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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: George "Wild Child" Butler

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues harmonica player George "Wild Child" Butler. Enjoy!

^{Wild Child Butler - Rent Money gone again}

"A nihilist is not one who believes in nothing , but one who does not believe in what exists."

-- Albert Camus

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News and Opinion

Liberals Believe In Nothing And Remember Even Less

The other day I shared a short post about a video that was going around showing a father in Gaza tearfully cradling the head of his son who was decapitated in an Israeli airstrike, and some guy responded with the comment “Good thing you helped get TRUMP ELECTED!!”

And I must admit I was actually, truly shocked. I mean, what exactly did this fellow think was happening under Biden that whole time?

I saw a post on Twitter where a leftist responded to a liberal who was acting like ICE just suddenly transformed into a modern gestapo under Trump, saying, “Liberals believe in nothing and remember even less.”

And it’s just so true. They don’t believe in anything. They don’t stand for anything. It’s just a team sport for these people. Politics for the mainstream liberal is not about advancing values or building a better world, it’s about their team winning solely for the sake of winning. And because they have no real values or causes beyond winning for its own sake, what their team does when it’s in office doesn’t matter to them.

A Democrat president can be as tyrannical and murderous as he wants and liberals will just brunch away in cheerful obliviousness, content with their knowledge that their team is holding the trophy.

There was never a point where ICE wasn’t that. Liberals believe in nothing and remember even less. https://t.co/lZ1fwSfW46

— Anansi’s Library (@Anansis_Library) March 28, 2025

You see this in the way our friend believes that I “helped get Trump elected” by criticizing the people who were perpetrating an active genocide. He just automatically took it as a given that it was my responsibility to stay silent on Gaza because the person in charge was a Democrat and his veep was running for president. The fact that it was a genocide which needed to be ferociously opposed never entered into the equation for him. All he cared about was winning.

All of the most shocking and gruesome things I have ever seen online were recorded in Gaza during the Biden administration. Nobody who’d paid the slightest bit of attention to Israel’s US-backed atrocities in 2023 and 2024 would believe this was anything new that just started under Trump. But because Gaza is just seen as a political plaything by these freaks, they only care about it now that Trump is in office — and only insofar as it can be used to take points away from the Republicans.

And that’s exactly why they lost. The Democrats calculated that the Harris campaign could simply ignore Gaza without putting any daylight between Kamala’s policies and Genocide Joe’s and still win the election, and they were wrong. Polls show that among people who voted for Biden in 2020 but not for Harris in 2024, Gaza was by far their biggest reason for not doing so. The Democrats believed in nothing and stood for nothing, and nothing is what they got.

Mainstream “centrism” is just as toxic, murderous and tyrannical as Trumpism. These people will watch entire populations being mowed down by the hundreds of thousands via the policies of the people they voted for, and as long as it doesn’t interrupt brunch they’ll keep sipping their mimosas and laughing and tweeting and feeling smugly correct, and then go to bed and sleep like babies in an ocean of human blood.

LtCOL. : Karen Kwiatkowski : Why AIPAC Is Worried

Israel killed 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers one by one, says UN

Fifteen Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, including at least one United Nations employee, were killed by Israeli forces “one by one” and buried in a mass grave eight days ago in southern Gaza, the UN has said.

According to the UN humanitarian affairs office (Ocha), the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) and civil defence workers were on a mission to rescue colleagues who had been shot at earlier in the day, when their clearly marked vehicles came under heavy Israeli fire in Rafah city’s Tel al-Sultan district. A Red Crescent official in Gaza said that there was evidence of at least one person being detained and killed, as the body of one of the dead had been found with his hands tied.

The shootings happened on 23 March, one day into the renewed Israeli offensive in the area close to the Egyptian border. Another Red Crescent worker on the mission is reported missing.

“Seven days ago, civil defence and PRCS ambulances arrived at the scene,” the head of Ocha in Palestine, Jonathan Whittall, said in a video statement. “One by one, [the paramedics and civil defense workers] were hit, they were struck. Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave. “We’re digging them out in their uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave,” Whittall said. “These ambulances have been buried in the sand. There’s a UN vehicle here, buried in the sand. A bulldozer – Israeli forces bulldozer – has buried them.”

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said that one of its employees was among the dead found in Rafah. “The body of our colleague killed in Rafah was retrieved yesterday, together with the aid workers from [the Palestinian Red Crescent] – all of them discarded in shallow graves – a profound violation of human dignity,” Lazzarini wrote in a social media post.

