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“It doesn't matter if justice is on your side. You have to depict your position as just.”

-- Benjamin Netanyahu

News and Opinion

Israel Is Beginning To Choke On Its Own Lies

Netanyahu has confirmed reports that Israel plans an extreme escalation in Gaza which will entail the total military occupation of the entire enclave and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, which the Israeli spin machine has termed “voluntary migration”.

To be clear, anyone who says the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza would be “voluntary” is lying. Starving a population and deliberately making their land uninhabitable is exactly the same as forcing them out at gunpoint. Saying “leave or you’ll starve” is not meaningfully different from saying “leave or I’ll shoot you in the head”. Israel’s planned mass expulsion will be as forced and involuntary as any in recorded history.

President Trump has fully signed off on this move, washing his hands of the mass atrocity he is cosigning by telling the press that it’s going to be “pretty much up to Israel.”

Trump is lying. It’s up to him. That’s why more than 600 former senior Israeli security officials from Mossad and Shin Bet just sent Trump a letter urging him to compel Netanyahu to make peace in Gaza. They understand that the US president has always had the power to end the Gaza holocaust; numerous Israeli insiders have said that this mass atrocity would not be possible without US assistance.

Trump could end all this at any time, and chooses not to. This makes him one of the most evil people in the world.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu now says the shocking images of Gaza’s completely flattened landscape aren’t the result of months of Israeli airstrikes, artillery, and systematic bulldozer operations—but because “Hamas booby traps every single building.”

In his words: “The reason… pic.twitter.com/8VVMKIoEew

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) August 7, 2025

This whole genocide is powered by lies. Netanyahu just told Fox News that the horrifying aerial footage of the destruction in Gaza that we’ve been seeing is because every single building in Gaza was booby trapped with explosives by Hamas.

“The reason you see the flattened buildings is because Hamas booby traps every single building,” Netanyahu said. “So when we come in, we first have the population moved even though Hamas tries to keep them in the combat zones. But after they move, and we start to move into the neighborhoods that are now populated only by terrorists, they ignite these booby traps. So what we do is we put in an APC, an armored personnel carrier, with a lot of explosives. Detonate it. It sets off all the booby traps and the buildings begin to collapse as a result of that. They’re empty buildings, they’re not populated buildings.”

Absolutely nobody believes this is true. Not one single person alive on this earth sincerely believes that Gaza now looks like a gravel parking lot because Hamas placed explosives inside every single building. Netanyahu doesn’t believe it. Israel’s most venomous supporters don’t believe it. It’s just part of the nonstop fountain of lies they are spewing to avoid acknowledging what we all know we’re looking at. They’ve told so many lies by now that they’ve got to keep lying and lying just to stay afloat, like a man desperately treading water to avoid drowning.

This genocide is one nonstop insult to our intelligence. It’s actually degrading at this point. The lies Israel and its supporters have to pretend to believe are getting so ridiculous that supporting Israel is now an act of public humiliation and self-debasement.

Former PM Warns Israel Becoming ‘Leper State,’ Losing GOP Support@LibertarianInst

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned that Tel Aviv is losing American support. He said that Israel was increasingly viewed as a “leper state” and “losing the Republican party.”… pic.twitter.com/xIlprRNzSV

— Kyle Anzalone (@KyleAnzalone_) August 6, 2025

Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett has a long rant on his social media accounts complaining that Israel’s “status in the United States is collapsing”, including among Republicans, with public sentiment turning against them because of what is happening in Gaza.

As you might expect, Bennett does not frame this as a sign that Israel should stop committing genocide in Gaza, but rather complains of a crisis of “antisemitism” in the United States, and accuses Netanyahu of failing to adequately propagandize Americans.

“Jews in the United States are subject to a torrential wave of anti-Semitism, like him I don’t remember in my life,” Bennett moans, adding, “Antisemites increase to compare the ‘hunger’ in Gaza to the Holocaust, and thus reduce the memory of the Holocaust. They act that the hunger accusation will haunt israel its citizens, our soldiers, for generations.”

“If Netanyahu’s propaganda men worked against the enemies of Israel *outside* a tenth of the talent, speed and dedication with which they operate the propaganda machine against their political rivals *inside* israel our situation would be amazing,” Bennet writes, saying he wants to “re-establish a rapid and synchronized explanation headquarters”.

