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"Sometimes what the world needs is a colossal fuckup in charge to bring the end of an order."

-- Ian Welsh

News and Opinion

The Chris Hedges Report: Media-Led Autocracy

Israel to occupy Syrian southern territory for ‘unlimited time’, says minister

Israel’s defence minister has reaffirmed the country’s intention to occupy a swath of Syrian territory beyond Israel’s contested northern borders for an “unlimited amount of time” during a visit to the strategic Mount Hermon.

“The IDF is prepared to stay in Syria for an unlimited amount of time. We will hold the security area in Hermon and make sure that all the security zone in southern Syria is demilitarised and clear of weapons and threats,” Israel Katz said on a visit to the peak on Wednesday.

After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December, Israeli forces moved to control a 400 sq km demilitarised buffer zone in Syrian territory. The zone, which lies between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, was created by the UN after the 1973 Yom Kippur war, or Ramadan war as it is known in Arabic. A UN force of about 1,100 troops has patrolled the area since then. ...

Israel officials believe the new Syrian regime and other armed groups active in the country remain a potential threat. Katz said the deployment on Mount Hermon was necessary to defend Israeli communities in northern Israel and on its contested borders. “Every morning when [al-Sharaa] opens his eyes at the presidential palace in Damascus, he will see the IDF watching him from the peak of the Hermon, and remember that we are here and in the entire security area of southern Syria, to protect the Golan and Galilee residents against any of his threats and those of his jihadist friends,” Katz told reporters who accompanied him, according to the Times of Israel.

As UN Accuses Israel of Genocidal Acts, US Surgeons in Gaza Slam Aid Blockade & Jailing Of Doctors

Experts Warn Trump Legal Claims for Mahmoud Khalil Arrest Portend Rise of Fascist Police State

As a federal judge on Wednesday extended an order temporarily banning the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil and new details emerged about the Trump administration's arguments for trying to expel him, legal experts and other commentators continued to express alarm over the targeting of the green-card holder involved with pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year.

In a Wednesday statement, Legal Defense Fund president and director-counsel Janai Nelson cited President Donald Trump's recent Truth Social post that described Khalil as "a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student" and pledged that "this is the first arrest of many to come."

Nelson warned that "the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, and President Trump's promise that there will be more arrests to come, is a chilling presentiment that raises serious concerns about this administration's misuse of immigration enforcement personnel to curtail and punish constitutionally protected First Amendment activity. The Trump administration's tactics aim to stoke fear and signal that dissent will result in harmful immigration consequences and other forms of oppression that may include surveillance, violence, detainment, and even potential deportation."

"The law is clear," she stressed. "The First Amendment guarantees demonstrators the right to peacefully assemble and dissent without government retaliation. We demand due process and human and civil rights protections for Mr. Khalil and all lawful protesters. His treatment should alarm everyone who believes in the primacy of the U.S. Constitution and, especially, First Amendment freedom and equal protection under law."

Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team giving statements outside the federal courthouse where he just appeared pic.twitter.com/GWV65HlgTG

— Luca Saeed (@cityascanvass) March 12, 2025

Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent, finished his studies at Columbia in December. He was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York City on Saturday while returning home with his pregnant wife, a U.S. citizen who said that "ICE officers hung up the phone on our lawyer." He is being held at an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that "a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio is so far the Trump administration's sole justification for trying to deport" him. The newpaper obtained a notice informing Khalil that he faces deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act because Rubio "has reasonable ground to believe that your presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."

Rubio on Wednesday suggested to reporters that Khalil supports Hamas, which has goverened the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades and is designated as a terrorist group by the United States. The secretary said that "this is not about free speech. This is about people that don't have a right to be in the United States to begin with... No one has a right to a green card."

Khalil's lawyers said in a Monday filing that as a Palestinian, he "has felt compelled to be an outspoken advocate for the human rights of Palestinians, including on the campus of Columbia University," and "he is committed to calling on the rest of the world to protect the rights of Palestinians under international law and to stop enabling violence against Palestinians."

Last year's protests at Columbia and other campuses came as Israeli forces responded to a Hamas-led attack on Israel by waging a devstating U.S.-backed military assault on Palestinians in Gaza, resulting in widespread allegations of genocide.

