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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Jelly Roll Morton

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features early jazz originator Jelly Roll Morton. Enjoy!

^{Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers - Original Jelly Roll Blues}

"Gaza puts to rest the lie of human progress, the myth that we are evolving morally. Only the tools change. Where once we clubbed victims to death, or chopped them to pieces with broadswords, today we drop 2,000-pound bombs on refugee camps, spray families with bullets from militarized drones or pulverize them with tank shells, heavy artillery and missiles."

-- Chris Hedges

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News and Opinion

Imagine If Gaza Was Jewish And The People Bombing It Were Muslims

Gaza just endured one of its worst days of bombing since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal onslaught, with the IDF ramping up aggressions as it prepares for the full military capture of the enclave.

On Thursday the United Nations
rejected the US-Israeli plan for delivering aid to the besieged Palestinian territory. The plan has been slammed as a transparent attempt to use food to lure Gaza’s starving population southward into a concentrated area to prepare them for deportation, i.e. ethnic cleansing.

We were taught about Anne Frank so it would never happen again, and every day I open this app and see the last words of countless new Anne Franks in real time... pic.twitter.com/i3xLDoYhb7

— onagapnotsew (@westonpagano) May 16, 2025

If Gaza was populated by Jews and the people massacring its inhabitants were Muslims, nobody would have any trouble calling this thing what it is. The words “genocide” and “Holocaust” would’ve been appearing in the news every single day for the last 19 months.

Except we all know it wouldn’t have gone on for 19 months. In the eyes of the western empire, there are some people who may be murdered with mass military violence, and others who may not be. There are some types of children who can be photographed with their ribcages sticking out because of deliberately inflicted starvation without causing much of a stir, and there are other types of children for whom such photographs would shake the earth.

In the eyes of the western empire, Jews are considered fully human, while Muslims and Arabs are not. A massacre of Jews is a terrible, unforgivable atrocity which cries out to the heavens for limitless vengeance, while Israel’s daily massacres of Palestinians merit nothing more than a footnote.

If Gaza was populated by Jews and the people conducting these daily massacres were Muslims, the western empire would have long ago intervened to stop this. Instead we get swamp monsters like Steve Witkoff recycling the bogus Biden administration line that “the Israeli government is a sovereign government; they can’t tell us what to do and we can’t tell them what to do,” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying he’s “concerned” about the humanitarian situation in Gaza but doesn’t see any alternatives — just like his predecessor Antony Blinken constantly did.

Secretary of State Rubio spoke on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 15, 2025

It’s so glaringly, painfully obvious what we’re looking at. So completely blatant and undisguised. The only thing keeping people from seeing this genocide for what it is and calling a spade a spade is the fact that its victims happen to belong to a religion and an ethnicity that has been systematically dehumanized for decades in order to justify the acts of mass military violence that have been aggressively normalized in our collective psychology. Westerners have been indoctrinated by domestic propaganda into seeing Arabs and Muslims as less than human, in much the same way Israelis themselves have been.

It’s so gross and uncomfortable to have to keep finding new ways to say “Imagine if this was happening to a population you actually care about,” but it seems like that’s the only way a lot of people are going to open their eyes and look at this thing. Until you begin to entertain the possibility that the people suffering in Gaza might actually be similar to you and the people you consider human, it’s just going to be a big blind spot for you.

It should not be necessary to do this. It should be obvious to all of us that humans are humans regardless of their race or religion or any other way they might show up as a bit different from us. We should all have been taught this as young children.

But that’s where we’re at as a civilization right now. A genocide happening right in front of us, and people like me going “Imagine if they belonged to a religion that you HAVEN’T been trained to fear and despise!”

It’s undignified, and it says ugly things about our society that this is still one of the most effective ways to get this message across. But we can only begin the journey toward a healthy world from where we are standing here and now.

Any normal person reading this first paragraph would assume the speaker is suggesting that this is a bad thing. That assumption, horrifyingly, would be incorrect.

This is Israel. This is what Israel is. https://t.co/QGLUaJoTZV

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) May 17, 2025

Alastair Crooke : Israel is in Moral Meltdown

Israeli army begins ‘extensive’ new ground operations in Gaza

The Israeli army has announced the start of a large-scale offensive in Gaza, describing “extensive ground operations” to seize “operational control” of swaths of the devastated Palestinian territory as a second day of indirect ceasefire talks in Qatar ended without any breakthrough. Israeli military officials said its forces had “eliminated dozens of terrorists, dismantled terrorist infrastructure sites … and [were] currently being deployed in key positions”.

