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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Mary Ann Fisher

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features the original Raelette Mary Ann Fisher. Enjoy!

^{Mary Ann Fisher - Give}

Same movie, different soundtrack. That’s Gaza under Trump.

The Biden administration backed a genocide while occasionally making noises about humanitarian concerns, and now the Trump administration backs a genocide without making those noises.

All that’s changed is the noise.

-- Caitlin Johnstone

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News and Opinion

“I Want A Death That The World Will Hear” — Journalist Assassinated By Israel For Telling The Truth

Israel assassinated a photojournalist in Gaza in an airstrike targeting her family’s home on Wednesday, the day after it was announced that a documentary she appears in would premier in Cannes next month.

Her name was Fatima Hassouna. Nine members of her family were also reportedly killed in the bombing. She was going to get married in a few days.

The documentary is titled Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, and it’s about Israel’s crimes in Gaza.

In an Instagram post from August of last year, Hassouna wrote the following:

“If I die, I want a loud death. I don’t want to be just breaking news, or a number in a group; I want a death that the world will hear, an impact that will remain through time, and a timeless image that cannot be buried by time or place.”

Palestinian photographer Fatima Hassouna was killed, along with nine members of her family, in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their home in Gaza on Wednesday.

Hassouna, who had gained international recognition for her photojournalism documenting the impact of Israel’s… pic.twitter.com/y0FEJ60emH

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 17, 2025

Hassouna said she viewed her camera as a weapon to change the world and defend her family, making the following statements in a video shared by Middle East Eye:

“As Fatima, I believe that the image and the camera are weapons. So I consider my camera to be my rifle. So many times, in so many situations, I tell my friends, Come and see, it’s not bullets that we load into a rifle. Okay, I’m going to put a memory card into the camera. This is the camera’s bullet, the memory card. It changes the world and defends me. It shows the world what is happening to me and what’s happening to others. So I used to consider this my weapon, that I defend myself with it. And so that my family won’t be forgotten. And so I can document people’s stories, so that my family’s stories too don’t just vanish into thin air.”

Israel saw Hassouna’s camera as a weapon too, apparently.

As Ryan Grim observed on Twitter:

“For this to have been a deliberate act — which it plainly was — consider what that means. A person within the IDF saw the news that Fatma’s film was accepted into Cannes. He/she/they then proposed assassinating her. Other people reviewed the suggestion and approved it. Then other people carried it out.”

Israel has been murdering a record-shattering number of journalists in Gaza while simultaneously blocking any foreign press from accessing the enclave because Israel views journalists as its enemy. And Israel views journalists as its enemy because Israel is the enemy of truth.

Israel and its western backers understand that truth and support for Israel are mutually exclusive. Those who support Israel are not interested in the truth, and those who are interested in the truth don’t support Israel.

That’s why the light of journalism is being aggressively snuffed out in Gaza while Israel massively increases its propaganda budget to sway public opinion.

It’s why journalists like Fatima Hassouna are being assassinated while the western propaganda services known as the mainstream press commit journalistic malpractice to hide the truth of Israel’s crimes.

It’s why western journalists are banned from Gaza while western institutions are silencing, deporting, firing and marginalizing those who speak out about Israel’s criminality.

Israel and truth cannot coexist. Israel’s enemies know this, and Israel knows this. That’s why Israel’s primary weapons are bombs, bullets, propaganda, censorship, and obstruction, while the main weapon of Israel’s enemies is the camera.

Fatima Hassouna’s death has indeed been heard. All these loud noises are snapping more and more eyes open from their slumber.

Israel Rejects AMAZING Hamas Peace Offering!

Humanitarian agencies reject IDF claim Gaza medic killings caused by ‘professional failures’

The UN’s humanitarian agency, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and Gaza’s civil defence service have rejected the findings of an Israeli military investigation that concluded the killings of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers in Rafah last month were caused by “professional failures”. Eight PRCS paramedics, six members of the civil defence rescue agency and one employee of Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, were carrying out two rescue missions when they were shot and killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza in the early hours of 23 March. ...

Gaza’s civil defence agency, which rescues victims of airstrikes, dismissed the Israeli army report, accusing the military of lying in an attempt to justify targeting the rescue convoys. “The video filmed by one of the paramedics proves that the Israeli occupation’s narrative is false and demonstrates that it carried out summary executions,” Mohammed al-Mughair, a civil defence official, told Agence-France Presse on Monday, accusing Israel of seeking to “circumvent” its obligations under international law.

Jonathan Whittall, the UN’s humanitarian chief for Gaza, said the investigation did not go far enough. “A lack of real accountability undermines international law and makes the world a more dangerous place,” he said. “Without accountability, we risk continuing to watch atrocities unfolding, and the norms designed to protect us all eroding.”

Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the PRCS, said: “The report is full of lies. It is invalid and unacceptable, as it justifies the killing and shifts responsibility to a personal error in the field command when the truth is quite different.” The PRCS has previously called for an international investigation into the incident. ...

During 18 months of war, Israeli forces have killed hundreds of medical workers and the staff of aid agencies and UN organisations in Gaza. In April last year, seven members of the charity World Central Kitchen died in a sustained Israeli attack on their clearly marked vehicles. Human rights organisations have long accused the Israeli military of a culture of impunity, with few soldiers ever facing justice.

Netanyahu demanded loyalty before trying to fire me, Shin Bet chief claims

The director of Israel’s internal intelligence agency, Shin Bet, has alleged that Benjamin Netanyahu fired him for refusing to pledge his loyalty to the prime minister over the courts and use the agency to spy on anti-government protesters. The battle between Netanyahu and Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet, has pushed Israel to the brink of a constitutional crisis, after the supreme court blocked a decision by the cabinet to dismiss Bar from his post – the first Shin Bet head to be fired.

Bar had alleged that the decision to fire him was driven by Netanyahu’s “personal interests”. On Monday, Bar submitted an 31-page affidavit to the supreme court, which halted his firing last month. The affidavit detailed his version of the events that led to the breakdown of his relationship with Netanyahu and his dismissal. Some sections relating to national security were kept classified.

Among the most serious allegations made in Bar’s affidavit was the claim that “on several occasions” Netanyahu explicitly told Shin Bet to conduct surveillance on citizens involved in anti-government protests, which he refused to do. Bar said the prime minister demanded the agency “provide details regarding the identities of Israeli citizens, protest activists” involved in any demonstrations against the Netanyahu government, and monitor those deemed to be “protest funders”.

Bar also alleged that Netanyahu had made clear to him that in a constitutional crisis, his loyalty must be to the prime minister and not the high court of justice. He also said “an effort was made to coerce me” to sign a document that would have helped Netanyahu avoid publicly testifying in court in a corruption case against him, which Bar pushed back on. Bar alleged that Netanyahu would voice these demands at the ends of meetings, away from any official documentation. “It was clearly intended to prevent any record of the conversation,” said Bar. ...

Netanyahu’s office hit back instantly at Bar’s allegations, calling them “a complete lie” and saying the “false affidavit” would be refuted. The government has until Thursday to submit its response to the courts. Netanyahu has said he had lost all trust in Bar’s capacity to lead Shin Bet and accused him of a conflict of interest and politicising the agency. Yair Lapid, the leader of the political opposition, said that Bar’s affidavit “proves that Netanyahu is a danger to Israeli security and cannot continue to serve as prime minister.”

Aaron Maté : Is Ukraine Now Trump’s War?

Scores of Civilians Reportedly Among Victims of Latest US Airstrikes on Yemen

Scores of civilians have reportedly been killed or wounded by U.S. airstrikes on Yemen—including at an oil port and market—since late last week as the Trump administration continues its monthlong intensification of strikes targeting Houthi rebels, who vowed to carry out more operations against enablers of Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza.

The Houthis said Monday that U.S. airstrikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa killed dozens, including a strike on the popular Farwah market in the Shuub neighborhood that killed 12 people and wounded 30 others.

As the Houthis did not disclose victims' combatant status and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) refused to answer questions about civilians killed in the strikes, it is unclear how many noncombatants were among the dead and wounded. Video footage recorded in the strike's aftermath shows rescue workers uncovering the body of a small child found amid the rubble while a woman shrieks, "Let it be a dream!"

In what were likely the deadliest U.S. attacks on Yemen since U.S. President Donald Trump launched the current bombing campaign last month, at least 80 people including dozens of workers were killed and more than 150 others wounded in a series of Thursday airstrikes on the Ras Isa oil port on the Red Sea north of Hodeidah, according to the Hodeidah Health Office.

Al Jazeera reported that the first four U.S. strikes on the port happened while people were still working. Officials said first responders including paramedics and rescue workers who rushed to the scene were killed in subsequent strikes, known as "double taps" in military parlance.

"They targeted a civilian side over there; as you can see, the casualties are all civilians who had worked at this facility," one first responder told Sky News as he gestured toward flaming ruins.

“We strongly condemn the Trump administration’s unauthorized and increasingly deadly attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in #Yemen. Destroying a fuel port full of civilian workers and then reportedly bombing paramedics when they arrived to rescue survivors is a war… https://t.co/LSp48lgWKm

— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) April 18, 2025

Officials also raised concerns over possible oil leaks into the Red Sea.

