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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Eddie Boyd

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Chicago blues piano player Eddie Boyd. Enjoy!

^{Eddie Boyd & Peter Green – Just The Blues}

“Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect: like a man, who hath thought of a good repartee when the discourse is changed, or the company parted; or like a physician, who hath found out an infallible medicine, after the patient is dead.”

-- Jonathan Swift

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News and Opinion

They Intend To Keep Lying About Gaza Until They’ve Emptied It Out

We’re back at the part of the news cycle where Israel tells the world it’s going to allow a bit more aid into Gaza in order to mollify its allies and reduce the public outcry as images of starving children draw objections from the west.

This is just Israel giving the Kier Starmers and Anthony Albaneses of the western world just enough of an excuse to go silent about the starvation of Gaza again. They will then continue starving Gaza. This psychopathic python-like suffocation tactic is how Israel has gotten Gaza to the point it’s at now.

And of course it’s worth noting that Israel’s announcement that it will allow more food into Gaza so people don’t starve completely debunks all its claims these last few days that people in Gaza are starving because of Hamas and the UN. They’re starving because Israel is starving them.

Israeli officials have told The New York Times that there has never been any evidence of Hamas stealing aid from UN trucks in any significant way, a claim Israel and its apologists have been falsely asserting for two years. They lie about everything. They never stop lying.

We’ve been asked to believe a lot of intensely stupid narratives throughout this genocide, but “it’s actually HAMAS who’s starving Gaza” has got to be the dumbest one yet. The fact that Israel and its supporters tried to blame the UN and Hamas for Israel’s extensively documented starvation campaign makes it clear that these freaks intend to keep lying about this thing until the last dying gasp of the last Palestinian.

Israel’s Netanyahu claims there is “no starvation” in Gaza

The series of lying statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there is “no starvation” in Gaza has produced a powerful backlash by masses of people around the world who are horrified by the evidence that more than 100 Palestinians—the majority children—have died from lack of food and nutrition. On Sunday, Netanyahu denied the starvation in Gaza while speaking at a Christian conference in Jerusalem. Speaking at an event hosted by Trump supporter and prominent evangelical pastor Paula White, Netanyahu declared:

There is no starvation in Gaza—and there is no policy of starvation in Gaza. We facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the conflict. If not, there would be no Gazans left. The sole entity obstructing the flow of humanitarian aid is Hamas. They are reversing the truth.

After 20 months of mass death caused by continuous Israeli bombings, drone missile strikes and ground assaults, Netanyahu also falsely stated that Israel “has provided humanitarian corridors and promoted airdrops of aid,” and called reports of starvation “a blatant falsehood.” He even went so far as to assert that images being circulated around the world of Palestinian children starved to death are fake. Netanyahu said, “a campaign … distributing false pictures, creating an image of starvation which doesn’t exist.” His comments came on the heels of reports and viral images documenting skeletal children, desperate families and hospitals overwhelmed by malnutrition, which Israeli officials have tried to dismiss as “fake, distributed by Hamas.”

These denials by the fascist Israeli prime minister are directly contradicted by Gaza health authorities and international agencies who track hunger deaths daily. ... Global organizations, including the World Health Organization, have described the growing mortality toll as “mass starvation,” with over 2 million still at risk as food supplies remain throttled by the Israeli blockade and bureaucratic hurdles. Testimonies from Gaza highlight desperate families unable to find food, with malnourished mothers unable to produce breastmilk and fatal shortages of baby formula.

Netanyahu’s assertions have unleashed a wave of international condemnation. The United Nations, numerous governments and more than 100 humanitarian aid organizations have decried the Israeli policy as “orchestrated famine” and “genocide,” emphasizing that the starvation in Gaza is not accidental but a product of deliberate deprivation and the systematic obstruction of overland aid. Protests have erupted in major cities across the US, Europe and the Middle East, where demonstrators have filled streets demanding an immediate end to the blockade and the free flow of aid into Gaza.

The severity of the public outrage over the starvation of Palestinian babies has also forced hypocritical statements from leading representatives of the imperialist countries who have backed the genocide in Gaza since it began. While visiting Scotland, President Donald Trump unconvincingly said, “Those children look very hungry. That’s real starvation, and you can’t fake that. The kids need to be fed.” Vice President JD Vance also feigned sympathy saying, “the United States aims to ensure that starving children receive nourishment.” ... All the stated humanitarian concerns by the imperialist powers and Israel are exposed by ongoing military operations and the real plans for mass displacement of Palestinians.