Rescuers and medical sources said as many as 130 people, including many women and children, were killed in a wave of Israeli strikes overnight and through Sunday on neighbourhoods in the north, centre and south of Gaza.

Hours after the military announced it had launched the new ground operation, the prime minister’s office said Israel would allow some food into Gaza. “Israel will allow a basic amount of food for the population to ensure that a hunger crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip,” Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

Earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu signalled Israel was open to striking a deal with Hamas that involved “ending the fighting”, though the Israeli prime minister laid out conditions that have been repeatedly refused by the militant Islamist organisation. “Even at this very moment, the negotiation team in Doha is working to exhaust every possibility for a deal … which would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip,” his office said in a statement. A Hamas official told Reuters that Israel’s position remained unchanged. “They want to release the [hostages] without a commitment to end the war,” the official said.

In Gaza, medical officials said they could not cope with the casualties from the most recent strikes. “Hospitals are overwhelmed with the growing number of casualties, many are children, and … are struggling with shortages of medical supplies,” Khalil al-Deqran, the territory’s health ministry spokesperson, said.

"Absolutely Genocidal": Mouin Rabbani on Israel's Latest Escalation of War on Gaza

'Massacre After Massacre': Israel Mounts 'Extensive' Ground Operation in Gaza

Over 140 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli strikes since early Sunday as part of a new ground operation launched by Israel, according to Al Jazeera, which cited medical sources.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday it had begun "extensive ground operations throughout northern and southern Gaza as part of Operation 'Gideon's Chariots.'"

According to The Associated Press, the offensive is the largest since Israel shattered an eight-week cease-fire in mid-March.

Local health officials report that over 3,000 Palestinians have been killed since that cease-fire ended, and 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, prompting Israel to launch a fierce military campaign on the enclave.

Amid reported Israeli attacks on the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, the Gaza Health Ministry on Sunday said that all public hospitals in northern Gaza are "out of service."

Israel has also imposed a complete blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza in early March, but according to the AP Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday his cabinet approved a move to permit a "basic" amount of food into the enclave.

The International Committee of the Red Cross calls for immediate protection of civilians and healthcare facilities amid devastating hostilities. pic.twitter.com/eoBOpFxlnl

— ICRC in Israel & OT (@ICRC_ilot) May 18, 2025

On Sunday morning, the journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote on Bluesky: "135 Palestinians killed in Gaza so far today. Massacre after massacre, day after day. The world does nothing."

'Insanity': Observers Blast Reported Trump Administration Plan to Move Palestinians to Libya

A plan reportedly under consideration by the Trump administration to send up to one million Gazans to the divided country of Libya was met with criticism on Friday and Saturday, with several observers calling it part of a plan to carry out ethnic cleansing.

On Friday, NBC News reported that the Trump administration has broached the plan with Libya's leadership, though no final agreement has been reached. NBC News' reporting relied on several unnamed sources "with knowledge of the effort."

"This is absolutely categorically an ethnic cleansing and sending people to Libya of all places is unconscionable," wrote investigative journalist James Stout on Bluesky on Friday, in response to the reporting.

An unnamed spokesperson for the Trump administration told NBC News after publication that "these reports are untrue."

As part of the plan, the Trump administration may unfreeze billions of dollars of funds originally meant for Libya that the U.S. froze over ten years ago, the outlet reported.

"A decade and change after U.S. military intervention in Libya under Obama, a direct appeal from the Trump administration to make it a destination for a 21st century Trail of Tears," remarked Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, the Georgetown University assistant professor and philosopher, referencing the forced displacement of indigenous people in the United States in the 19th Century.

Gregg Carlstrom, a Middle East correspondent for the The Economist, called the NBC News' reporting "insanity."

"Skeptical that there's a serious 'plan' here (rather than just spitballing). But the underlying premise is correct: the Trump administration has spent months approaching various countries to see if it could bribe them into helping out with the ethnic cleansing of Gaza," Carlstrom wrote in a post on X on Saturday.

NBC News also reported that the Trump administration has discussed multiple locations for resettling Palestinians in Gaza, and that the administration is considering Syria as a potential location.

