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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Willie Egan

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Louisiana blues piano player Willie Egan. Enjoy!

^{Willie Egan - Wear Your Black Dress}

"There is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception."

-- James Thurber

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News and Opinion

Trump’s State Department Would Support Literally Any Israeli Atrocity

It’s clear that Trump’s State Department spokeswoman has been instructed to respond to any and all questions about Israeli atrocities in Gaza by blaming everything on Hamas, without even pretending to care whether the allegations are true.

For some background, Israel has just been caught perpetrating an atrocity so monstrous and so abundantly well-evidenced that even the mainstream western press have felt obligated to report on it. Outlets like the Guardian and the BBC are covering the story of how 15 medical workers for the Red Crescent, Civil Defense, and the UN were apparently handcuffed and executed one by one by Israeli forces in Rafah before being buried in a mass grave. According to Palestinian Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal, they were each shot more than 20 times.

(As an aside, the fact that Israeli forces have been known to bury the victims of their atrocities in order to hide the evidence is one of the many reasons why the official death toll from the Israeli onslaught in Gaza is definitely a massive undercount.)

Asked by the BBC’s Tom Bateman about these reports during a Monday press briefing, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce responded by babbling about how evil Hamas is and how they are to blame for everything bad that happens in Gaza.

.@tombateman: UN says 15 medics and workers were killed ‘one by one’ by the IDF, they have dug bodies up…given potential use of American weapons is there any assessment of compliance with international law?

StateSpox: Hamas abuses civilian infrastructure

Tom: It’s a question… pic.twitter.com/Od6Ie7L7UM

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) March 31, 2025

Here’s a transcript of the exchange:

Bateman: On Gaza, the UN’s Humanitarian Affairs Office has said that 15 paramedics, Civil Defense, and a UN worker were killed — in their words, one by one — by the IDF. They have dug bodies up, they said, in a shallow grave that have been gathered up, and also vehicles in the sand. Have you got any assessment of what might have happened? And given the potential use of American weapons, is there any assessment of whether or not this complied with international law?

Bruce: Well, I can tell you that for too long Hamas has abused civilian infrastructure, cynically using it to shield themselves. Hamas’s actions have caused humanitarians to be caught in the crossfire. The use of civilians or civilian objects to shield or impede military operations is itself a violation of international humanitarian law, and of course we expect all parties on the ground to comply with international humanitarian law.

Bateman: But there’s specifically a question on any — it’s a question about accounting and accountability given there may have been the use of U.S. weapons, so it’s a question about the State Department rather than Hamas. Is there any actions — 

Bruce: Well, every single thing that is happening in Gaza is happening because of Hamas — every single dynamic. I’ll say again — I’ve said it, I think, in every briefing — all of this could stop in a moment if Hamas returned all the hostages and the hostage bodies they are still holding and put down its weapons. There is one — one entity that could stop it for everyone in a moment, and that is Hamas. This is — all loss of life is regrettable — it’s key, obviously — whoever it is, wherever they live. And this has been the nature of what fuels Secretary Rubio and President Trump in their willingness to expend this kind of capital early on in this term to make a difference and to change the situation. So I think that’s — that is the one thing that remains clear in all of this.

At no time does Bruce attempt to deny that the atrocity happened or cast doubt on the veracity of the claims, only justifying Israel’s actions by blaming Hamas. Again, this is a story about medical workers being handcuffed and then executed by gunfire.

Please watch StateSpox respond to a simple question from @SMArikat about getting aid into Gaza, especially water.