“Explanation” is the literal translation of the Hebrew word “hasbara”, i.e. pro-Israel propaganda.

Israel is dropping the term “hasbara” to describe its propaganda efforts and replacing it with “toda’a” (consciousness)

Also plans to spend tens of millions on “influencers and policymakers” pic.twitter.com/fnCPPNrKXv

— Brian Tashman (@briantashman) August 1, 2025

Meanwhile the term “hasbara” itself is reportedly being abandoned by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, as westerners have come to associate the term with genocide propaganda.

The Times of Israel reports
:

“Long referred to as hasbara, a term used to denote both public relations and propaganda that has been freighted with negative baggage in recent years, the ministry now brands its approach as toda’a — which translates to ‘awareness’ or ‘consciousness’ — an apparent shift toward broader, more proactive messaging.”

So they’re not abandoning the genocide, and they’re not abandoning the genocide propaganda, they’re just abandoning the word for the genocide propaganda because people have come to associate that word with propaganda in support of genocide.

The entire Zionist project is built on a foundation of lies. And their lies are starting to catch up with them. They’re now at a point where the lies are beginning to damage the public image they’re intended to protect.

When a liar is recognized as a liar, his lies will forevermore work only as an antidote to his past lies, and as a light to further expose his intent. From that point on any lie he tells just shows people how ugly his character and intentions really are.

There is no other weapon that works that way. No other weapon which when it’s seen immediately stops working, actively disarms the attacker, starts fixing what he broke, and starts attacking him.

Truth will win in the end.

Gaza Takeover: Israel Launches New Stage of "Indefinite, Genocidal Military Campaign"

Netanyahu aims to fully control Gaza despite warnings of mass death

Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza in defiance of warnings that such a move would lead to countless more Palestinian deaths, further mass displacement and endanger Israeli hostages still held in the territory. Before a security cabinet meeting to discuss Gaza’s future, the Israeli prime minister insisted that Israel does not want to ultimately govern the territory and would hand over that responsibility to friendly Arab nations.

Asked in an interview with Fox News if Israel would “take control of all of Gaza”, Netanyahu replied: “We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza.” The security cabinet would need to approve such a decision. “We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter,” Netanyahu said. “We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.”

In Gaza, where Israel’s air and ground war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and caused a famine, Palestinians are braced for further misery. “There is nothing left to occupy,” said Maysaa al-Heila, who is living in a displacement camp. “There is no Gaza left.” Aya Mohammad, a 30-year-old Palestinian who, after repeated displacement, had returned with her family to Gaza City, said: “Where should we go? We have been displaced and humiliated enough. “You know what displacement is? Does the world know? It means your dignity is wiped out, you become a homeless beggar, searching for food, water and medicine.”

At a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet on Thursday evening, Netanyahu was hoping to obtain approval for fully controlling the strip, Israeli media reported. Two government sources told Reuters any resolution by the security cabinet would need to be approved by the full cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday. The plan would mean sending ground troops into the few areas of the strip that have not been totally destroyed, roughly 25% of the territory where many of its 2 million people have sought refuge.

Israel is reportedly preparing a two-phase operation aimed at seizing control of Gaza City, with plans to evacuate about 1 million residents – half of Gaza’s population – in what officials describe as a temporary measure to establish civilian infrastructure in central Gaza. According to Israel’s Channel 12, the proposal is being framed as a limited operation rather than a full invasion, apparently to placate military chiefs wary of long-term occupation. The chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, has reportedly warned that occupying Gaza would plunge Israel into a “black hole” of prolonged insurgency, humanitarian responsibility and heightened risk to hostages. However, the operation’s goal – potentially involving up to five IDF divisions and lasting four to five months – suggests a far more extensive campaign.

‘Palestinian Pelé’ killed in Israeli attack in southern Gaza

A footballer known as the “Palestinian Pelé” has been killed in an Israeli attack in southern Gaza, according to the Palestine Football Association (PFA).

Suleiman al-Obeid was killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces attacked civilians waiting for humanitarian aid, the PFA said.