Max Blumenthal : Epstein and US Resistance to Netanyahu

Israeli public figures call for ‘crippling sanctions’ on Israel over Gaza starvation

A group of high-profile Israeli public figures, including academics, artists and public intellectuals, has called for “crippling sanctions” to be imposed by the international community on Israel, amid mounting horror over its starvation of Gaza. The 31 signatories of a letter to the Guardian include an Academy award recipient, Yuval Abraham; a former Israeli attorney general, Michael Ben-Yair; Avraham Burg, a former speaker of Israel’s parliament and former head of the Jewish Agency; and a number of recipients of the prestigious Israel prize, Israel’s highest cultural honour.

The figures come from the worlds of poetry, science, journalism and academia, and the letter accuses Israel of “starving the people of Gaza to death and contemplating the forced removal of millions of Palestinians from the strip”. It adds: “The international community must impose crippling sanctions on Israel until it ends this brutal campaign and implements a permanent ceasefire.”

The letter is significant both for its unvarnished criticism of Israel and for breaking the taboo of endorsing stringent international sanctions, in a country where politicians have promoted laws targeting those advocating such measures. Among other signatories are the painter Michal Na’aman; Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, an award-winning documentary filmmaker; Samuel Maoz, the director of the Golden Lion-winning film Lebanon; the poet Aharon Shabtai and the choreographer Inbal Pinto.

The mounting international horror over the trajectory of Israel’s war in Gaza is increasingly being reflected inside Israel itself – and within the wider global Jewish diaspora – amid images of emaciated Palestinian children and reports of the shooting by Israeli forces of hungry Palestinians at food distribution centres.

The letter was published as it was announced that more than 60,000 Palestinians had been killed in the 21-month Israel-Gaza war, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Alastair Crooke: Two Fronts, No Escape — Collapse Is Spreading Fast

Famine under way in Gaza, UN-backed experts say, as war death toll passes 60,000

Gaza has passed two grim landmarks on a single day, as UN-backed hunger experts warned a “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in the territory and called for “immediate action” shortly before health officials announced the death toll from Israeli attacks had passed 60,000. With more than 145,000 others injured, nearly one in 10 Palestinians who lived in Gaza two years ago has become a casualty of the war. The majority of those killed were civilians, including over 18,000 children.

“The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in an alert that called for an urgent ceasefire to alleviate “widespread starvation”. Survivors face a famine caused by Israel blocking food aid and “relentless conflict”, the report said. “Immediate action must be taken to end the hostilities and allow for unimpeded, large-scale, life-saving humanitarian response. This is the only path to stopping further deaths and catastrophic human suffering.”

Malnutrition has killed 79 people in Gaza over the last week, more than in the previous 21 months of conflict, according to health authorities there. That is likely a conservative estimate of the real toll, experts in food security and doctors in Gaza say.

The famine in Gaza is the most severe hunger crisis the world has faced for decades, the World Food Programme (WFP) emergency director Ross Smith said. “This is unlike anything we have seen in this century,” he told a news conference after the IPC alert was published. “It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the past century.”

MTG SLAMS Randy Fine Over HEINOUS Gaza Famine Comments

Palestinian Activist Odeh Hadalin Killed by Israeli Settler

Wave of condemnation after killing of Palestinian activist in West Bank

Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist and journalist who helped make the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, has been killed during an attack by Israeli settlers in the south Hebron hills, prompting a wave of condemnation of what was described as state impunity for Israeli settler violence.

A video captured on Monday appears to show an Israeli settler, Yinon Levi, who was put under sanctions by the US president Joe Biden then removed from the sanctions list by Donald Trump, firing his gun wildly at residents of the village of Umm al-Khair at the time of the killing. He was arrested by Israeli police for questioning, but was later released on house arrest while an investigation continued.

Alaa Hathaleen, Awdah’s brother-in-law, who was present at the time of the killing, speaking at a tent set up for mourners on Tuesday, said: “[Levi] immediately started firing randomly at everyone. We told him, ‘There are a lot of people here, there are kids – don’t shoot!’ But he shot anyway. Awdah wasn’t even involved.”

The killing comes amid an increasing wave of settler and Israeli military violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. At least 1,009 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank since October 2023.

Accountability for settlers who commit acts of violence against Palestinians is rare. Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.

They CHOKED Chris Smalls w/Max Blumenthal

US labor activist Chris Smalls assaulted by IDF during Gaza aid trip

On Saturday night, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intercepted and boarded the Handala, an aid ship that attempted to reach Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a grassroots international collective that has worked to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza since 2010. According to the coalition, IDF soldiers beat and choked the American labor activist Chris Smalls, who was onboard the ship. Smalls is most well-known for co-founding the Amazon Labor Union.