First she falsely blames Hamas for the ceasefire when Israel refused to go to phase two and broke it by slaughtering Palestinians, then it’s 2 minutes of nonsense to… pic.twitter.com/bQSfNFbg4R

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) March 24, 2025

Tammy Bruce does this constantly; she did it in response to two separate questions at a press conference last week. When asked about Israel’s assassination of Palestinian journalists Hossam Shabat and Mohammad Mansour, Bruce responded by babbling about October 7 and saying “every single thing that’s happening is a result of Hamas and its choices to drag that region down into a level of suffering that has been excruciating and has caused innumerable deaths.” When asked about the fact that people in Gaza have been unable to access clean drinking water under the Israeli siege, Bruce said, “Hamas did not perform to make sure that the ceasefire could continue, that they did not do what they said they would do. So we know, of course, when it comes to the ground water, of course, this is — it’s a crisis. It’s exacerbated by the fact that you have a terrorist group that just doesn’t care.”

She did it again at a press conference the week before when asked by journalist Said Arikat if the State Department considers Israel’s use of siege warfare on a civilian population a war crime, saying “For the horrible suffering of the Gazan people, we know where that sits: it sits with Hamas,” adding that the people of Gaza “have been suffering because of the choices that Hamas has made throughout the years.”

Arikat, by the way, has just tweeted that on Monday he was not called on to ask a question for the first time in nearly 25 years of attending State Department press briefings. He is one of the very few reporters at the State Department who regularly asks challenging questions about US foreign policy.

I suppose it was bound to happen. For the first time in close to a quarter of a century of attending the @StateDept briefings, I was not given a question.

— Said Arikat (@SMArikat) March 31, 2025

So it’s plain as day that there’s absolutely no crime Israel could possibly commit that Trump’s State Department wouldn’t defend. Netanyahu could live stream himself kicking a baby Palestinian off a cliff and telling the camera he did it because he wants to commit genocide, and the next day Tammy Bruce would respond to all questions about the incident by yelling the word “Hamas!” with her fingers in her ears.

Bruce has a much easier job than her predecessor Matthew Miller, who under Biden was obligated to facilitate the Democratic Party’s role as the nice guy face of the US empire. When the press would ask Miller about Israeli atrocities, he’d have to put on a whole show about how the Biden administration is in conversation with Israel and waiting for more information about these very serious allegations, all while fighting to keep his notorious smirk off his face.

To be clear, these two positions are not meaningfully different from one another. Pretending to care about very serious atrocity allegations while continuing to sponsor those atrocities is exactly the same as not pretending to care about very serious atrocity allegations while continuing to sponsor those atrocities. One is a pile of dead children with a smiley face sticker on it, the other is a pile of dead children with a frowny face sticker on it. The children are just as dead either way.

And you really couldn’t ask for a better illustration of the difference between Democrats and Republicans than this. The Democrats are just the polite, photogenic face of the bloodthirsty US empire, while the Republicans are the empire unmasked. The Democrats commit genocide and ethnic cleansing while denying they’re committing genocide and ethnic cleansing, while Republicans commit genocide and ethnic cleansing without bothering to disguise what they’re doing as something else. One’s prettier, one’s uglier. That’s the only difference.

Max Blumenthal : Netanyahu’s Domestic Woes

Palestinian paramedics shot by Israeli forces had hands tied, eyewitnesses say

Some of the bodies of 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, killed by Israeli forces and buried in a mass grave nine days ago in Gaza, were found with their hands or legs tied and had gunshot wounds to the head and chest, according to two eyewitnesses.

The witness accounts add to an accumulating body of evidence pointing to a potentially serious war crime on 23 March, when Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance crews and civil defence rescue workers were sent to the scene of an airstrike in the early hours of the morning in the al-Hashashin district of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. ...

Dr Ahmed al-Farra, a senior doctor at the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis, witnessed the arrival of some of the remains. “I was able to see three bodies when they were transferred to the Nasser hospital. They had bullets in their chest and head. They were executed. They had their hands tied,’’ Farra said. “They tied them so they were unable to move and then they killed them.” He provided photographs he said he had taken of one of the dead on arrival at the hospital. The pictures show a hand at the end of a long-sleeved black shirt with a black cord knotted around the wrist.