CENTCOM said Thursday that ships have continued to supply fuel to the Houthis via the port of Ras Isa—which is the terminus for Yemen's main oil pipeline—despite the group, whose official name is Ansar Allah, being designated a terrorist organization by the Trump administration in March.

"U.S. forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for over 10 years," CENTCOM said, adding that "this strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen."

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres "is gravely concerned about the airstrikes conducted by the United States over the course of April 17th and 18th in and around Yemen's port of Ras Isa, which reportedly resulted in scores of civilian casualties, including five humanitarian workers injured," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Saturday.

The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said Friday that "the use of heavy ordnance against a known civilian facility suggests a deliberate disregard for the risk of mass casualties, explaining the high death toll and raising serious suspicions of a blatant violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution under international humanitarian law."

"The targeted facility was civilian, and the civilian harm caused is grossly disproportionate to the declared military advantage of weakening the Houthis' economic base," the group added. "The use of force against such infrastructure, especially without clear necessity, inflicted severe harm on civilians and further debilitated Yemen's fuel import capabilities."

U.S. forces have been bombing Yemen since the administration of George W. Bush, who launched the open-ended War on Terror in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. There have also been occasional U.S. ground raids in Yemen, including one in January 2017 that killed Nawar al-Awlaki, an 8-year-old American girl whose father and brother were killed in separate U.S. drone strikes during the Obama administration.

According to the U.K.-based monitor Airwars, U.S. forces have killed hundreds of Yemeni civilians in 181 declared actions since 2002. Overall, hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have died during the civil war that began in 2014, with international experts attributing more than 150,000 Yemeni deaths to U.S.-backed, Saudi-led bombing and blockade.

The Pentagon only acknowledges 13 civilian deaths caused by U.S. military action in Yemen. The Trump administration has been particularly tight-lipped about civilian casualties resulting from its operations, a stance some critics have called ironic given that top administration officials shared highly sensitive plans for attacking Yemen on a Signal group chat in which a journalist was inadvertently included. Calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's resignation grew following Sunday's revelation that he shared Yemen war plans in a second Signal chat group that included his relatives and personal attorney.

Update on Abduction & Jailing of Tufts Student Rümeysa Öztürk

DHS Revokes Visas of Over 1,500 Students, None Charged With Any Crimes

In recent weeks, more than 1,500 international undergraduate and graduate students from over 240 colleges have had their J-1 or F-1 visas revoked by Washington without notifying students or their respective universities. The revocations mean the students will not be permitted to finish their studies in person and will have to return to their home countries. ...

The schools became aware of these changes to the students’ legal statuses by checking international student records contained in the Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).

Middle East Eye reported that at least three universities received no prior notice about the visa cancellations and were not informed of any reasons for the students’ legal status terminations. As the outlet noted, “But terminating a record in the SEVIS system doesn’t necessarily mean the individual’s immigrant status in the country has been terminated. All of the revocations share a common thread – none of the students have been charged with a crime.”

Al Jazeera notes that “Many of the targets of the visa revocations and arrests are students who participated in pro-Palestine protests… Others are individuals with more indirect links to Palestine – or those who have shown support for Gaza on social media.”

Harvard SUES TRUMP After INSANE Admin Mistake

Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Threats to Cut Funding

Harvard, the world’s wealthiest university, sued the Trump administration on Monday, fighting back against its threats to slash billions of dollars from the school’s research funding as part of a crusade against the nation’s top colleges. The lawsuit signaled a major escalation of the ongoing fight between higher education and President Trump, who has vowed to “reclaim” elite universities. The administration has cast its campaign as a fight against antisemitism, but has also targeted programs and teaching related to racial diversity and gender issues.

Earlier this month, it sent Harvard a list of demands that included auditing professors for plagiarism, reporting to the federal government any international students accused of misconduct, and appointing an outside overseer to make sure that academic departments were “viewpoint diverse.”

Alan M. Garber, Harvard’s president, accused the government in a statement on Monday of trying to wield “unprecedented and improper control.” Dr. Garber said the consequences of the government’s actions would be “severe and long lasting.”

The Trump administration has claimed that Harvard and other schools have allowed antisemitic language and harassment to remain unchecked on their campuses. Monday’s lawsuit noted that the government had cited the university’s response to antisemitism as justification for its “unlawful action.”

Dr. Garber, in his statement, said that “as a Jew and as an American, I know very well that there are valid concerns about rising antisemitism.” But he said that the government was legally required to engage with the university about the ways it was fighting antisemitism. Instead, he said, the government has sought to control “whom we hire and what we teach.”