In February, Trump floated a plan to "take over" Gaza and mused about permanently displacing Palestinians in Gaza. International law prohibits the forced deportation and transfer of civilians.

Netanyahu Announces Israel Will Allow a ‘Basic’ Amount of Food To Enter Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Israel would allow a “basic” amount of food to enter Gaza after a more than 70-day total blockade on the Palestinian territory. ...

Netanyahu said that a famine would “jeopardize” Israel’s new military campaign in Gaza, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots,” which was launched in recent days as the Israeli military has significantly stepped up strikes on Gaza and expanded ground operations, killing hundreds of Palestinians. ...

According to the Israeli news site Ynet, Netanyahu told his security cabinet that the decision was necessary due to pressure from the US. In recent days, high-level US officials have expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Worth a click and a full read:

Why Israel’s demand for Hamas to disarm is a red herring

In mid-April, Egypt delivered Israel’s latest proposal to Hamas: a temporary, 45-day truce in exchange for the release of 12 Israeli captives and 16 bodies. This time, however, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added a condition that prompted Hamas to immediately reject the offer — a demand for the group’s complete disarmament, without any commitment to ending the war, withdrawing Israeli forces from Gaza, or halting the ethnic cleansing.

The truth is, Israel’s insistence on Hamas’ disarmament is a red herring designed to sabotage any meaningful progress in the ceasefire talks and allow the genocide to continue. This was made abundantly clear when Israel’s government adopted plans to conquer and permanently occupy all of Gaza, squeeze the population into concentration camps near the border with Egypt and force as many as possible to leave, and maintain that apparatus even after all Israeli captives are released.

Demanding disarmament is a similar sleight of hand to the one that allowed Netanyahu to derail ceasefire negotiations last year by falsely claiming that invading Rafah was crucial to the process of dismantling Hamas’ smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border. After 12 months of systematically leveling the southern city, Israeli forces failed to uncover a single operational tunnel. Yet as Israel’s own former defense minister recently revealed, that didn’t stop the government from fabricating a tunnel discovery specifically to sabotage ceasefire efforts.

For Israel, Hamas’ disarmament is merely the pretext; The real goal, as Netanyahu himself admitted recently, is to render Gaza uninhabitable, ungovernable, and ultimately unpopulated. Every negotiation Israel sabotages, every ceasefire it undermines, and every humanitarian convoy it blocks are part of a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing. Netanyahu’s strategy is not peace through security, but conquest through suffering: to grind Gaza down until its people either flee, starve, or disappear beneath the rubble. This is not a war on Hamas, it is a war on the very existence of Palestinians in Gaza.

Project Esther: NYT Details Right-Wing Plan to "Rebrand All Critics of Israel" as Hamas Supporters

Donald Trump is losing patience with Russia, says Finnish leader

Donald Trump is losing patience with Vladimir Putin, Finland’s president has said after a lengthy conversation with his US counterpart. Alexander Stubb said Trump and Putin, who are scheduled to speak by telephone on Monday, must not decide the fate of Ukraine over the head of its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Stubb also said there was a chance, depending on how the phone call goes, that the US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal would introduce into Congress this week a sanctions package to make Russia’s finances untenable. Stubb has been in near daily contact with Graham, who describes the sanctions package as “bone-crushing”.

At a security conference in Estonia, Stubb said: “If we were to pull it together, we could say that Zelenskyy is patient and President Trump is starting to be impatient, but in the right direction, that is, towards Russia.” Stubb said threatening sanctions and not implementing them would not cause a credibility problem as long as the west was making Putin react.

It is widely expected that Graham, who discussed his sanctions package with European foreign ministers last week, will adapt the bill’s provisions so it is aimed at foreign firms that import Russian energy. Graham, a Trump loyalist, is portraying his sanctions as an adjunct to Trump’s tariffs policy and not an alternative.

Russia advances. Media ignores military reality

Ray McGovern : The Russians Always Claim What is Theirs

Trump To Speak With Putin and Zelensky on Monday

President Trump has announced that he would be holding a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, followed by a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. ...

Russia and Ukraine remain very far apart on their conditions for ending the war. Putin wants Ukraine to recognize four Ukrainian oblasts that Moscow annexed in 2022 as part of Russia, which would require Ukrainian forces to withdraw from territory it holds in those regions.