Another witness, an official from an international aid agency who took part in the recovery of remains from Rafah on Sunday, also said they saw evidence of one of the dead having been shot after being detained. “I saw the bodies with my own eyes when we found them in the mass grave,” the witness, who did not want his name used for his own safety, told the Guardian in a telephone interview. “They had signs of multiple shots in the chest. One of them had legs tied. One was shot in the head. They were executed.”

Palestinian teenager dies in Israeli jail after being held six months without charge

A 17-year-old boy from the West Bank who was held without charge for six months in an Israeli prison died after he collapsed in unclear circumstances, Palestinian officials have said. According to his family, Walid Ahmad was “a healthy high schooler” at the time of his arrest last September for allegedly throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. The family believes

Walid contracted amoebic dysentery from the poor conditions in the prison, an infection that causes diarrhoea, vomiting and dizziness – and can be fatal if left untreated. “He was a lively teen who enjoyed playing soccer before he was taken from his home,” his father, Khalid Ahmad, told the Associated Press. Ahmad said he noticed during Walid’s four court appearances – conducted over video link – that his son appeared to be in poor health.

“His body was weakened due to malnutrition in the prisons in general,” Ahmad said. He said Walid had told him at one point he was suffering from scabies, a contagious skin rash caused by mites. “Don’t worry about me,” his father recalls him saying. Walid’s lawyer, Firas al-Jabrini, said Israeli authorities had denied his requests to visit his client in prison. He told AP three prisoners held alongside Walid said he had dysentery and that it was widespread among young Palestinians at the facility.

Thaer Shriteh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority’s detainee commission, told AP that Walid had collapsed and hit his head on a metal rod, losing consciousness. “The prison administration did not respond to the prisoners’ requests for urgent care to save his life,” he said, citing witnesses who spoke to the commission.

All UN bakeries in Gaza close as Israel maintains starvation policy

Every bakery in Gaza operated by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) closed Tuesday due to shortages of food and fuel caused by the ongoing Israeli blockade. For nearly a month, Israel has prevented all food, fuel, water and electricity from entering the Gaza Strip as part of a deliberate policy of starvation and ethnic cleansing aimed at killing or displacing Palestinians in Gaza and annexing their land.

“Today, the 25 bakeries that were supported by the World Food Programme during the duration of the ceasefire are all closed due to the shortage of flour and the unavailability of cooking gas,” said Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, on Tuesday.

Gaza’s government media office said Israel’s starvation policy has caused “the complete shutdown of all bakeries and deepened the famine crisis.” It added that Israel’s “criminal action aims to complete the chapters of genocide and ethnic cleansing practiced by the occupation against our Palestinian people through systematic starvation policies and the deprivation of citizens of their most basic human rights.”

“We have entered a new phase of famine due to the Israeli blockade,” said Amjad Shawa, head of the Gaza NGO Network, adding, “We have reached an unprecedented level of humanitarian disaster.” Under conditions of a total blockade, Israeli officials have absurdly declared that there is enough food in Gaza. Dujarric, the UN spokesperson, said Israel’s claim was “ridiculous,” adding that the United Nations is “at the tail end of our supplies.” ...

The deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza is accompanied by intensified ground operations amid plans for the total military occupation of the enclave. At least 140,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the southern city of Rafah in preparation for what is expected to be a ground offensive in the area.

Pepe Escobar : Yemen During Wartime

Trump Warns the Houthis and Iran That the ‘Real Pain is Yet To Come’

President Trump has issued a new threat toward Yemen’s Houthis and Iran, warning that the “real pain is yet to come” if Houthi attacks on US warships don’t stop.

The president has been blaming Iran for Houthi attacks, even though US officials have acknowledged the Yemeni group operates independently and has its own domestic weapons supply.

Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social on Monday that his bombing campaign in Yemen has “decimated” the Houthis’ capabilities even though Yemeni forces have been firing missiles at Israel and claiming attacks on US warships just about every day.

Aaron Maté : Russiagate Docs Released?