Too late for Trump to walk away from Ukraine?

Trump Economic Approval Rating DROPS To Record Lows

US stock markets fall again as Trump calls Fed chair ‘a major loser’

US stock markets fell again on Monday as Donald Trump continued attacks against the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, who the US president called “a major loser” for not lowering interest rates. “There can be a slowing of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW,” Trump wrote on social media. In recent days, Trump has amped up attacks against the Fed chair, pushing Powell to lower interest rates to offset the inflationary impacts of the new tariffs.

Trump is pressuring the Fed to cut rates, likely to appease the stock market, which plummeted after he announced his newest slate of tariffs. But Wall Street isn’t taking the bait and appears to be reacting in opposition to Trump’s attacks against Powell and the independence of the US central bank.

The Dow ended the day down 2.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell over 2.5% down and the S&P 500 fell 2.4%. Former tech stocks favorites including Tesla and Nvidia lost ground, while the value of the dollar fell to multiyear lows against most major currencies.

Stock markets had recovered the losses they endured after Trump rolled out his “liberation day” tariffs proposals, which would have imposed huge levies on all of the US’s trading partners. But almost all the gains made in the stock market following Trump’s announcement of a 90-day pause of his so-called reciprocal tariffs have been erased amid these new jabs against Powell.

Powell, known to be extremely measured in his public remarks, has in recent weeks spoken out about Trump’s tariffs and warned that they may lead to a “challenging scenario” for the Fed, implying that the Fed has no plans to cut interest rates anytime soon. “Tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation. The inflation effects could also be more persistent,” Powell told reporters on 16 April.

'WORST APRIL SINCE GREAT DEPRESSION' With Tariff Chaos

Boeing investors brace for fallout from Trump tariffs

Investors in Boeing are braced to learn the full impact of Donald Trump’s trade war, amid fears the US planemaker could be hit harder than first expected after jets intended for a Chinese airline were returned to the US.

A Boeing 737 Max 8 plane intended for use by a Chinese airline returned to the US on Monday from Boeing’s China finishing centre, according to flight data cited by Reuters. It followed the arrival in the US on Sunday of another 737 Max painted in the livery of China’s Xiamen Airlines at Boeing’s US production hub in Seattle.

Boeing’s share price fell by nearly 3% on Monday, in line with a sell-off across Wall Street. US stock markets have been hit with much higher volatility this month as investors have tried to work out the effects of Trump’s tariffs.

The aviation industry has been caught up in the trade war. Trump’s tariffs on goods from almost all countries have caused disruption across the world, but trade in goods between the US and China has been most affected, with levies of 145% on US imports and 125% on goods going the other way.

A new 737 Max has a market value of about $55m (£41.4m), according to IBA, an aviation consultancy. That makes a 125% tariff prohibitive without significantly changing the business model of the airline business.

‘Trust is gone’: fears grow as police on some Florida campuses trained by Ice

Fears of a new wave of deportations and student visa cancellations are rising at a number of Florida’s most diverse universities after administrators signed agreements recasting campus police as federal immigration agents. Miami’s Florida International University (FIU) is one of at least 11 state colleges to enroll in the top tier of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) 287(g) program that trains local police departments for “limited” involvement in immigration operations.

The partnerships give campus officers broad new powers to stop, question and detain students about their immigration status, and share information directly with Ice, which students and faculty members believe could escalate the Trump administration’s assault on those studying in the US from abroad.

Nationally, more than 1,400 international students and recent graduates perceived by the government to be pro-Palestinian have had their F-1 or J-1 visas canceled by the homeland security department, according to a tally by Inside Higher Ed, with the Miami New Times reporting dozens in Florida. ...

Earlier this year, the government reactivated the taskforce model of the Ice partnership program that was discontinued by Barack Obama in 2012 for racial profiling, and which the American Civil Liberties Union has argued is unconstitutional. Ron DeSantis, Florida’s rightwing Republican governor, directed state law enforcement agencies in February to sign up, and the Miami Herald reported on Thursday that almost every college with its own campus law enforcement agency is enrolled.

House Democrats land in El Salvador to push for return of Kilmar Ábrego García

A delegation of four House Democrats has arrived in El Salvador to push for the release of Kilmar Ábrego García, part of a mission to challenge the Trump administration’s refusal to comply with a supreme court order to facilitate the return of the immigrant to the United States.

Representatives Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California touched down in Central America on Sunday, following a visit by the Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen last week. The lawmakers are seeking to meet with Ábrego García, who had lived in the US for more than a decade before being swept up in a 15 March operation.