For his part, Zelensky continues to insist that Ukraine will not cede any territory, not even Crimea. “In all discussions – and I emphasize this – and this is my unwavering position – we do not legally recognise any of our temporarily occupied territories as Russian. This is the Ukrainian land,” he said ahead of Friday’s talks.

Centrist Nicuşor Dan on course to win Romanian election with 99% of votes counted

The centrist mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan, is set to win Romania’s pivotal presidential election with 99% of votes counted, according to official figures showing the pro-EU independent eight points clear of his far-right rival, George Simion. The figures from Romania’s central election authority showed Dan, who had cast the second round vote as a battle between “a pro-western and an anti-western Romania”, on 54.2%, while Simion, a self-professed Trump admirer, had 45.8%.

The capital’s two-term mayor, who made his name fighting corrupt property developers, said voters seeking “profound change, functioning state institutions, less corruption, a prosperous economy and a society of dialogue, not hate, have won”. ...

The voting in Romania took place on the same day as the first round of a Polish election in which a liberal frontrunner, Rafal Trzaskowski, edged ahead of Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by the opposition nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

In Portugal, meanwhile, the far-right Chega party took a record 22% of the vote and tied for second place in parliamentary elections that were won by the incumbent centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) party, although it remained far short of a majority.

All three elections are being closely watched across Europe amid concern that popular anger with mainstream elites over migration and cost-of- living-pressures could erode unity on the continent.

Trump RAGES At Walmart, Tells Them To ‘Eat The Tariffs’

US treasury secretary says Walmart will ‘eat some of the tariffs’ after Trump demand

The US retail giant Walmart will “eat some of the tariffs” in line with Donald Trump’s demands, the president’s treasury secretary Scott Bessent insisted on Sunday, claiming he received the assurance in a personal phone call with the company’s chief executive, Doug McMillon.

A spokesperson for Walmart said the company would not comment on conversations between its executives and administration officials. However, a source familiar with the conversation said the phone call between Bessent and McMillon was arranged many days prior to Trump’s post – and that the company’s position had not changed.

Walmart said this week it had no alternative to raising prices for consumers beginning later this month because it could not absorb the cost of the president’s tariffs on international trade, which have caused turmoil in international markets.

The statement provoked an angry response from Trump, who posted a rant to his Truth Social network on Saturday saying the company should “eat the tariffs and not charge valued customers anything”. According to Bessent, speaking on Sunday to NBC’s Meet the Press, Walmart is now promising exactly that.

WHO CARES?? Trump Admin SPINS US Credit Downgrade

Supreme Court Extends Block on Trump's Alien Enemies Act Deportations

For the second time in less than a month, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled against the Trump administration's dubious use of an 18th century law to deport immigrants including at least one person with protected status without due process.

In a 7-2 ruling—with far-right Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito dissenting—the high court found that President Donald Trump violated Venezuelan migrants' right to due process as a class by trying to fast-track their deportation to the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison in El Salvador by invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act during peacetime.

The ruling is not a repudiation of Alien Enemies Act deportations and focuses solely on migrants' due process rights.

"The detainees' interests at stake are accordingly particularly weighty," the court's opinion states. "Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster."

"But it is not optimal for this court, far removed from the circumstances on the ground, to determine in the first instance the precise process necessary to satisfy the Constitution in this case," the court continued and, referring to the federal appellate court that "erred in dismissing the detainees' appeal for lack of jurisdiction," said that "we remand the case to the 5th Circuit for that purpose."

Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project and lead counsel in the case, said Friday that "the court's decision to stay removals is a powerful rebuke to the government's attempt to hurry people away to a gulag-type prison in El Salvador."

"The use of a wartime authority during peacetime, without even affording due process, raises issues of profound importance," Gelernt added.

The Supreme Court opinion noted the case of Kilmar Abrego García, a Maryland man with protected status who was wrongfully deported to CECOT in March. Last month, the high court unanimously ruled that Trump must facilitate Abrego García's return to the United States. The Trump administration has resisted the order, despite the president proclaiming that "if the Supreme Court said, 'Bring somebody back,' I would do that."

Steve Vadeck, a professor at Georgetown Law Center, told CNN Friday that "because lower courts have blocked use of the [Alien Enemies Act] in every other district in which the president has sought to invoke it, that means it's effectively pausing all removals under the act until the 5th Circuit—and, presumably, the Supreme Court itself—conclusively resolves whether they're legal and how much process is due if so."