Pro-Palestinian British Cornell student says he will leave US citing fear of detention

A Cornell University student who participated in pro-Palestinian protests and was asked to surrender by United States immigration officials has said he is leaving the US, citing fear of detention and threats to his personal safety.

Momodou Taal, a doctoral candidate in Africana studies and dual citizen of the UK and the Gambia, has participated in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war in Gaza after the October 2023 Hamas attack. His attorneys said last month that he was asked to turn himself in and that his student visa was being revoked. ...

Taal filed a lawsuit in mid-March to block deportations of protesters, a bid that was denied by a judge last week.

“Given what we have seen across the United States, I have lost faith that a favourable ruling from the courts would guarantee my personal safety and ability to express my beliefs,” Taal said on X on Monday.

Israel BRAGS About Censoring Americans’ Speech! w/ Jenin Younes

Judge rules Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation case must continue in New Jersey

A federal judge has ruled that the legal battle over Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation should continue to play out in New Jersey, rejecting the Trump administration’s bid to transfer the Columbia University protester’s case to Louisiana.

In a written decision on Tuesday, the US district judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark said the jurisdiction over the case should remain in New Jersey since Khalil was being held there at the time his lawyers filed their habeas corpus petition. The judge described the government’s argument otherwise as “unpersuasive”.

Military update. WEST still believes STALEMATE w/ Stanislav Krapivnik

Heh, if you read the whole article, you'll get a dose of the Guardian's traditional Russophobia.

Russia says it cannot accept US peace plan for Ukraine ‘in its current form’

Moscow has described the latest US peace proposals as unacceptable to the Kremlin, highlighting the limited progress Donald Trump has made on his promise to end the war in Ukraine since taking office in January. Sergei Ryabkov, a foreign policy adviser to Vladimir Putin, said some of Russia’s key demands were not being addressed by the US proposals to end the war, in comments that marked a rare acknowledgment from the Russian side that talks with the US over Ukraine had stalled in recent weeks.

“We take the models and solutions proposed by the Americans very seriously, but we can’t accept it all in its current form,” Ryabkov was quoted by state media as telling the Russian magazine International Affairs. It came after Trump on Sunday revealed his frustration with Putin, saying he was “pissed off” and threatening to impose tariffs on Russian oil exports.

“All we have today is an attempt to find some kind of framework that would first allow for a ceasefire – at least as envisioned by the Americans,” Ryabkov said. “As far as we can see, there is no place in them today for our main demand, namely to solve the problems related to the root causes of this conflict.” ...

[Putin] has demanded that Kyiv recognise Russia’s annexation of Crimea and four partly occupied regions in the south-east, withdraw its forces from those areas, pledge never to join Nato, and agree to demilitarisation. In recent weeks the Russian president has also been openly pushing for regime change in Ukraine, claiming that Volodymyr Zelenskyy lacks the legitimacy to sign a peace deal and suggesting that Ukraine needs external governance.

Trump appears to be growing increasingly impatient with his lack of progress in a war that he promised to end in 24 hours, expressing frustration with Russian and Ukrainian leaders as he struggles to forge a truce.

Boris Johnson ADMITS Ukrainian N@zis Sabotaged Peace!

EU has a ‘strong plan’ to retaliate on Trump tariffs, says von der Leyen

The European Union has a “strong plan” to retaliate against tariffs imposed by Donald Trump but would prefer to negotiate, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has said.

Trump, who has upended eight decades of certainties about the transatlantic relationship since taking office, has threatened tariffs on goods from around the world from Wednesday. His administration in March put tariffs on imported steel and aluminium and said higher duties on cars would come into effect on Thursday.

Von der Leyen, speaking to the European parliament on Tuesday, said the next sectors facing tariffs would be semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and timber.

She said many Europeans felt “utterly disheartened” by the US announcements. “Europe has not started this confrontation. We do not necessarily want to retaliate, but if it is necessary we have a strong plan to retaliate and we will use it,” she said.