'Every Atrocity Imaginable': Litany of Israeli War Crimes Continues

As Israel Defense Forces bombing continued to kill and maim large numbers of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip over the weekend and into Monday, the discovery of the bodies of medical workers who were apparently executed by their captors and the publication of several reports in which Israeli soldiers admit to torturing prisoners and using civilians as human shields have drawn renewed war crimes accusations and calls for accountability.

On Sunday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said it had recovered the bodies of 15 Palestinian first responders from a mass grave, including eight Red Crescent workers and six Civil Defense personnel, who were killed by Israeli forces on March 23 while traveling "on duty" in five ambulances, a fire truck, and a United Nations vehicle in the al-Hashashin area of southern Gaza.

Jonathan Whittall, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza, said Sunday that the vehicles were picked off "one by one."

"Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave," Whittall added. "We're digging them out with uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave."

The Gaza Health Ministry said that "some of these bodies were bound and shot in the chest" before being "buried in a deep hole to prevent their identification."

Accusing Israel of a "heinous crime," the ministry called on U.N. agencies "and relevant international bodies to conduct an urgent investigation into these crimes and hold the occupation accountable for committing them."

Genocide, ecocide, mass infanticide, rape, sexual assault, torture, slavery, sniping children, bombing hospitals, executing aid workers.

Israel has committed every atrocity imaginable these past 18 months.

We are funding an endless nightmare and it should haunt us forever.

— Dan Sheehan (@danpjsheehan) March 31, 2025

An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said troops opened fire on the convoy because it was "advancing suspiciously" toward their position.

"Following an initial assessment, it was determined that the forces had eliminated a Hamas military operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, who took part in the October 7 massacre, along with eight other terrorists from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad," the spokesperson claimed.

Israeli officials routinely claim—often with little or no evidence—that Palestinian first responders, United Nations workers, journalists, and other civilians that it kills are members of Hamas or other militant resistance groups.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in a statement Sunday that it is "outraged" by the killings, which it called "the single most deadly attack on Red Cross Red Crescent workers anywhere in the world since 2017."

"After seven days of silence and having access denied to the area of Rafah where they were last seen, the bodies of ambulance officers Mostafa Khufaga, Saleh Muamer, and Ezzedine Shaath and first responder volunteers Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed Al-Heila, Ashraf Abu Labda, Raed Al Sharif, and Rifatt Radwan were retrieved today," the statement noted. "Ambulance officer Assad Al-Nassasra is still missing."

Absolutely barbaric. According to the Red Crescent, Israel handcuffed the first responders, executed them in cold blood and then threw them in a mass grave. https://t.co/ItdAjpL2B8

— Laila Al-Arian (@LailaAlarian) March 30, 2025

Noting that at least 30 Red Crescent workers and volunteers have been killed by Israeli forces during the war, IFRC secretary general Jagan Chapagain said: "I am heartbroken. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people. They were humanitarians. They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked. They should have returned to their families; they did not."

"Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules," Chapagain stressed. "These rules of international humanitarian law could not be clearer—civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected."

"Our network is in mourning, but this is not enough," he added. "Instead of another call on all parties to protect and respect humanitarians and civilians, I pose a question: When will this stop? All parties must stop the killing, and all humanitarians must be protected."

Journalist Mohammad Alsaafin compared the killings to last year's IDF massacre of 6-year-old Hind Rajab, five of her relatives, and two PRCS medics who rushed to the site of the attack in a doomed bid to rescue the wounded child after she called for help.

This is the Hind Rajab nightmare all over again. Red Crescent rescuers sent on a mission to rescue people wounded in an Israeli attack are themselves killed by Israeli forces. https://t.co/IZdBjvErSi

— Mohammad Alsaafin (@malsaafin) March 30, 2025

On Sunday, the British newspaper The Independent published an investigation into alleged Israeli torture of Palestinians detained at facilities including Ofer Prison in the illegally occupied West Bank and the notorious Sde Teiman base in the Negev Desert.

The report begins:

Handcuffed and cowering on the floor of a cell in a military base in southern Israel, the Palestinian found himself surrounded by five soldiers. Armed with dogs, the five reservists allegedly kicked, punched, and stamped on the man as he lay on the ground. Continuing their assault, they are accused of attacking him with Taser guns and sharp objects, sexually abusing him with these instruments. At one point, the soldiers allegedly stabbed him so hard that they pierced his buttocks and anus. The brutal alleged assault left the man hospitalized with a punctured lung, cracked ribs, and a tear in his rectum needing surgery for a stoma. He had not been charged with any crime.