“Even with all of the illegal actions we’ve seen over the last couple of months, I think this is the one that terrifies me the most when it comes to the future of our democracy,” Ansari told the Associated Press in an interview.

According to a congressional aide familiar with the arrangements, the delegation will meet with officials at the US embassy on Tuesday morning to advocate for Ábrego García’s release and ask about other individuals transferred from the US who are currently detained in El Salvador. The lawmakers will also receive classified briefings during their visit.

The case has become a flashpoint in the ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and the supreme court, which ruled that the government had a duty to help return Ábrego García. Justice department lawyers have argued that they lack the power to secure his release from foreign custody.

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Banned DDT discovered in Canadian trout 70 years after use

Residues of the insecticide DDT have been found to persist at “alarming rates” in trout even after 70 years, potentially posing a significant danger to humans and wildlife that eat the fish, research has found. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, known as DDT, was used on forested land in New Brunswick, Canada, from 1952 to 1968. The researchers found traces of it remained in brook trout in some lakes, often at levels 10 times higher than the recommended safety threshold for wildlife.

“DDT is a probable carcinogen that we haven’t used in 70 years here [Canada], yet it’s abundant in fish and lake mud throughout much of the province at shockingly high levels,” said Josh Kurek, an associate professor in environmental change and aquatic biomonitoring at Mount Allison University in Canada and lead author of the research.

The research, published in the journal Plos One, discovered that DDT pollution covers about 50% of New Brunswick province. Brook trout is the most common wild fish caught in the region, and the research found DDT was present in its muscle tissue, in some cases 10 times above the recommended Canadian wildlife guidelines.

Researchers said DDT, which is classified by health authorities as a“probable carcinogen”, can persist in lake mud for decades after treatment and that many lakes in New Brunswick retain such high levels of legacy DDT that the sediments are a key source of pollution in the food web. “The public, especially vulnerable populations to contaminants such as women of reproductive age and children, need to be aware of exposure risk to legacy DDT through consumption of wild fish,” said Kurek.

Trump official threatens New York governor over halt of congestion pricing

US transportation secretary Sean Duffy issued a warning to New York governor Kathy Hochul on Monday saying that the state of New York “risks serious consequences” if it does not suspend its congestion pricing program. New York City’s congestion pricing initiative, which was approved by the Biden administration last year and began on 5 January, charges a $9 toll on most passenger vehicles entering Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak hours. Similar systems are already in some major global cities such as London and are popular with environmental groups.

In a letter dated Monday and addressed to Hochul, the Trump administration reiterated its demand that she halt the collection of congestion pricing tolls and gave the governor until 21 May to either certify that the collection of tolls has ceased, or provide an explanation for why its continuation does not violate federal law.

“I write to warn you that the State of New York risks serious consequences if it continues to fail to comply with Federal law,” Duffy wrote. “President Trump and I will not sit back while Governor Hochul engages in class warfare and prices working-class Americans out of accessing New York City,” Duffy wrote. “The federal government sends billions to New York — but we won’t foot the bill if Governor Hochul continues to implement an illegal toll to backfill the budget of New York’s failing transit system We are giving New York one last chance to turn back or prove their actions are not illegal.”

Duffy warned that the administration could begin taking action against the state as early as 28 May if the congestion tolls remain in place, such as withholding federal funding and approvals for future transportation projects in the state.

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Also of Interest

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

California Republican mayor calls for the extermination of the homeless

Patrick Lawrence: Late–Imperial Maladies

‘My work is a scream for help’: Gaza’s artists document life under fire

Beneath the Surface: Is the Trump-Netanyahu ‘Unthinkable’ About To Erupt?

Israel, on Both Sides of Sudan Civil War, Now Faces Iran

Secret Terror Blueprints for US to ‘Help Ukraine Resist’

How Trump Deportations Fit Into War Against American Workers

Phase 1: Impose Tariffs - Phase 2: ? - Phase 3: Profit

The Proximate Cause Of Revolutions Is Inability To Tax & The US Is Well Down The Road

Grassroots activists who took on corruption and corporate power share 2025 Goldman prize

China WARNS World: DON'T TEAM UP With Trump

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A Little Night Music

Mary Ann Fisher - Put Your Shoes On

Ray Charles feat. Mary Ann Fisher - What kind of man are you

Mary Ann Fisher - I Can't Take It

Mary Ann Fisher - Wild as You Can Be

Mary Ann Fisher - Can´t Take the Heartbreaks

Mary Ann Fisher - Yes I Love You

Mary Ann Fisher - I Keep Comin' Back For More

Mary Ann Fisher - Forever More

Mary Ann Fisher - It's A Man's World

Ray Charles - Mary Ann

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