After the announcement of the steel and aluminium tariffs in March, the commission said it would impose countermeasures on up to €26bn of US goods. These include the reimposition of tariffs on $4.5bn of US goods, such as jeans and Harley-Davidson motorbikes, which were suspended during the presidency of Joe Biden. The measures are due to be implemented in mid April, after the EU executive chose to delay the initial 1 April date in order to align them with other steps and fine-tune the EU position among the 27 member states.

Sen. Rand Paul RESPONDS To Trump BLASTING Him Over OPPOSING Tariffs, Saying He Has 'TDS'

Senate Republicans consider joining Democrats to oppose Trump over tariffs

On the eve of Donald Trump’s so-called “liberation day” for tariffs, a handful of Senate Republicans are debating whether to defy the president and join Democrats to stop the US from imposing levies on Canadian imports. The resolution, offered by the Democratic senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, would terminate the emergency order that Trump is using to justify tariffs against Canada, citing the flow of fentanyl across the US’s northern border. The vote is largely symbolic – the House is not expected to take up the measure – but several defections would amount to a rare and notable rebuke of the president by his own party.

Senator Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine, which shares a border with Canada, told reporters on Monday night that imposing tariffs on Canada was a “huge mistake” that would cause major “disruption in the economies of both countries”. The senator, one of the few Republicans with a history of breaking ranks, indicated her support for the “intent” of the resolution and suggested that she would likely lend her vote as well.

Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, has co-sponsored the legislation. Meanwhile, several other Republican senators, including Thom Tillis of North Carolina, have expressed concern over the impact of tariffs on Canadian goods, set to go into effect on 2 April. Republican leaders on Tuesday were racing to keep their senators in line, as Trump moves quickly to upend the global trading system. In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump lashed out at Kaine, who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016, and delivered an all-caps demand that Senate Republicans vote to keep the national emergency in effect so we can “finish the job”.

“Don’t let the Democrats have a Victory,” Trump wrote. “It would be devastating for the Republican Party and, far more importantly, for the United States.”

Richard Wolff: A RECESSION Is Coming This Year!

Liberation Day: Fox News Tells 401k Holders ACCEPT YOUR FATE

About a third of Americans stop buying eggs due to rising costs

As egg prices have reached record highs, about a third of American consumers have stopped buying them in response to the rising costs, a new study suggests. According to research from Clarify Capital, 34% of Americans have stopped purchasing eggs as prices for the breakfast staple are becoming less affordable. On average, these consumers say they won’t begin buying eggs again until costs come down to $5 or less for a carton. ...

The study found that nearly 95% of Americans have noticed the significant rise in egg prices, with shoppers reporting their perceived average as $7 a dozen. The average American said they would stop buying eggs when prices hit $8 a dozen. ...

The research also found that the majority of Americans (61%) are eating fewer eggs due to rising costs, and 44% are seeing themselves using fewer eggs in their cooking and baking habits. It also found that more than two in five Americans (42%) have observed other shoppers “panic-buying” eggs.

US prosecutors to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione

Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the man accused of fatally shooting the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, outside a Manhattan hotel on 4 December, the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said on Tuesday.

Bondi said in a press release that she had “directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty” for Luigi Mangione, 26, because he allegedly committed “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America”. The move, Bondi notes, was in an effort to “carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again”. ...

Mangione is facing both state and federal charges in connection with Thompson’s killing. He has pleaded not guilty to the state charges and has not entered a plea to the federal ones.

The maximum punishment on the state charges is life in prison.

Trump Sends Hundreds of Immigrants to Brutal Salvadoran Prison as Mass Deportations Expand

Ice blames ‘error’ for deportation of man with protected legal status

Donald Trump’s administration acknowledged on Monday in court documents that a Maryland man with protected status was deported to El Salvador and blamed an “administrative error”. The administration also said it is unable to bring him back because US courts lack jurisdiction now that he is in Salvadoran custody.