The Independent noted details regarding some of the dozens of Palestinian detainees who have died in Israeli custody. The IDF is currently conducting its own probe into the deaths of at least 36 Sde Teiman prisoners, including one who died after allegedly being sodomized with an electric baton.

"The fact that we see some signs of abuse means that this is probably the tip of the iceberg," said one Israeli physician who has overseen multiple autopsies on dead detainees.

Israeli civilians were invited to Israeli torture camps to watch nude Palestinians get searched and raped, according to the testimonies of Palestinian women released by the IOF. Both female and male Israeli soldiers raped Palestinian women from Gaza and the West Bank. The… pic.twitter.com/dS0fT6qvbS

— Translating Falasteen (Palestine) (@translatingpal) March 22, 2025

In an anonymous testimony leaked to The Independent, one Sde Teiman guard described a prevailing attitude of "Yes, they need to be beaten, it must be done."

"We began looking for opportunities to do so," the soldier said, adding that when he spoke out against the beating of one detainee, he was told, "Shut up, you leftist, these are Gazans, these are terrorists, what's wrong with you?"

One former Sde Teiman detainee said that "every meter you moved, they beat you, they hit you, they insulted you; they used dogs, tear gas, and electric shock."

IDF troops and veterans who were posted at Sde Teiman have provided similar details about "Israel's Abu Ghraib," a reference to the U.S. torture prison outside Baghdad during the Iraq War. Israeli doctors and medics have described forced starvation and 24-hour shackling so severe that prisoners have had limbs amputated.

A number of Sde Teiman guards were arrested last year following the leak of a video allegedly showing them raping a Palestinian detainee. The arrests outraged far-right Israelis, a mob of whom stormed Sde Teiman in a failed bid to free the accused guards.

As The Independent noted, "Among those held in [Israeli] detention are many of Gaza's healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, and paramedics." Some of these prisoners have died in custody, including the renowned surgeon Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, who may have been raped to death, according to Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

Israel arrested the director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital in December. Since then, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has been subjected to intense forms of torture and held in Israeli prisons with “no legal justification.” pic.twitter.com/iio2V9Uo4U

— AJ+ (@ajplus) March 30, 2025

Earlier this month, an independent U.N. panel found that Israel has "systematically" used reproductive, sexual, and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinian men, women, and children during the war.

The IDF has responded to these and other allegations by claiming it "operates in accordance with international law."

However, the International Criminal Court last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant—who ordered a "complete siege" of Gaza blamed for deadly starvation and disease there—for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel is also the subject of an ongoing International Court of Justice genocide case brought by South Africa.

Also on Sunday, Haaretz, Israel's oldest newspaper, published a piece by an anonymous Israel soldier who said that "in Gaza, almost every IDF platoon keeps a human shield."

"We operate a sub-army of slaves," the soldier said, describing how innocent Palestinians are used to check buildings for Hamas fighters or booby traps before IDF troops enter.

"I recently saw that the IDF's Military Police Criminal Investigation Division opened six investigations into the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields, and my jaw dropped," he wrote. "I've seen cover-ups before, but this is a new low."

Previous reporting has detailed the IDF's widespread use of Palestinian civilians—including children—as human shields in Gaza. The IDF even has a name for the practice—the "mosquito protocol." In one case, an 80-year-old man was used as a human shield before being shot dead by Israeli troops.

An Israeli soldier confesses to burning buildings in Gaza for no reason and using Palestinians as human shields as a matter of policy.

It is crazy that people still deny the mountain of evidence of Israeli war crimes. pic.twitter.com/zzLoTi81y1

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) March 27, 2025

The IDF's thoroughly documented use of noncombatants as human shields stands in start contrast with mostly baseless claims of Hamas using Palestinian civilians in such a manner.

The new reports come as Israeli forces continued their assault on Gaza. Health and medical officials in Gaza said at least 41 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes throughout the strip on Monday, the second day of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. This followed the killing of at least 64 Palestinians across Gaza on Sunday.

Approximately 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed its assault on the embattled coastal enclave on March 18, including hundreds of children. Israel's 542-day annihilation of Gaza has left more than 175,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing since October 7, 2023, when Hamas led the deadliest-ever attack on Israel.

Pro-Israel Groups Pushing to Deport Students EXPOSED

Bibi CONFIRMS Trump Gaza Plan

Israeli Troops Fire on French UNIFIL Peacekeepers in Southern Lebanon

Israeli troops opened fire on a UNIFIL peacekeeper patrol in southern Lebanon near Rmeish on Saturday. The patrol was already scheduled, so Israel was informed that UNIFIL peacekeepers would be in the area at the time, suggesting this was not a case of mistaken identity.