The Handala, which carried food, baby formula, diapers and medicine, was attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza, as Palestinians there continue to starve in what UN-backed hunger experts have called a “worst-case scenario of famine” that is unfolding.

“The Freedom Flotilla Coalition confirms that upon arrival in Israeli custody, US human rights defender Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals. They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition wrote in a statement posted on Instagram on Tuesday morning.

“When his lawyer met with him, Chris was surrounded by six members of Israel’s special police unit. This level of force was not used against other abducted activists. We condemn this violence against Chris and demand accountability for the assault and discriminatory treatment he faced.”

Smalls, the only Black person onboard the boat, was one of 21 members of the group who were detained. Others included 19 civilians, including parliamentarians, medics and engineers, and two journalists. Jacob Berger, a Jewish American actor who shared on Instagram that Smalls was in “great spirits” after his detention – everyone else who was detained, he said, should be released on Tuesday or Wednesday.

American youth are turning on Israel, left and right

UCLA agrees to $6.5m settlement with Jewish students over pro-Palestinian protests

The University of California, Los Angeles, will pay nearly $6.5m to settle a lawsuit by Jewish students and a professor who said the university allowed antisemitic discrimination to take place on campus during last year’s pro-Palestinian protests.

The lawsuit alleged that with the “knowledge and acquiescence” of university officials, protesters prevented Jewish students from accessing parts of campus, and made antisemitic threats. Under the settlement agreement announced on Tuesday, the university admitted it had “fallen short” and agreed to pay $2.33m to eight groups that support UCLA’s Jewish community, $320,000 to a campus initiative to fight antisemitism, and $50,000 to each plaintiff.

“We are pleased with the terms of today’s settlement. The injunction and other terms UCLA has agreed to demonstrate real progress in the fight against antisemitism,” the parties said in a joint statement provided by the University of California.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced the US Department of Justice’s civil rights division found UCLA violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “by acting with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students”.

“UCLA failed to take timely and appropriate action in response to credible claims of harm and hostility on its campus,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the justice department’s civil rights division.

Prof. Glenn Diesen : Will EU Recognize Palestine?

Ukraine Surovikin line fails. NATO threatens Kaliningrad

Trump Caught Leaking SHOCKING US War Plans on Russia & China w/ Brian Berletic, Carl Zha & KJ Noh

Analysis Shows Big Corporations Are Using Trump Trade Chaos as 'Cover' to Jack Up Prices

The effects of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs are winding their way through the American economy, and a new piece of analysis claims that corporate America is using them as "cover" to further jack up prices.

Progressive advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative issued a new report on Tuesday that uses corporate executives' own words to show how many firms are taking advantage of the tariff situation by using it as an all-purpose justification for price increases. The report found many of these executives' admissions through quarterly earnings calls in which they discussed plans to increase costs even if their inputs were not being significantly affected by the tariffs.

Among others, the report cited a statement made earlier this year by Aaron Jagdfeld, the CEO of power generation products manufacturer Generac Power Systems, who said on an earnings call that "even if we have metals that weren't impacted directly by tariffs, the indirect effect of tariffs is that it gives steel producers and the mills and other fabricators... great cover for increased pricing in some cases."

Another executive quoted in the report was Matthew Stevenson, the CEO of auto parts manufacturer Holley, who said that "in the marketplace we have seen price increases well in excess of what we put out into the market" and added that "we've seen increases as high as 30% or more on some categories from some competitors."

Thomas Robertson, the CFO of footwear company Rocky Brands, flat-out said during an earnings call that his company planned to raise prices even as Trump had backed off his most strident trade-war threats with China.

"We certainly welcome a reduction in the Chinese tariffs, but we'll be announcing a price increase here regardless of any changes of the Chinese tariffs over the next week or two to go into effect in June," he said.

While the report names and shames corporations for price increases, Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens did not absolve Trump of responsibility for the situation.

"President Trump's turbulent trade policy has created a perfect storm of market chaos, giving corporations a golden opportunity to jack up prices, pad profit margins, and fleece Americans simply because they can," said Owens. "While Trump's tariffs continue to cause economic upheaval, corporations are exploiting the chaos and working families are left to foot the bill."