The man, Kilmer Armado Abrego-Garcia, is a Salvadoran national who resided in Maryland with his wife and their five-year-old child. Abrego-Garcia, who has had protected legal status since 2019, is currently detained at Cecot, the notorious mega-prison in El Salvador, after he was deported by the Trump administration on 15 March.

In the court filing, Abrego-Garcia’s attorneys said that Ice had initially attempted to deport him in 2019. At the time, immigration officials claimed that a confidential informant had told them that Abrego-Garcia “was an active member of the criminal gang MS-13”, an accusation that he has denied.

That year, Abrego-Garcia contested the claims and efforts to deport him and filed an application for asylum. According to the court filing, Abrego-Garcia was granted “withholding of removal to El Salvador” by an immigration judge in October 2019, a protected status that prevents an individual being returned to their home country if they can show that there’s a “more likely than not” risk that they will be harmed.

But last month, on 12 March, Abrego-Garcia’s attorneys say that he was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers, who they say “informed him that his immigration status had changed”. Abrego-Garcia’s attorneys said in the filing that “Ice was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador”.

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Elon Musk Fails In Attempt to Buy Wisconsin Supreme Court as Judge Susan Crawford Beats Brad Schimel

Democrats’ win in Wisconsin court race also is a big loss for Elon Musk

Judge Susan Crawford preserved liberals’ narrow majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court Tuesday by defeating conservative Brad Schimel, but in a way the real loser of the election was billionaire Elon Musk.

Musk and his affiliated groups sank at least $21 million into the normally low-profile race and paid three individual voters $1 million each for signing a petition in an effort to goose turnout in the pivotal battleground state contest. That made the race the first major test of the political impact of Musk, whose prominence in President Donald Trump’s administration has skyrocketed with his chaotic cost-cutting initiative that has slashed federal agencies.

Crawford and the Democrats who backed her made Musk the focus of their arguments for holding the seat, contending he was “buying” the election, which set records for the costliest judicial race in history.

Republican Randy Fine wins Waltz’s former House seat

Republican Randy Fine won a special election Tuesday for a House seat in Florida vacated by Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, although Democrats are likely to perform better in the Republican district than they did in November.

Democratic candidate Josh Weil put up a stiff challenge in the eastern coastal district that Trump carried by 30 percentage points in the November elections, but the AP called the race for Fine early on Tuesday evening.

Democrats were holding out hope for a surprise victory. Weil, a Democratic public school teacher, had outraised Fine, a state senator, and a poll had shown them running practically neck in neck days before the election.

Cory Booker breaks record for longest speech by US senator in Trump condemnation

Cory Booker, the Democratic US senator from New Jersey, has broken the record for longest speech ever by a lone senator – beating the record first established by Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Booker’s speech, which began at 7pm on Monday night, was not a filibuster but instead an effort to warn of what he called the “grave and urgent” danger that Donald Trump’s presidential administration poses to democracy and the American people.

“I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able,” Booker said near the start of his speech. “I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our nation is in crisis.” ...

Around his 20th hour of speaking, Booker offered an apology to his fellow Democrats for the current political climate, saying: “I confess that I’ve been inadequate. That the Democrats have been responsible for allowing the rise of this demagogue.”

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California wildfire threatening forest home of world’s oldest tree

Firefighters have managed to make “strong progress” containing a fire burning through eastern California near the world’s oldest trees, but the blaze remains an active threat, officials said.

Since igniting on Sunday afternoon, the Silver fire has scorched nearly 1,600 acres (647 hectares) in the eastern Sierra Nevada and forced residents of about 800 homes to evacuate. Strong winds fanned the flames, which burned through dry grass and brush in Inyo county, threatening neighborhoods, endangered species and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.