A separate incident of Israeli troops confronting UNIFIL peacekeepers inside Lebanon was also reported, with the Israelis pointing laser sights at the UNIFIL personnel but not actually opening fire on them this time. No injuries were reported in either incident, and some but not all media reports are terming the gunfire “warning shots.” ...

Israel shooting at UN personnel during a ceasefire is problematic enough, but France is one of the guarantors of that ceasefire, so attacking their troops is likely an even bigger deal. This is especially true since Israel attacked the Lebanese capital city of Beirut over the weekend, and French President Emmanuel Macron criticized that attack, giving this the appearance of potential payback.

Macron termed the attack an “unacceptable ceasefire violation.” This is noteworthy because well over 1,000 Israeli violations have been documented, many involving airstrikes, and this is the first time one of nations meant to oversee the ceasefire has spoken up about it.

COL. Douglas Macgregor : Will the US Attack Iran For Netanyahu?

Iran’s Khamenei Warns of ‘Strong’ Response If US Attacks

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Monday that Iran would launch a “strong counterattack” in response to any attack from the US. ...

“They threaten to do mischief,” Khamenei said during a speech commemorating Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. “If it is carried out, they will definitely receive a strong counterattack.” ...

Also on Monday, a high-ranking Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) commander noted that there are 10 US bases near Iran, which are in range of Iranian missiles.

“The Americans have 10 bases in the region, particularly around Iran, and 50,000 troops based in there,” said Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC’s aerospace force. “This means they are sitting in a glass house, and when one sits in a glass house, one does not throw stones at others.”

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs on Trump's Bold Threats: How Far Will He Go with Iran & Russia?

Trump’s bombing threat over Iran nuclear programme prompts backlash

Iran has reacted with outrage after Donald Trump said the country will be bombed if it does not accept US demands to constrain its nuclear programme. The US president said on Sunday that if Iran “[doesn’t] make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”.

Trump’s latest threat – more explicit and violent than any made before – came after he sent a letter to Iran, as yet undisclosed, offering to hold talks on its nuclear programme. Iran had sent a reply to the US stating it was willing to hold indirect talks, officials confirmed.

Esmail Baghaei, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, said of Trump’s threat: “The explicit threat of bombing Iran by the head of a country is clear contradiction to the essence of international peace and security. “Such a threat is a gross violation of the United Nations charter and a violation of the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards regime. Violence brings violence and peace creates peace, America can choose.”

The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a sceptic about talks with the US, said Iran was “not overly concerned” by Trump’s words. “We consider it unlikely that such harm would come from outside. However, if any malicious act does occur, it will certainly be met with a firm and decisive response,” he said. ...

But the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, clearly had authority to keep the prospect of talks alive, saying Iran had already replied to the Trump letter through intermediaries in Oman and adding he knew the Iranian letter had now reached the US. Araghchi said direct talks were not possible while the US continued to threaten and bully Iran.

France bans Le Pen

Marine Le Pen attacks ban on French presidency run as a ‘political decision’

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has railed against a Paris court’s “political decision” to bar her from competing for the presidency in 2027, attacking the move to ban her from running for public office as “a denial of democracy”.

In a day of high political drama, Le Pen was found guilty of embezzlement of European parliament funds on a vast scale, a conviction for which she was also handed a four-year prison sentence, with two of those years suspended and two to be served outside jail with an electronic bracelet. She was also ordered to pay a €100,000 (£84,000) fine. ...

Speaking for the first time in public about the verdict, Le Pen told TF1 television on Monday night that she would “pursue whatever legal avenues” she could to prevent herself from being “eliminated”. “I’m not going to submit to a denial of democracy this easily,” she said. Le Pen, who was not found to have benefited personally from the embezzlement, insisted she had done nothing wrong. “I am going to appeal because I am innocent,” she said. “I’m not going to let myself be eliminated like this. I’m going to pursue whatever legal avenues I can,” she added. ...

The ban on running for public office, to last five years, was ordered to kick in with immediate effect, meaning it will apply even though Le Pen, 56, is appealing against the verdict. Neither the prison penalty nor fine will be applied until her appeals are exhausted, a process that could take years.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Does Trump Understand Basic Economics?