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines—who was appointed by Trump—issued the first court ruling supporting Alien Enemies Act deportations.

‘Chilling’ effect on protesters as Cop City prosecution drags into second year

Nearly two years into the largest Rico, or conspiracy, prosecution against a protest movement in US history, the case is mired in delays and defence claims that proceedings are politically motivated and ruining the lives of the 61 activists and protesters who face trial. Rico cases are usually brought against organized crime, and are associated with the mafia, but in Georgia a sprawling prosecution has been brought against dozens of people opposed to a police training center near Atlanta known as Cop City. ...

Last week, defense attorneys in the halls of Fulton county superior court were still unclear on or unhappy with the results of the most recent hearing in the case. “So when is it that the trial would begin?” one veteran defense attorney asked another – after the day’s proceedings were supposed to have answered at least that question. Another highlighted how the state had introduced more alleged evidence against the 61 defendants tied to a movement to stop Cop City the same morning – despite the court already having given prosecutors two deadlines for discovery material, the last one a year ago.

The state’s indictment alleges that actions ranging from throwing molotov cocktails to paying for camping supplies for protestors who occupied woods near the proposed site of the training center were “in furtherance of the conspiracy”. There were already more than five terabytes of evidence that one defense attorney described as “unorganized, not date-stamped, with some files corrupted” during the hearing. Chaos has accompanied the case since Georgia attorney general Chris Carr’s August 2023 indictment of 61 people used Rico to prosecute the case, several defense attorneys said.

As the case drags on, “it’s not just your case and your freedom, but what you do in your everyday life that is on hold,” said attorney Xavier T de Janon. De Janon mentioned his client, Jamie Marsicano, as an example: they have graduated law school and passed the North Carolina bar – but won’t be admitted until the charges are resolved. Also, the case’s high profile means “a precedence could be set, a potential chilling effect: when people are protesting against the government, they see other people prosecuted for Rico,” said defense attorney Brad Thomson, with the People’s Law Office. This is particularly important right now, Thomson added: “We’re seeing with the Trump administration that people are even being deported for protesting.”

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Revealed: European ‘green’ investments hold billions in fossil fuel majors

European “green” funds holding more than $33bn of investments in major oil and gas companies have been revealed by an investigation, despite fossil fuels being the root cause of the climate crisis. Some of these investment funds used branding such as Sustainable Global Stars and Europe Climate Pathway.

Over $18bn was invested in the five biggest polluters: TotalEnergies, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP. These topped a 2023 Carbon Majors ranking for oil and gas production among shareholder-owned firms. Other investments by funds following EU sustainable finance disclosure regulations (SFDR) included those in US fracking company Devon Energy and Canadian tar sands company Suncor, the investigation by Voxeurop and the Guardian found.

Investors claim that holding a stake in a company allows them to influence the firm’s pursuit of climate goals. However, no major oil and gas producer has plans consistent with international climate targets and many companies have weakened their plans in the last year, according to a report from Carbon Tracker in April.

The investment firms with the biggest stakes in fossil companies in their green funds were JP Morgan, BlackRock and DWS in Germany. The investment companies have not breached the SFDR rules, which do not explicitly rule out some fossil fuel holdings. Campaigners said change was needed to avoid people being misled.

“For a fund claiming to be ‘green’, holding investments in major fossil fuel companies should be a red line,” said Giorgia Ranzato, sustainable finance manager at Transport & Environment (T&E). “Since oil majors are not contributing meaningfully to the energy transition, any investment in such companies by a green fund is essentially greenwashing. To effectively combat this, T&E and other organisations advocate for a meaningful review of the SFDR.

Swiss firm that captures carbon from air to cut workforce by more than 10%

A Swiss startup that has led the way in sucking carbon out of the air has announced plans to cut its workforce by more than 10% amid economic uncertainty and “reduced momentum” for climate tech. The downsizing at Climeworks, the company that built the world’s first direct air capture facilities, comes one week after journalists in Iceland revealed its two flagship plants have captured far less carbon than their advertised capacity. A spokesperson said the timing of the redundancies was unrelated.