The administration's attempt to deport Khalil and Trump's signal that other pro-Palestinian advocates will face similar attacks have provoked intense outrage. Khalil's legal team includes lawyers with the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which launched proceedings challenging his detention and seeking his return to New York.

"This is clearly an attempt to deport Mahmoud by exploiting a vague and overly broad provision of U.S. immigration law," CCR's Brad Parker told the Post. "This provision, if not reined in, will be exploited to pursue the deportation of anyone who disagrees with the administration's foreign policy agenda. This is not about security, this is about absolute executive power and repression."

Paul O'Brien, executive director at Amnesty International USA, also weighed in with Wednesday statement, calling Khalil's arrest "another attack on human rights by the Trump administration" and emphasizing that "each and every one of us—regardless of immigration status—has the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and due process."

"Targeting and threatening peaceful protesters and their immigration status for the content of their protest, such as advocating for the human rights of Palestinians, is a violation of human rights," he said. "This targeting sends a chilling message to people across this country, on and off campuses, that anyone exercising their rights will be subject to repression, detention, and possible deportation. And for the immigrant communities already living in fear throughout the U.S., they are now only further pushed into the shadows with fear that they could be deported for speaking out."

In addition to demanding Khalil's immediate release, O'Brien called on universities to "take steps to protect their immigrant students from ICE enforcement and ensure that the human rights of all of their students and faculty to protest in support of Palestinian rights and other issues is respected and protected."

As Common Dreams reported earlier Wednesday, Khalil's wife said in a detailed account of their recent experiences that her husband had emailed Columbia University the day before his arrest, seeking legal support, and had never heard back.

Jeffrey C. Isaac, a political science professor at Indiana University Bloomington, argued in a Wednesday opinion piece for Common Dreams that "this is not about Hamas or Palestine or Israel or antisemitism. It is about the crackdown on dissent. Period. Foreign 'agitators,' American 'agitators,' it makes no difference."

"The arrest of Khalil Mahmoud is an offense to every citizen of the United States, and it sets a precedent that endangers us all," Isaac added. "Trump is turning the United States into a police state."

Mahmoud Khalil's Lawyers Press for Release of Columbia Univ. Activist Jailed in Free Speech Case

US relies on rare foreign policy provision to try to deport Mahmoud Khalil

The US government is relying on a rarely used provision of the law to try to deport a prominent Palestinian activist who recently completed his graduate studies at Columbia University, where he was a leader in last year’s campus protests. A government charging document addressed to Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent US resident and green card holder who is currently being held in a Louisiana detention center, said that secretary of state Marco Rubio “has reasonable ground to believe that your presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.

Green cards are rarely revoked in the absence of a criminal conviction, but the foreign policy provision is the only ground for deportation listed in the document.

A Manhattan federal court held a hearing on Wednesday morning after Khalil’s lawyers challenged his detention, but it ended without a decision on whether he would be released from custody. During the brief hearing, an attorney for the Department of Justice asked for a change of venue for the case, from New York to Louisiana or New Jersey, where he was held before being sent south.

The judge, Jesse Furman, asked the government to file written arguments by Friday. Earlier this week, Furman, an Obama-appointed judge in New York’s southern district, issued a ruling preventing Khalil’s deportation while the court reviews the legal challenge. Khalil’s lawyers contend that the Trump administration is unlawfully retaliating against their client for his activism and constitutionally protected speech. ...

Bill Hing, professor of law and migration at University of San Francisco, said that simply invoking US foreign policy aims would not be enough. He said: “The government has to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that his presence or activities in the US has potential serious adverse foreign policy consequences. The question is, how will they prove that? If he has done nothing more than decry the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, or accuse Israel of genocide, and demand ceasefire, is that adverse to US foreign policy? I don’t think so. I think that is protected free speech.”

Columbia Grad Facing Deportation Over Speech: What's Next?

Prof. John Mearsheimer : How Close to a Regional War?

Iran's president refuses talks, tells Trump 'do whatever the hell you want'

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has ruled out talks with the US "while being threatened", according to Iranian state media. “It is unacceptable for us that they (the US) give orders and make threats. I won’t even negotiate with you. Do whatever the hell you want,” state media reported.