Global stock markets fall as new Trump tariffs loom

Stock markets across the world fell heavily on Monday after Donald Trump suggested that new tariffs he is expected to announce this week would hit “all countries”. Shares fell across Asia-Pacific markets, in Europe and in the US after the US president crushed hopes that “reciprocal tariffs” expected on Wednesday would target only countries that have the largest trade imbalances with the US.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One: “You’d start with all countries. Essentially all of the countries that we’re talking about.” Those tariffs on imports into the US are due to be announced on Wednesday, which has been labelled “Liberation Day” by Trump.

On Monday, the threat of a deepening trade war spooked investors. In Toyko, Japan’s Nikkei index lost 4% and South Korea’s Kospi fell 3%. The wave of selling swept into European markets as well – the UK’s FTSE 100 fell 0.9%, Germany’s DAX was down 1.3% and France’s CAC lost 1.6%. “A selling wave is sweeping across global markets,” said Jochen Stanzl, the chief market analyst at CMC Markets. “The tariffs imposed by the US government and the fear of new announcements as early as Wednesday are creating a bleak atmosphere on trading floors worldwide.”

Wall Street opened down sharply lower on Monday but by afternoon trading the S&P 500 was down by 0.4%, the tech-dominated Nasdaq fell 1.2% and the Dow Jones was up 0.2%. Gold hit a record high of $3,128 (£2,416) per ounce, as investors rushed into safe-haven assets before Trump’s latest tariffs. ... The US dollar has also had its worst month in more than two years, having dropped by 3.5% against a basket of other currencies during March.

Tariff BLOWBACK: China, Korea, Japan Team Up Against US

Musk’s Doge gains access to federal payroll system despite staff warnings

Members of Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) reportedly gained access to a payroll system over the weekend that processes salaries for about 276,000 federal employees across various government agencies, despite warnings from senior staff about the potential risks.

According to two people familiar with the situation who spoke with the New York Times, Doge employees had spent about two weeks trying to obtain administrative access to the program, known as the Federal Personnel and Payroll System. Then, toward the end of last week, senior career officials at the interior department reportedly issued a memo highlighting the unusual nature of the request and the associated risks with granting it.

The memo, reviewed by the Times, stated that “such elevated access to critical high-value asset systems is rare with respect to individual systems and no single [Department of Interior] official presently has access to all HR, payroll and credentialing systems.”

The senior employees reportedly warned that granting Doge employees this level of access would allow them to be able to view highly sensitive personal information that is subject to controls under the Privacy Act and cautioned that individuals given this elevated access could become targets for cybersecurity attacks by terrorists, nations or other malicious actors. The memo emphasized that gaining administrative access to the system “typically requires training and certification”.

Trump officials to review $9bn in Harvard funds over antisemitism claims

The Trump administration announced a review on Monday of $9bn in federal contracts and grants at Harvard University over allegations that it failed to address issues of antisemitism on campus.

The multi-agency joint task force to combat antisemitism said it will review the more than $255.6m in contracts between Harvard University, its affiliates and the federal government, according to a joint statement from the education department, the health department and the General Services Administration. The statement also says the review will include the more than $8.7bn in multi-year grant commitments to Harvard University and its affiliates.

“Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from antisemitic discrimination – all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry – has put its reputation in serious jeopardy. Harvard can right these wrongs and restore itself to a campus dedicated to academic excellence and truth-seeking, where all students feel safe on its campus,” the education secretary, Linda McMahon, said.

Any institution that is found to be in “violation of federal compliance standards” could face “administrative actions, including contract termination”, the statement said.

"We Are Killing the Essence of What the University Is": Dr. Joanne Liu on NYU Canceling Her Talk

More than 1,900 scientists write letter in ‘SOS’ over Trump’s attacks on science

More than 1,900 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine signed an open letter warning Americans about the “danger” of the Trump administration’s attacks on science.

The letter comes amid the administration’s relentless assault on US scientific institutions which has included threats to private universities, federal grant cancelations and ideological funding reviews, mass government layoffs, resignations and censorship.

“We see real danger in this moment,” the letter states. “We hold diverse political beliefs, but we are united as researchers in wanting to protect independent scientific inquiry. We are sending this SOS to sound a clear warning: the nation’s scientific enterprise is being decimated.”

“The administration is slashing funding for scientific agencies, terminating grants to scientists, defunding their laboratories, and hampering international scientific collaboration,” the letter states. “The funding cuts are forcing institutions to pause research (including studies of new disease treatments), dismiss faculty, and stop enrolling graduate students – the pipeline for the next generation’s scientists.” ...