‘‘During his long career, al-Obeid, 41, scored more than 100 goals, making him one of the brightest stars of Palestinian football,” it said.

Born in Gaza on 24 March 1984, Obeid began his footballing career with Khadamat al-Shati, later playing for Markaz Shabab al-Am’ari in the occupied West Bank, and Gaza Sport. A fixture in the Palestinian national side after his debut in 2007, Obeid gained 24 caps and scored twice, the PFA said, most memorably with a scissor-kick against Yemen during the 2010 West Asian Football Federation championship.

His talent on the pitch earned him the nickname of “the Palestinian Pelé” – a nod to the legendary Brazilian widely hailed as one of the greatest players of all time. His death adds to a growing toll of athletes lost in Gaza since the war began, with at least 662 sportspeople and their relatives reported to have been killed.

UK’s surveillance flights over Gaza raise questions on help for Israeli military

Britain continues to run near daily surveillance flights over Gaza with the help of a US contractor at a time of growing questions about how the intelligence obtained is used and shared with the Israeli military. Specialist flight trackers estimate that RAF Shadow aircraft have run more than 600 flights over the Palestinian territory from the Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus in an attempt to locate the remaining hostages held by Hamas since December 2023.

Spy flights were started under the Conservatives but have continued under Labour with few details shared publicly, at a rate of about two a day at first but dropping to one a day more recently, specialist trackers said. Surveillance was transferred to a US contractor, Sierra Nevada Corporation, in late July to reduce costs and RAF sources indicated that it continues most days in an equivalent aircraft. But within days there was a mistake when the new spy plane was revealed to be circling over Khan Younis on 28 July.

Until that time the spy planes’ transponders were turned off halfway into their flight from Akrotiri heading towards Gaza over the eastern Mediterranean. But the mistake meant that “the RAF (now contracted) flights could be confirmed over Gaza, not just adjacent to Gaza,” said the flight tracker and analyst Steffan Watkins. ...

Jeremy Corbyn, the co-leader of an unnamed new left political party, said “the UK’s continued military cooperation with Israel is utterly indefensible” as “a genocide is livestreamed around the world”. The former Labour leader said: “We still don’t know why these flights are continuing and what intelligence is being provided.”

Israeli Forces Kill 98 Palestinians in Gaza Over 24 Hours

Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Thursday that Israeli forces killed 98 Palestinians and wounded 603 over the previous 24 hours as the IDF continues to kill desperate people seeking aid and launch airstrikes across the Strip.

The Health Ministry said that the bodies of two other Palestinians killed in previous Israeli attacks were also recovered. “A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the streets, where ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them at this time,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.

The majority of the dead, 51, were massacred by the IDF while attempting to get aid, and another 230 aid seekers were injured. The Health Ministry said that since the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating at the end of May, it has recorded the death of 1,706 Palestinians and the injury of 12,030.

Dockworkers in Italy Block Arms Shipment to Israel

Italian port workers secured a significant win last week in their ongoing resistance to militarization and arms transfers, as shipping operators decided they would not unload military cargo destined for Israel from the vessel COSCO Shipping Pisces — returning the containers to their point of origin instead.

“We were informed today that the three containers carrying military equipment, destined for La Spezia and transported aboard the COSCO Pisces, will not be unloaded in either Genoa or La Spezia,” the union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) said on July 29. “This decision marks a tangible result of union action and the pressure exerted by USB.”

This outcome adds to a growing list of union-led actions across Europe in solidarity with Palestine and against the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where at least 60,000 people have been killed by the Israeli occupation. “From Greece to Liguria, as previously demonstrated with the support of French dockworkers, the network of dockworkers across Europe and the Mediterranean has shown that stopping war logistics is possible, legitimate, and necessary,” Unione Sindacale di Base wrote.

Following the announcement, a planned Aug. 5 strike was called off. However, Genoa dockworkers have pledged to continue mobilizing against the arms trade. They have also announced plans for an international assembly on Sept. 26–27, which aims to lay the groundwork for a sector-wide strike. “We are not alone: our struggle unites Marseille, Piraeus, Hamburg, Tangier,” trade unionists declared earlier in July. “If the war comes through the ports, the response must come from the ports.”