Iran said on Friday that it is not prepared to negotiate a new nuclear deal with the US, after President Donald Trump revealed he had sent a letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, asking for talks. On Saturday, Khamenei reiterated his view, saying he would not be bullied into talks with the US as it exerts a "maximum pressure" campaign that was the hallmark of Trump's first tenure after he unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump said the letter was sent on Wednesday. “There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal,” Trump said. “I would prefer to make a deal because I’m not looking to hurt Iran. They’re great people.” Trump said he hoped to negotiate a deal, reiterating what has become a classic carrot-and-stick approach to his diplomacy. “If we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them,” he said. “The other alternative is we have to do something because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon," he added.

Iran denies that it is developing a nuclear weapon, but it has continued to enrich uranium to higher levels, particularly after the US withdrew from the JCPOA, killing the Obama-era deal with Iran.

Putin diplomatically (with nuance) turns down 30-day ceasefire plan

Trump hints at financial repercussions if Russia rejects Ukraine ceasefire

Donald Trump has suggested he could target Russia financially as Ukraine’s president urged him to take strong steps if Moscow failed to support a 30-day ceasefire agreed at a meeting between Ukrainian and US delegations in Saudi Arabia. The president’s threat came as the French defence minister, Sébastien Lecornu, told a press conference in Paris that a ceasefire announcement could come as soon as Thursday and that Europe would have to be prepared to help enforce it.

Washington, Kyiv and Europe are waiting for Moscow’s response to the ceasefire proposal, and US envoys are expected to hold talks with Vladimir Putin by the end of the week. The Kremlin has not publicly said whether or not it supports an immediate ceasefire.

If Putin refuses, “I understand that we could count on strong steps. I don’t know the details yet, but we are talking about sanctions and about strengthening Ukraine,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday.

Trump said on Wednesday that he had received “positive messages” regarding the ceasefire, but “a positive message means nothing”. The White House later said that Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, would be in Moscow later this week. ...

Trump did not directly promise to target Russia with sanctions if Vladimir Putin does not sign the deal, but said he could “do things financially that would be very bad for Russia”. He added, however: “I don’t want to do that, because I want to get peace.”

Is the Ukraine Ceasefire Plan Serious?

COL. Douglas Macgregor : Is Trump For Peace?

Canada announces retaliatory tariffs on nearly $30bn worth of US imports

Canada announced retaliatory tariffs on nearly $30bn worth of American imports after US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports went into effect on Wednesday. The Canadian government said it will be following a “dollar-by-dollar” approach and institute 25% tariffs on American imports, including steel, computers and sports equipment.

Donald Trump first announced the tariff on all steel and aluminum imports in February and scheduled them to go into effect on Wednesday. The tariffs going into effect has started a chain reaction of retaliatory tariffs as countries around the world decide how to respond to Trump’s policy.

Canada’s announcement comes after the EU announced its own tariffs on American imports, including products such as motorcycles and whiskey, totaling $28bn.

Trump had doubled the steel and aluminum tariffs against Canada, in retaliation for Canada raising the prices on electricity exports to the US, to 50%. But the White House dropped the measure after Canada said it would hold off on its electricity tariff.

Meanwhile, the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said the country would wait until 2 April to determine whether it will respond to the steel and aluminum tariffs. Trump had initially announced 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico, which were initially to take effect on 1 February, but paused the tariffs twice. The tariffs are now expected to go into effect on 2 April.

Trump accuses Ireland of stealing US companies in meeting with taoiseach

Donald Trump has accused Ireland of stealing the US pharmaceutical industry and the tax revenue that should have been paid to the US treasury, in a blow to the Irish premier, Micheál Martin, who had hoped to emerge unscathed from a visit to the White House marking St Patrick’s Day.

The US president showed grudging respect for Martin, alternately ribbing and complimenting him, while also launching several broadsides against the EU. He repeatedly took aim at Ireland’s historical low-tax policies, which helped lure US multinationals including Pfizer, Boston Scientific and Eli Lilly to its shores.

Big pharma now drives Ireland’s €72bn (£60bn) worth of annual exports to the US, with taxes paid in Ireland on drugs consumed in the US.

“The Irish are smart, yes, smart people,” Trump said. “You took our pharmaceutical companies and other companies … This beautiful island of 5 million people has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasps.” The US president told reporters in the Oval Office he did not want to punish the Irish too much, as it might risk support among the American-Irish vote, but said he was determined “to take back” his country’s “wealth”, predicting an easy battle with the EU. ...