The Groundwork Collaborative report was released on the same day that consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble announced that it would be raising prices on roughly one-quarter of its products due to Trump's tariffs. As reported by CNBC, the company said during its quarterly earnings call that it expects "mid-single-digit price increases" on a wide range of products over the next quarter to help offset what it projects to be a $1 billion hit from the tariffs levied against major trading partners such as Canada and China.

A report by the Tax Foundation on Monday estimated that the Trump tariffs would affect 75% of all food imported from other countries, which would add even more burden to American consumers. What's particularly troubling about the food tariffs, the Tax Foundation explained, is that they will fall on products such as bananas and coffee that are simply not capable of being grown on a mass scale in the United States.

"In 2024, the U.S. imported about $221 billion in food products, 74% of which ($163 billion) faced the Trump tariffs," wrote the Tax Foundation. "While these imports currently face tariff rates ranging from 10% to 30%, they will exceed 30% for some countries if the reciprocal tariffs go into effect on August 1. The top five exporters of food products to the U.S., in order, are Mexico, Canada, the E.U., Brazil, and China, accounting for 62% of total U.S. food imports."

60 Years After LBJ Signed Medicare & Medicaid, GOP Cuts Threaten Lifeline for Millions

US states sue over Trump demand to collect details of food assistance recipients

A coalition of 20 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging the Trump administration’s demand that their states turn over personal data of people enrolled in a federally funded food assistance program, fearing the information will be used to aid mass deportations.

The data demand comes as the Trump administration has sought to collect private information on mostly lower-income people who may be in the country illegally. It has already ordered the Internal Revenue Service and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to share private information with the Department of Homeland Security to aid in deportation efforts.

The US Department of Agriculture told states last week that they had until Wednesday to hand over the data for those enrolled in its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or Snap, which serves more than 42 million people nationwide. The USDA said the data would help it combat waste, fraud and abuse.

The states’ lawsuit seeks an injunction to block the data transfer. In the meantime, state attorneys general in the Snap lawsuit said they will not disclose what they consider to be private information of recipients – including their immigration status, birthdates and home addresses – because they believe it would be a violation of privacy laws.

“It’s a bait-and-switch of the worst kind,” said Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, in a Monday afternoon news conference announcing the lawsuit. “Snap recipients provided this information to get help feeding their families, not to be entered into a government surveillance database or be used as targets in the president’s inhumane immigration agenda.”

'He STOLE Her': Trump ADMITS Epstein Trafficked From Mar-a-Lago

Trump says Epstein ‘stole’ Virginia Giuffre from Mar-a-Lago staff role

Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender he socialized with for more than a decade, “stole” Virginia Giuffre and other young female staffers whom he hired away from the president’s Mar-a-Lago country club. ...

Senior White House aides have repeatedly suggested in recent weeks that Trump broke with Epstein in about 2004 and expelled him from the Mar-a-Lago club for inappropriate behavior o f a sexual nature. In a statement last week, spokesperson Steven Cheung said Trump “kicked him out of his club for being a creep”. The president’s account of the break being motivated by pique at having his employees poached by his friend cast the break in a different light.

On Tuesday, a reporter asked Trump: “The workers that were taken from you – were some of them young women?” Trump replied: “The answer is yes, they were. People that worked in the spa.”

Another reporter then asked Trump if one of the people he was referring to was Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers who said in a lawsuit that she was hired away from the Mar-a-Lago spa by Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000, when she was 16. ... “I think she worked at the spa,” Trump replied. “I think so. I think that was one of the people, yeah. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know. None whatsoever.”

The president and his administration are working desperately to change the subject away from Epstein – an issue that has lately roiled his base. But his latest claim that one of those employees was the 16-year-old Giuffre also complicates the timeline. Giuffre was hired away from Mar-a-Lago in 2000, but two years later, Trump spoke highly of Epstein to a reporter. “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump told New York magazine in late 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Sarah Blaskey, a Miami Herald investigative reporter, also pointed out in her 2020 book on Mar-a-Lago that Epstein remained on the membership rolls of Mar-a-Lago until October 2007, more than a year after he was first arrested and charged with soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Ghislaine Maxwell demands immunity before testifying to Congress

Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, says that she is willing to testify before Congress but only if certain conditions are met, including being granted immunity, according to a new letter sent to the House oversight committee by her lawyer on Tuesday.

Last week, the House committee on oversight and government subpoenaed Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence, to testify via deposition next month at a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is currently in custody.

But in a new letter on Tuesday addressed to James Comer, a Republican who chairs the House committee, Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, said that Maxwell was willing to testify but that testifying “from prison and without a grant of immunity” were “non-starters”. Markus wrote that their initial reaction to the subpoena was that “Maxwell would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights and decline to testify at this time.”