Larry C. Johnson & Col. Larry Wilkerson: Hezbollah REJECTS – Iran and Russia Push Back

US demands for Hezbollah disarmament may force Lebanon into dangerous choice

Under mounting US pressure, Lebanon’s government is being forced into a dangerous choice. Does it want to fight a war with Israel or does it want to fight a war at home, with Hezbollah? In recent weeks, the US has been pushing for the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. The government had already been moving in that direction, but not at the pace the US wanted. Lebanese media began to fill with warnings from unnamed sources that if Hezbollah’s arms were not confiscated soon, a second war with Israel could be on the horizon.

On Tuesday, the Lebanese government acquiesced and announced the Lebanese army would draw up a plan to place arms exclusively within the hands of the state by year’s end. Hezbollah and its political ally Amal announced the next day that they would “treat the decision as if it did not exist” and accused the government of serving US diktats. US pressure for faster disarmament has laid the seeds for a scenario the Lebanese government has taken pains to avoid: a confrontation with Hezbollah. If cornered, the group could resort to force to defend its arsenal.

Lebanon’s current government was born after the latest Hezbollah-Israel war, with the US as its midwife. A battered Hezbollah could no longer maintain its side of a stalemate that had left Lebanon without a president for two years, and Joseph Aoun, the former army chief, was elected amid heavy US pressure. ... Officials were aware that the same conditions which gave rise to Hezbollah in the 1980s are still present today. Similar to 45 years ago, Israel occupies parts of southern Lebanon and the country’s Shia population, which bore the brunt of Lebanon’s war, are impoverished and do not feel represented by the state.

The US views the gradual pace that the state has set as stalling, however.

Near-daily Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, in violation of the November ceasefire, have also undermined the Lebanese government’s claims that only the state can protect sovereignty. ... The Lebanese army has not responded to any of the thousands of Israeli airstrikes on the country since November – nor does anyone expect it to. The under-equipped, under-staffed army can do little in the face of an Israeli military equipped with US fighter jets, which drop the latest US munitions by the thousand.

Donbass cauldrons force US to deal with Russia

Trump says he will meet Putin despite Kremlin’s refusal to talk to Kyiv

Donald Trump has said he was ready to meet Vladimir Putin despite the Russian leader’s refusal to meet Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy – dispelling speculation that direct talks between the two warring presidents were a precondition to a high-level US-Russia summit. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said that Putin did not have to meet with Zelenskyy first before the US and Russian presidents could meet.

“No, he doesn’t,” Trump said. “They would like to meet with me and I’ll do whatever I can to stop the killing.”

That contradicted a New York Post report citing a White House official who said that Trump would only meet Putin if the Kremlin leader met Zelenskyy, something Putin has previously rejected.

The mixed messaging – with White House and Kremlin officials sometimes contradicting each other about the leaders’ demands and the status of the planning – suggested a chaotic new chapter in Trump’s haphazard efforts to negotiate a ceasefire to the war in Ukraine. Putin said he was not ready to meet Zelenskyy, even as the Kremlin claimed preparations were under way for a set-piece bilateral summit with Donald Trump next week. “I have nothing against it in general, it is possible, but certain conditions must be created for this,” said Putin of the meeting with Zelenskyy. “But unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions.”

INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern

Trump calls for resignation of Intel chief a day after 100% chip tariff threat

Donald Trump has called on Intel’s chief executive to resign, alleging Lip-Bu Tan had ties to the Chinese Communist party, sending the stock of the US chipmaker falling. “The CEO of Intel is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately,” Trump posted on Truth Social about Tan. “There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!”

Shares in Intel dropped more than 3% in early trading. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s post.

Trump’s comments came a day after he threatened a 100% tariff on imported semiconductors and chips, which could favor Intel as a US-based semiconductor firm. Trump did exclude Taiwan Semiconductor and Apple, companies that have said they plan to increase their investments in US manufacturing. Apple chief Tim Cook announced from the White House that the company would invest $100bn in US chip fabrication.

Trump’s criticism of Intel, which has lagged chipmakers such as Nvidia in producing graphics-processing chips suitable for AI applications, comes after Arkansas senator Tom Cotton wrote a letter to company chairman Frank Yeary expressing concern over Tan’s investments and ties to semiconductor firms that are reportedly linked to the CCP and the People’s Liberation Army, the party’s military arm.