One EU official said there was no point negotiating with the US at this stage, saying it would be like arguing over rotten fish. “It is not very productive to now start negotiating about removing the tariffs,” the official said. “You put a stinking fish on the table, and then you start negotiating to remove that stinking fish, and then you say: ‘Wow, we have a great result: there’s no stinking fish on the table.’ That is not a very productive conversation.

Gov Spending HITS RECORD HIGH Despite DOGE Claims

Schumer says no to Republican funding bill as US shutdown risk intensifies

Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said on Wednesday that Democrats would not provide the necessary votes to pass a stopgap funding bill, dramatically raising the risk of a partial government shutdown at the end of the week.

Announcing the decision in a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer urged Republicans to consider a shorter funding extension that would give congressional negotiators more time to consider a bipartisan path forward.

“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort. But Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their continuing resolution (CR) without any input, any input, from congressional Democrats,” Schumer said of the Republican-drafted bill, which passed by the House on Tuesday.

“Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass,” Schumer continued, referring to a short-term bill that would temporarily extend federal funding. “We should vote on that.”

Congress must act to extend federal funding by midnight on Friday to avert a shutdown. Changes – or a new bill entirely – would need to pass the House before the deadline. The House speaker adjourned the chamber after the bill passed on Tuesday, deliberately sending members home and in effect daring the Senate to reject their bill.

“Trump CAVED To The Deep State On Defense Spending” – Ben Cohen

Trump’s justice department demands New York migrant shelter share names of residents

Federal prosecutors have sent a criminal subpoena to a Manhattan hotel housing undocumented immigrants through a New York City program providing shelter to asylum seekers, according to a copy of the filing obtained by the Guardian.

The subpoena issued on Wednesday asks the hotel to provide “a list of full names of aliens currently residing” at the site as well as “any corresponding identifying information”, including dates of birth, nationality and identification numbers. The subpoena also asks the hotel to give evidence about “an alleged violation” of federal immigration law.

A source shared the document on the condition that the Guardian not share the name of their employer because the hotel is now part of a federal criminal investigation.

The subpoena marks the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. New York City is currently seeing a flurry of protests and demonstrations in defense of Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who is being targeted by the administration for deportation over his participation in pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations.

The federal subpoena, sent to the hotel Wednesday by prosecutors for the southern district of New York, also appears to seek information about New York City government officials. It asks the hotel to provide the names of “entities and/or individuals that are responsible for the funding” of the “illegal immigrant/migrant shelter programs”.

Trump officials to reconsider whether greenhouse gases cause harm amid climate rollbacks

Donald Trump’s administration is to reconsider the official finding that greenhouse gases are harmful to public health, a move that threatens to rip apart the foundation of the US’s climate laws, amid a stunning barrage of actions to weaken or repeal a host of pollution limits upon power plants, cars and waterways.

Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an extraordinary cavalcade of pollution rule rollbacks on Wednesday, led by the announcement it would potentially scrap a landmark 2009 finding by the US government that planet-heating gases, such carbon dioxide, pose a threat to human health. The so-called endangerment finding, which followed a supreme court ruling that the EPA could regulate greenhouse gases, provides the underpinning for all rules aimed at cutting the pollution that scientists have unequivocally found is worsening the climate crisis.

Despite the enormous and growing body of evidence of devastation caused by rising emissions, including trillions of dollars in economic costs, Trump has called the climate crisis a “hoax” and dismissed those concerned by its worsening impacts as “climate lunatics”.

Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, said the agency would reconsider the endangerment finding due to concerns that it had spawned “an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility, and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas”. Zeldin wrote that Wednesday was the “most consequential day of deregulation in American history” and that “we are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age”. Zeldin boasted about the changes and said his agency’s mission is to “lower the cost of buying a car, heating a home and running a business”.

Environmentalists reacted with horror to the announcement and vowed to defend the overwhelming findings of science and the US’s ability to address the climate crisis through the courts, which regularly struck down Trump’s rollbacks in his first term. “The Trump administration’s ignorance is trumped only by its malice toward the planet,” said Jason Rylander, legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Come hell or high water, raging fires and deadly heatwaves, Trump and his cronies are bent on putting polluter profits ahead of people’s lives. This move won’t stand up in court. We’re going to fight it every step of the way.”

