists said, as more microplastics pour into the environment.

About 700 million people were affected by hunger in 2022. The researchers estimated that microplastic pollution could increase the number at risk of starvation by another 400 million in the next two decades, calling that an “alarming scenario” for global food security. Other scientists called the research useful and timely but cautioned that this first attempt to quantify the impact of microplastics on food production would need to be confirmed and refined by further data-gathering and research.

The annual crop losses caused by microplastics could be of a similar scale to those caused by the climate crisis in recent decades, the researchers behind the new research said. The world is already facing a challenge to produce sufficient food sustainably, with the global population expected to rise to 10 billion by around 2058.

Microplastics are broken down from the vast quantities of waste dumped into the environment. They hinder plants from harnessing sunlight to grow in multiple ways, from damaging soils to carrying toxic chemicals. The particles have infiltrated the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans.

“Humanity has been striving to increase food production to feed an ever-growing population [but] these ongoing efforts are now being jeopardised by plastic pollution,” said the researchers, led by Prof Huan Zhong, at Nanjing University in China. “The findings underscore the urgency [of cutting pollution] to safeguard global food supplies in the face of the growing plastic crisis.”

What the world needs now is more fossil fuels, says Trump’s energy secretary

The world needs more planet-heating fossil fuel, not less, Donald Trump’s newly appointed energy secretary, Chris Wright, told oil and gas bigwigs on Monday. “We are unabashedly pursuing a policy of more American energy production and infrastructure, not less,” he said in the opening plenary talk of CERAWeek, a swanky annual conference in Houston, Texas, led by the financial firm S&P Global.

Wright, a former fracking executive who was picked by Trump to the crucial cabinet position, also attacked the Joe Biden administration for focusing “myopically on climate change”.

“The Trump administration will end the Biden administration’s irrational, quasi-religious policies on climate change that imposed endless sacrifices on our citizens,” he said at the conference, for which tickets cost upward of $10,000. “The cure was far more destructive than the disease.”

Wright has been called a climate skeptic, for instance for repeatedly denying that global heating is a crisis. “This is simply wrong: I am a climate realist,” he said. “The Trump administration will treat climate change for what it is, a global physical phenomenon that is a side-effect of building the modern world,” he added. “Everything in life involves trade-off.”

Though he admitted fossil fuels’ greenhouse gas emissions were warming the planet, he said “there is no physical way” solar, wind and batteries could replace the “myriad” uses of gas – something top experts dispute. Further, a bigger and more immediate problem was energy poverty, Wright said. “Where is the Cop conference for this far more urgent global challenge,” he said, referring to the annual United Nations climate talks, known as the Conference of the Parties (Cop). “I look forward to working with all of you to better energize the world and fully unleash human potential.”

Sea lions sickened as toxic algae threatens California’s marine mammals

The number of marine mammals in California affected by a neurological toxin from algae has surged in the past week, in what could be another deadly year for animals such as sea lions, seals, dolphins and larger whales.

According to the Marine Mammal Care Center, a rescue facility based in Sausalito, California, the facility is treating more than 30 animals affected by a toxic algal bloom, with eight animals admitted on Wednesday. The algae bloom off the California coast has been on the rise in recent years, producing a neurological toxin called domoic acid.

“Since about 2015 we really saw kind of a steep change in how intense these blooms are and how long they last,” said Clarissa Anderson, a biological oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “They’re definitely longer lasting in general than they were prior to about 2014.” Anderson added: “In the last four years, the impacts have been really heavy on the marine mammal side, both sea lions, some fur seals, and quite a few long-beaked common dolphins.”

Domoic acid is a neurotoxin that accumulates in small fish such as sardines and anchovies, creatures that serve as common food sources for marine mammals such as sea lions. This toxin can affect animals and humans. When ingested in large quantities, domoic acid attacks the animal’s brain and heart, which can lead to seizures and heart failure. It often causes permanent brain damage if left untreated. Although the toxin can naturally leave an animal’s system over time, repeated exposure results in more severe and lasting effects.

If sea lions receive care before any serious damage occurs, veterinarians can help flush the toxin from their system by administering fluids and providing domoic acid-free fish. Anti-seizure medications, similar to those used in humans, are also given to control seizures.

Also of Interest

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

https://scheerpost.com/2025/03/10/columbia-complicit-in-trump-arrest-of-...

'Genocide Alert!' Israel Slammed for Cutting Off Power to Gaza Water Plant

International Law’s Fight for Relevance

The Painful Irony of Trump’s Plan to Build an American-Owned Gaza Riviera

Syria’s HTS Say Security Operation Against Alawites Over, More Than 1,300 Killed

Syrian government reaches deal with Kurdish-led SDF to integrate north-east region

Gordon Hahn On Europe's Role And A Possible Coup In Kiev

Romania Bans Georgescu From Running Permanently

Romania: Călin Georgescu’s presidential candidacy rejection sparks mass protests and international condemnation

DOGE: Chaos, Damage, Drama Not Enough to Cover the Stench of Corruption

Top Washington Post columnist quits after piece critical of Bezos is scrapped

Nothing Left

Trump DESPERATE Play To Stop Tesla DOOM SPIRAL

ICE DETAINS Green Card Holder for Protesting Israel

A Little Night Music

Louis Myers ~ 'Top Of The Harp & Bluesy

Louis Myers – That’s All Right

Louis Myers & The Aces - Just Whaling

Louis Myers ~ In The Evening

Louis Myers ~ Tell My Story Movin'

Louis Myers ~ 'Blue And Lonesome

Louis Myers ~ Short Haired Woman

The Aces - The Aces Shuffle

Louis Myers - In the evening

Eddie Taylor, Louis Myers - Live In Japan 1977