The letter continued: “The quest for truth – the mission of science – requires that scientists freely explore new questions and report their findings honestly, independent of special interests. The administration is engaging in censorship, destroying this independence. It is using executive orders and financial threats to manipulate which studies are funded or published, how results are reported, and which data and research findings the public can access. The administration is blocking research on topics it finds objectionable, such as climate change, or that yields results it does not like, on topics ranging from vaccine safety to economic trends.”

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George Soros, Elon Musk Donate MILLIONS To Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Referendum On MAGA?

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Logging is quietly ravaging US forests. Trump is taking an axe to protections

The world is running out of time to halt deforestation and forest degradation. Yet instead of stepping up, the United States is dismantling forest protections and undermining global progress – highlighting the dangers of global forest policy that fails to hold the wealthiest, most powerful countries accountable.

Unsustainable logging is one of the global north’s best-kept secrets. Each year, millions of acres of old-growth and primary forests across North America, Europe and Australia are clearcut under the guise of “sustainable forest management”. International policy, by design, looks the other way, focusing attention instead on deforestation in the tropics. This double standard allows the world’s wealthiest nations to evade accountability for industrial logging’s catastrophic consequences.

It is a system built on the false assumption that the global north behaves responsibly, while scrutiny is reserved for tropical countries. But the latest actions by the US highlight just how dangerous and unbalanced this paradigm is.

Donald Trump has taken an axe to forest protections in the US, announcing two executive orders that aim to strip away foundational checks on destructive logging. Under the pretense of national security, the president’s orders aim to gut environmental safeguards and fast-track industrial clearcutting in some of the US’s most precious and climate-critical forests. This aggressive expansion will degrade irreplaceable forests like Alaska’s Tongass national forest – one of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforests. It will also increase carbon emissions and make communities more vulnerable to climate disasters.

Meanwhile, as Europe strengthens forest accountability, US state officials are pushing to exempt the country from new deforestation protections. These officials, echoing industry talking points, are urging the EU to exclude US wood products from a law requiring due diligence to prevent imports or exports tied to deforestation or forest degradation. Their argument? That the US doesn’t need oversight. The global north has long dictated the terms of international forest policy, supporting stricter environmental standards on tropical nations while sidestepping accountability at home.

Arctic winter sea ice at record low in 2025

Winter sea ice in the Arctic has reached a record low in 2025, according to Nasa and the US’s National Snow and Ice Data Center. The annual peak, recorded on 22 March, was the lowest since records began 47 years ago, with sea ice covering just 5.53m sq miles – about 1.1m sq miles less than last year – and 30,000 sq miles below the previous low in 2017. The Gulf of St Lawrence had almost no ice, while the Sea of Okhotsk experienced notably lower than average sea ice extent.

In late January, sea ice extent in the Arctic unexpectedly decreased, losing an area the size of Italy (more than 115,000 sq miles). This can be attributed to cyclones pushing southerly winds in the Barents and Bering seas, causing ocean waves that broke apart and melted thin ice at the edge of the ice sheet. Temperatures up to 12C above normal were recorded between northern Greenland and the north pole.

Arctic sea ice extent is expected to continue its decline in the coming years due to a combination of warmer temperatures, warm seas, wind breaking up ice, and thinner ice – all exacerbated by the climate crisis. Some climate models suggest the Arctic could experience ice-free summers before 2050, though these projections remain uncertain.

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Also of Interest

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

The New York Times admits direct US involvement in Ukraine war

“The Target is Unmistakable”: The Shooting of Gaza’s Children

Will Trump Deliver on His Threat of Taking Military Action Against Iran?

Trump’s Negotiating Is Failing

Racist Allied Underestimation Of Russia's Abilities Led To Its Win

Russigate's Role In Trump-Putin Relations

The Trump administration’s roundup of student protesters is genuinely shocking

'THERE WILL BE BOMBING': Trump Threatens Iran

Zelensky Predicts Putin’s Imminent Death!

AMB. Charles Freeman : Will Russia and China Defend Iran?

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A Little Night Music

George Wild Child Butler ~ My Baby Done Put Me Down

George "Wild Child" Butler - Put It All In There

Wild Child Butler – Everybody Got a Mojo

Wild Child Butler – The Devil Made Me Do It

Wild Child Butler – The Best Of Wild Child

Wild Child Butler – Jelly Jam

Wild Child Butler – Hippie's Playground

Wild Child Butler - I Got To Go Sweet Daddy O

Wild Child Butler - Open Up Baby

Wild Child Butler – Keep On Doin' What You're Doin'

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