US pauses water-sharing negotiations with Canada over Columbia River

The United States has paused negotiations with Canada on a key water-sharing treaty as Donald Trump continues both his threats to annex his northern neighbour and to upend major agreements governing relations between the two counties. British Columbia’s energy ministry said officials south of the border were “conducting a broad review” of the Columbia River Treaty, the 61-year-old pact that governs transnational flood control, power generation and water supply.

The sprawling Columbia River, which originates in south-eastern British Columbia and terminates in the Pacific Ocean on the Oregon-Washington border, is one of the largest watersheds on the continent. The immense volume of water that moves along its 1,200-mile (1,900km) route produces roughly 40% of US hydroelectric power and nearly half the hydropower in BC.

The treaty first came into effect in 1964, after devastating floods nearly two decades before that destroyed Oregon’s second-largest city and swaths of southern British Columbia. Under the terms of the agreement, Canada must control the flow of the Columbia River through its network of dams to ensure US hydropower generators receive enough water and to prevent flooding. Those benefits are worth roughly $200m (C$288m) annually for the province. For its part, the US must also give Canada half the additional potential hydroelectric power produced by dams, which it sells at market rate.

Under former president Joe Biden, the two countries reached an in-principle deal on a new version of the decades-old treaty in July, ahead of the September expiration deadline of the treaty. Despite a concerted push on both sides to finalize a deal before Trump took office, however, the final details of the treaty remain unfinished, with only a three-year interim agreement in place.

Atmospheric river to wallop California as study finds storms getting worse

A powerful atmospheric river storm was set to wallop California on Wednesday evening, drenching large swaths of the state with rain and bringing several feet of snow to the mountains – the latest in a wave of intense storms that new research shows are getting worse.

Much of northern California was under a winter storm warning because of the gusty winds and heavy snow in the forecast that the National Weather Service (NWS) said would lead to “difficult to impossible travel conditions”. Severe thunderstorms and high winds were predicted across the San Francisco Bay area, according to reports.

The NWS issued a flood watch in much of southern California through Thursday afternoon. The region was also anticipating dangerous driving conditions as well as road flooding and debris flows in areas affected by recent wildfires. Los Angeles placed several areas under evacuation warnings and orders due to the risk of debris flows from heavy rain, and announced the closure of several roads, including a portion of the Pacific Coast Highway. ...

A comprehensive study of atmospheric rivers in the current issue of the Journal of Climate found that the heavy rain and wind events most known for dousing California and other parts of the west have been getting bigger, wetter and more frequent in the past 45 years as the world warms. Atmospheric rivers have increased in the area they soak by 6% to 9% since 1980, increased in frequency by 2% to 6% and are slightly wetter than before, the study said.

Scientists have long predicted that as the climate crisis caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas makes the air warmer, it holds more moisture, which means bigger, nastier atmospheric rivers in the future. The new research indicates that a wetter future is already here.

Also of Interest

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

Israel’s Threatening Colonialism

Trump Opts For More War With Russia

So Much for Trump’s Peace Deal with Russia: US Backs Zelensky with Pre-Rejected-by-Russia Ceasefire Scheme

Trump Is the Best President of My Life Unless You’re American

From Canada to Europe, a movement to boycott US goods is spreading

Trump Ignoring Court Orders Is New Grounds for Impeachment, Says Pro-Democracy Group

'Billionaires Over Life on Earth': Trump EPA Guts Vast Array of Environmental Protections

Bone fragments of oldest known human face in western Europe found in Spain

Where ARE The JFK Files? Tucker Carlson Throws Tom Cotton Under A Bus: RISING debates

'FREE SPEECH HAS LIMITS': Border Czar Justifies Student Deportation

Here’s Why Putin WON’T Fall Into The “Ceasefire” Trap!

A Little Night Music

Ray Charles - Unchain my Heart

Ray Charles - I got a woman

Ray Charles - What'd I Say

Ray Charles - Hit The Road Jack

I Believe to My Soul

Ray Charles - Let's Go Get Stoned

Ray Charles - Busted

Ray Charles - Drown in My Own Tears

Ray Charles - Lonely Avenue

Ray Charles - Leave My Woman Alone