On Monday evening, Cal Fire’s San Bernardino/Inyo/Mono unit, the agency managing the response to the blaze, announced that firefighters had stopped forward spread of the fire. By Tuesday morning, authorities reported that crews working overnight had made “strong progress” on the fire, with containment at 50%, and announced that evacuation orders had been downgraded to warnings.

Still, the fire continues to threaten structures, critical infrastructure and endangered species, Cal Fire said in a statement. It also remains an active threat to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, said Chloe Castillo, a Cal Fire public information officer. The forest features some of the oldest known trees, including Methuselah, a bristlecone pine that is almost 5,000 years old and the world’s oldest living organism.

‘Chaos’: Trump cuts to Noaa disrupt staffing and weather forecasts

A sense of chaos has gripped the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), one of the world’s premier research agencies, with key staff hastily fired and then rehired, cuts to vital weather forecasting operations and even a new, unsecured server that led to staff being deluged by obscene spam emails. Noaa is currently being upended by Donald Trump’s desire to slash the federal government workforce, with more than 1,000 people already fired or resigning from the agency and 1,000 more staffers are expected to be removed as the purge continues. In total, this represents around 20% of the Noaa’s workforce.

Along with leading climate and marine research, Noaa also houses the National Weather Service, which provides bedrock weather forecasts to private providers and the public. There are concerns that the Trump administration’s cuts, spearheaded by Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), could imperil public safety by hindering timely warnings of tornadoes and hurricanes.

Doge has already had to reverse some of its initial firings after removing staff including those who help track hurricanes. Five people involved in the “hurricane hunter” flights were fired, only for three of them to be told their jobs will be reinstated. Other staff within the National Weather Service have also been asked to disregard their terminations. Noaa’s data collection activity is still being affected, though, with the agency reducing the number of weather balloons it releases in six locations across the US. The balloons, fitted with weather instruments, are crucial in providing the information for weather forecasts.

This tumultuous era for Noaa was for some staff crystallized by Doge’s decision to use a new email server to send missives from the federal government’s office of personnel management to the agency. The email server was not secure, meaning that staff got dozens of spam-like emails in January, one of them with a lewd title about the president and another stating: “the next 4 years has an [sic] 99% chance of shit showers.”

While Noaa has since resolved the lack of email server security, staff said that it was emblematic of growing turmoil within the agency. “The feeling has been ‘you’ve got to be kidding me,’” said one staffer, who was fired but is now on administrative leave pending potential reinstatement. “These people at Doge think they are the best at what they do but they can’t even protect an email list. They fired people and then had to hire them back, they are cutting contracts without learning what they are. I mean good lord take a minute before doing this. It’s an absolute joke.”

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Also of Interest

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

Australian Zionist Federation Files Complaint in Federal Court Against Journalist for Her Reporting on Gaza

US House Democrat blasts Trump for using ‘antisemitism’ to attack universities

Dems Wouldn't 'Ignore' Parliamentarian to Raise Minimum Wage, But GOP Plans to for Massive Tax Giveaway to the Rich

As Future of Panama Canal Hangs in Balance, Mexico Quietly Begins Testing Its Interoceanic Rail Corridor

Large majority of Europeans support retaliatory tariffs against US

Bracing for the Fallout from Trump Tariff Delusions

Judge rules Alabama cannot prosecute those who help with out-of-state abortions

Two near lifesize sculptures found during excavations of Pompeii tomb

The Virginia Giuffre Bus Crash Story is VERY, VERY Strange

Michael Shellenberger: FBI KNEW Hunter Biden Laptop Was REAL, Pushed Censorship ANYWAY

CIA CALLED OUT In JFK Hearing

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A Little Night Music

Willie Egan - Come On

Willie Egan - I Can't Understand It

Willie Egan - Wow Wow

Willie Egan - It's All Right

Two Crows and The Diggers (Willie Egan) - Last Night

Willie Egan - Chittlin's

Willie Egan - I Don't Know Where She Went

Willie Egan - Rock And Roll Fever

Willie Egan - You must be foolin

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