Modi ready to ‘pay a heavy price’ as India seeks to resist Trump tariffs

The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has said he is ready to “pay a very heavy price” for resisting US attempts to dictate the country’s trade policies, as India took a defiant position in the wake of Trump’s punitive export tariffs. In an executive order signed on Wednesday, Trump slapped India with an additional 25% tariff, in a move he described as punishment for continuing to purchase large quantities of Russian oil and “fuelling Russia’s war machine”. It came on top of a 25% tariff for Indian exports already announced by the US president.

India’s foreign ministry hit back almost instantly, calling the additional tariff “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable” and accusing the US of double standards, as other countries also importing Russian oil have not faced the same punitive action. In a speech on Wednesday night which did not directly mention Trump or the new tariffs, Modi appeared defiant as he addressed one of the biggest sticking points in India’s ongoing trade negotiations with the US over tariffs.

According to Indian officials, the US has been pushing India to allow for the import of American genetically modified (GM) crops into the country and for duty-free imports on US farm and dairy products. However, protecting India’s hundreds of millions of farmers – who are a powerful political lobby – is seen as a highly sensitive area for the Modi government. Indian officials said these areas were “non-negotiable on principle” and were firm that “we can’t import GM”.

That stance was reflected in Modi’s speech on Wednesday night. “India will never compromise on the interests of its farmers, livestock rearers and fisherfolk,” he said. “And I know that I will personally have to pay a very heavy price for this, but I am ready.”

'We're Fast Stumbling Into Stagflation,' Expert Warns as Unemployment Rolls Hit 4-Year High Under Trump

The flow of abysmal U.S. economic data continued Thursday with the release of figures showing that the number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits has reached its highest level in nearly four years, heightening concerns that the Trump administration is pushing the country toward a period of "stagflation."

"Today's unemployment report, coupled with last week's jobs data, suggests that we're fast stumbling into stagflation, with fledgling jobs growth and rising prices," Andrew Stettner, unemployment insurance expert at The Century Foundation, said in a statement following the new Labor Department numbers.

The department said that 1.97 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits during the week ending July 26, an increase of 38,000 compared to the previous week.

"In contrast with the president's assertion of bustling job creation," said Stettner, "Americans can't get off of unemployment benefits in an economy that has stopped adding jobs outside of healthcare."

The government figures were released a day after private data showed that employment in the U.S. services sector fell last month as prices rose. Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturing activity contracted in July at the fastest pace in nine months, even as President Donald Trump claimed his erratic tariff regime would revive the sector.

"Private data confirms the government numbers, and firing the head of BLS can't change that," said Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), referring to Trump's decision to terminate Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in the wake of last week's terrible U.S. jobs report—calling into question the reliability of future federal data.

"Republicans are killing jobs and feeding inflation," Moore added. "Trump is making stagflation great again."

The recent data—combined with surveys showing American consumers are increasingly struggling with the rising prices of groceries and other necessities—appears to vindicate warnings from economists and other analysts that the U.S. economy is in growing trouble under Trump's erratic stewardship.

"The risk of stagflation has risen meaningfully," Olu Sonola, an economist at Fitch Ratings, wrote in a client note. "Inflation is drifting further from target, private sector economic growth has slowed materially, and the labor market has just sounded a warning bell."

Rachel West and Laura Valle Gutierrez of The Century Foundation wrote earlier this week that "Trump's economy of uncertainty is leading to widespread anxiety, with more than 3 in 4 Americans saying they are concerned about a possible recession."

"And Trump's budget law, which slashes healthcare and food assistance for everyday Americans to pay for more than $4 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, compounds Americans' uncertainty and fear about what the future brings," they added.

Democrats condemn Texas senator over alleged FBI role in locating lawmakers

Democrats harshly criticized Donald Trump and Republicans after a US senator said the FBI had agreed to assist in locating Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state to block Republicans from enacting a gerrymandered congressional map that would likely add five more Republican seats before next year’s midterm elections.