“As you know, Ms Maxwell is actively pursuing post-conviction relief – both in a pending petition before the United States Supreme Court and in a forthcoming habeas petition,” Markus wrote. “Any testimony she provides now could compromise her constitutional rights, prejudice her legal claims, and potentially taint a future jury pool.”

But, in the following paragraph, he states: “However, after further reflection, we would like to find a way to cooperate with Congress if a fair and safe path forward can be established,” adding: “Several conditions would need to be addressed for that to be possible.” The conditions in the letter include a grant of “formal immunity”, that the interview not take place at the correctional facility, that the committee’s questions be given to her in advance, and that the deposition not be scheduled until after the “resolution of her Supreme Court petition and her forthcoming habeas petition”.

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Mamdani Holds 'Commanding' Lead in NYC Mayor Race—and Cuomo Has 'Extremely Tough' Climb

A new poll of the New York City mayoral race found that Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is very well positioned to win later this year and that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is only competitive in the race if every other Mamdani opponent drops out.

The survey, which was conducted by polling firm Zenith Research, showed Mamdani holding what Zenith founding partner Adam Carlson described on X as a "commanding" lead of 28 points among likely voters in a five-way race featuring Cuomo, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and independent candidate Jim Walden. Even in other scenarios where other candidates drop out of the race, Mamdani would still garner more than 50% of likely votes in each instance.

However, Mamdani's lead becomes much smaller when the poll is expanded to all registered voters, among whom he only holds a three-point advantage over Cuomo in a head-to-head matchup. This suggests that Cuomo has room to grow as long as he can convince Adams, Sliwa, and Walden to exit the race.

Even so, commented Carlson, Cuomo faces significant headwinds that could block his path to victory even if he succeeds somehow in making it a one-on-one race.

"Another thing that’s extremely tough for Cuomo is that 60% of likely voters (as well as 52% of registered voters) would not even consider voting for him," he explained. "Only 32% say they wouldn't consider voting for Mamdani. Cuomo will need to go scorched earth to bring that number up."

New Yorkers who oppose Mamdani will have to place their hopes in the disgraced former governor, given the dismal standing held by incumbent Adams.

"Eric Adams is a complete non-factor in this race," remarked Carlson. "He polls at 7% in the five-way race, 14% if Cuomo drops out, and 32% if Cuomo and Sliwa drop out. More than half of [likely voters] strongly disapprove of his performance and have a very unfavorable view of him. 68% won't consider voting for him."

The poll also found Mamdani with an overall lead among Jewish voters despite efforts by opponents to paint him as antisemitic given his opposition to Israel's war in Gaza and his past reluctance to criticize the slogan "globalize the intifada," which he told The Bulwark he viewed as "a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights." New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a progressive Jewish ally of Mamdani's who has endorsed his mayoral bid, acknowledged before the election that some Jewish people view the phrase as a threat of violence.

Among likely Jewish voters, Mamdani leads Cuomo by 17 points in a five-way race. Although Cuomo holds a double-digit lead over Mamdani among likely Jewish voters over the age of 45, Mamdani dominates among young Jewish voters by pulling in more than two-thirds of likely Jewish voters between the ages of 18 and 44.

Zohran DOMINATES With Jewish Voters Destroying Antisemite Smears

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Trump moves to scrap climate rule tying greenhouse gases to public health harm

Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday proposed revoking a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for US action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. The proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule rescinds a 2009 declaration that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.

The “endangerment finding” is the legal underpinning of a host of climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet. The EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, announced the proposed rule change on a podcast ahead of an official announcement set for Tuesday in Indiana.

Repealing the endangerment finding “will be the largest deregulatory action in the history of America”, Zeldin said on the Ruthless podcast. Zeldin called for a rewrite of the endangerment finding in March as part of a series of environmental rollbacks announced at the same time in what Zeldin said was “the greatest day of deregulation in American history”. A total of 31 key environmental rules on topics from clean air to clean water and climate change would be rolled back or repealed under Zeldin’s plan.

He singled out the endangerment finding as “the holy grail of the climate change religion” and said he was thrilled to end it “as the EPA does its part to usher in the Golden Age of American success”. The EPA also called for rescinding limits on tailpipe emissions that were designed to encourage automakers to build and sell more electric vehicles. The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US.