“We’ve always known this journey would be demanding,” said CEOs Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher in a joint statement about the job losses on Thursday. “Today, we find ourselves navigating a challenging time.” Climeworks attributed its decision to economic issues hitting the whole industry. The company, which is now in a consultation process required by Swiss law when more than 10% of a workforce is at risk, said it was also influenced by uncertainty about a third facility planned for the US, where President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked policies to cut pollution and pushed to scrap incentives for clean energy projects.

Direct air capture is one of the most expensive forms of cutting carbon concentrations but has increasingly gained traction among companies seeking more credible ways to compensate their emissions than traditional offsets – which analyses have repeatedly found to be riddled with junk projects. In recent months, Climeworks has signed deals to permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with Morgan Stanley, TikTok and British Airways.

But the technology is still struggling to grow out of the pilot phase. The Icelandic investigation found that both plants had drastically underperformed on their promises. The company’s flagship Mammoth plant in Iceland, which has a nameplate capacity of 36,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, captured 750 tons in the first 10 months since opening, according to Climeworks, with net removals after accounting for emissions in the supply chain coming to just 105 tons. The carbon savings amount to as much as eight average Americans will have emitted over the same period.

The smaller and longer-running Orca plant, which is designed for net removals of 3,000 tons per year, has failed to reach 1,000 tons of net removals in any year since it began operations in 2021.

MAGA BETRAYED by DOGE Tornado Warning Cuts

Trump’s new border wall will threaten wildlife in an area where few people pass

Donald Trump is forging ahead with a new section of border wall that will threaten wildlife in a remote area where many rare animals – but very few people – roam. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has invited private sector companies to bid for contracts to erect nearly 25 miles of barrier on the US-Mexico border, across the unwalled San Rafael Valley south of Tucson, Arizona, one of the most biodiverse regions in the US.

Here, vast rolling grasslands stretch across high desert, hemmed in to the east and west by rugged, isolated mountain ranges known as sky islands because they rise abruptly and spectacularly out of the arid flatness. “This is a crucial wildlife corridor,” said Eamon Harrity, wildlife program manager for the Sky Island Alliance, a conservation non-profit, while driving along a dirt road towards the cottonwood tree-lined Santa Cruz River that flows towards Mexico.

A nearby motion-triggered wildlife camera, one of 65 operated by the alliance just in this section of the border, where there is a lengthy gap in the barrier, captures thousands of images of wild animals, including bears, bobcats, pronghorns and mountain lions.

“Large predators and other animals move freely through this landscape,” said Harrity, as he replaced the batteries of a trail camera pointed toward the wide open-landscape that, on a map, would show the border with Mexico. Harrity assists in monitoring more than 110 cameras across a wider area for an alliance study that began in 2020 to record the effects of Trump’s barrier on cross-border movements for local wildlife. “That [movement] won’t happen once the wall is complete,” he added of that stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border. ...

Erick Meza, borderlands coordinator for the Sierra Club environmental advocacy group, said walling the valley would be “catastrophic for the environment and wildlife”.

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Also of Interest

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

‘Don’t yap to cops’: why Hasan Piker’s US customs story kicked off a backlash

El Salvador’s Dictatorship: Made in Israel

Patrick Lawrence: Diplomatic Chess, Ukraine the Pawn

GOP Fails to Pass Their Own 'Cruel' Budget Plan Out of Committee

ICE Duped a Federal Judge Into Allowing Raid on Columbia Student Dorms

Trump is selling out the US’s beloved wilderness

On 100th Birthday of Malcolm X, Family Presses Trump to Release Gov't Files on Assassination

Hillary’s Tweet Slamming Trump Over Qatar Jet Completely BACKFIRES!

Republicans REVOLT Against Bill Cutting Medicaid!

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A Little Night Music

Jelly Roll Morton - The Crave

Jelly Roll Morton - Tiger Rag

Jelly Roll Morton - Winin' Boy Blues

Jelly Roll Morton - Doctor Jazz

Jelly Roll Morton - Wolverine Blues

Jelly Roll Morton - King Porter Stomp

Jelly Roll Morton - Hesitation Blues

Jelly Roll Morton & The Red Hot Peppers - Dead Man Blues

Jelly Roll Morton - Someday Sweetheart Blues

Jelly Roll Morton & The Red Hot Peppers - The Chant

Jelly Roll Morton & The Red Hot Peppers - Black Bottom Stomp

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