Three former EPA leaders have criticized Zeldin, saying his March proposal would endanger the lives of millions of Americans and abandon the agency’s dual mission to protect the environment and human health. “If there’s an endangerment finding to be found anywhere, it should be found on this administration because what they’re doing is so contrary to what the Environmental Protection Agency is about,” Christine Todd Whitman, who led EPA under the Republican president George W Bush, said after Zeldin’s plan was made public.

‘Shooting ourselves in the foot’: how Trump is fumbling geothermal energy

Geothermal is one of the most promising clean energy sources in the US, providing 24/7 renewable power that could meet rising energy demand from AI datacentres. But former Department of Energy officials are alarmed that Donald Trump is fumbling its potential. Compared with other clean energy sources such as solar and wind, geothermal enjoys rare bipartisan support. The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, has praised the technology, calling it “an awesome resource that’s under our feet”. And Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act preserved tax credits for geothermal.

But the administration’s slashing of Department of Energy staff, delays in issuing low-interest loans, and tariffs are together creating uncertainty for the industry and investors. The US has an advantage on geothermal over China and must move urgently, said David Turk, who served as the deputy secretary of energy under former president Joe Biden. “Anything that stops our ability to execute on a plan – staffing, other funding – I think, is shooting ourselves in the foot,” Turk said.

Geothermal energy uses the heat from the Earth’s crust to transform water into steam that turns turbines and generates electricity. It has been used for more than a century, but has been limited to places where hot water reached the Earth’s surface, including hot springs. ...

The enhanced geothermal industry is nascent, generating only 1% of the US’s electricity. And it’s still too expensive to compete with coal and natural gas. But under the right conditions, it could evolve into a cheap source of power. A January article in the journal Nature Reviews found that it could be cost competitive with the national average cost of electricity generation by 2030.

Only 0.5% of 90,000 oil slicks reported over five-year period, analysis finds

Just 474 out of more than 90,000 oil slicks from ships around the world were reported to authorities over a five-year period, it can be revealed, and barely any resulted in any punishment or sanctions.

The figure, obtained from Lloyd’s List by the Guardian and Watershed Investigations, shows the pollution incidents reported between 2014 and 2019, compared against a scientific study using satellite imagery that counted the number of slicks from ships over the same period.

Furthermore, all oil slicks from ships visible by satellites are illegal because they exceed pollution limits by at least three orders of magnitude, new research by Florida State University has found. Many of the slicks are the result of ships deliberately discharging bilge water containing oil in order to keep the vessels stable. “The level of under-reporting of pollution is a huge unknown,” Dr Elizabeth Atwood from Plymouth Marine Laboratory said. “The argument that has historically been made is that there is an equal amount coming from natural seeps. But recent research keeps underlining that this is not true for much of the globe,” said Atwood.

Hugo Tagholm, the executive director of Oceana UK, said: “It is appalling to hear of the extreme levels of toxic pollution caused by these oil spills from shipping, as well as the frankly mind-bending under-reporting of the situation.”

Extensive analysis by scientists of hundreds of thousands of satellite images of slicks in the world’s seas between 2014 and 2019, found that 20% – or 90,411 – originated from ships and added up to about the size of Italy, with 21 high-density slick belts coinciding with shipping routes. In comparison, 2% were from oil platforms and pipelines, and just over 6% from natural oil seeps on the ocean floor. The rest were either from land sources or unidentified ships. “Our data show that these spills represent persistent and widespread violations,” said Ian MacDonald, a retired professor of oceanography from Florida State University and coauthor of the paper.

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Also of Interest

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

Real Time Iraq War Death Estimates Were Wildly Off

Chris Hedges: The Gaza Riviera

The Genocidal Partnership of Israel and the United States

Where's the Outrage Over Labor Leader Chris Smalls' Violent Arrest by the IDF?

Colombia Looks to Tighten Its Sanctions Against Israel As Europe “Loses Its Soul in Gaza”

Job Application à la Ukraine

"Beyond Atrocious": Desperation & Hunger in Gaza as Israel Continues Blocking Most Aid

Israeli Gaslighting

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A Little Night Music

Eddie Boyd - Drifting

Eddie Boyd and the Chess Men - Picture In The Frame

Eddie Boyd - Real Good Feeling

Eddie Boyd - Five Long Years

Eddie Boyd - Save Her Doctor

Eddie Boyd - Third Degree

Eddie Boyd - I'm Comin' Home

Eddie Boyd - Blue Monday Blues

Eddie Boyd & Cuby+Blizzards ~ Little Red Rooster

Eddie Boyd & Peter Green – You Got To Reap

Eddie Boyd - Blue Coat Man

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