Senator John Cornyn’s claim that the FBI would assist Republicans’ effort could not be independently confirmed. The FBI declined to comment. An administration official told NBC News this week the government did not plan on using federal agents to arrest Texas lawmakers and a federal law enforcement official told the outlet that as of Thursday morning, the agency had not assisted with trying to locate the lawmakers. None of the lawmakers have been charged with a crime.

“Using federal law enforcement to track down political opposition is the tactic of a collapsing regime,” said the Texas state representative John Bucy, one of the lawmakers who is staying in Illinois. “It’s the kind of authoritarian overreach we condemn in other countries. Now, it’s happening here.” ...

Speaking to reporters at the Illinois state fair on Thursday, the Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, said he welcomed the FBI to the state. “I hope they take in the state fair, I hope they go see the beauty of Lake Michigan. But they won’t be arresting anyone because there is no US federal law that prohibits those Texas house Democrats from being here in the state,” he told reporters.

Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the US House, called it an effort to intimidate Democrats. “Shouldn’t the FBI be tracking down terrorists, drug traffickers and child predators? The Trump administration continues to weaponize law enforcement to target political adversaries. These extremists don’t give a damn about public safety. We will not be intimidated,” he said in a post on X.

Scientists decry Trump energy chief’s plan to ‘update’ climate reports: ‘Exactly what Stalin did’

The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, is facing growing criticism from scientists who say their “worst fears” were realized when Wright revealed that the Trump administration would “update” the US’s premier climate crisis reports. Wright, a former oil and gas executive, told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins earlier this week that the administration was reviewing national climate assessment reports published by past governments.

Produced by scientists and peer-reviewed, there have been five national climate assessment (NCA) reports since 2000 and they are considered the gold standard report of global heating and its impacts on human health, agriculture, water supplies and air pollution.

“We’re reviewing them, and we will come out with updated reports on those and with comments on those reports,” said Wright, who is one of the main supporters of the administration’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda to boost fossil fuels, which are the primary cause of the climate crisis.

Wright was speaking days after his agency, the Department of Energy, produced a report claiming concern over the climate crisis was overblown. That energy department report was slammed by scientists for being a “farce” full of misinformation. ... Asked about Wright’s comments on the national climate assessment reports, respected climate scientist Michael Mann said in an emailed comment to the Guardian: “This is exactly what Joseph Stalin did.”

‘Impossible to rebuild’: NIH scientists say Trump cuts will imperil life-saving research

Last week, the office of management and budget (OMB) revealed plans to freeze all outside funding for National Institutes of Health research this fiscal year, but reversed course later that day, leaving the scientific community in a state of whiplash. A senior official at the NIH who spoke on condition of anonymity said this was just the latest in a “multi-prong” approach by the Trump administration to destroy American scientific research.

In July, the National Cancer Institute, which is part of the NIH, updated its website to reflect Trump administration plans to significantly cut cancer research spending as well. Since January, the administration has been cancelling NIH grants, in some cases targeting other specific research areas, such as HIV treatment and prevention.

“It’s really, really bad at NIH right now,” said the official, who added that researchers working outside the NIH have been unaware of the severity of the situation until recently, even though they have also faced funding upheaval since the winter. “The Trump administration is, for the first time in history, substantially intervening inside NIH to bring it under political control,” the official said. “That’s what we saw this week with the OMB freeze on funding.”

“I think the core of it is that they want to destroy universities, or at least turn them into rightwing ideological factories,” the official said, since the majority of the NIH’s grants are distributed to researchers in universities, medical schools and similar institutions. In 2021, JD Vance gave a speech entitled The Universities Are the Enemy. The official said they were alarmed at how little universities are fighting back – many have settled with the administration, which has “gotten Columbia to completely knuckle under. One of America’s most significant universities and a place that is a worldwide magnet for talents. Same thing at Penn. Now they’re going after UCLA.” Institutions such as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have also stayed on the sidelines, refusing to sufficiently resist Trump, the official said.

If the administration does manage to freeze NIH funding, it will push to rescind the funds permanently using a rescission motion, the official said. This type of motion only requires a simple majority of 50 votes to pass the Senate, instead of the supermajority necessary to beat a filibuster. Republicans would have enough votes to “ram through these motions to effectively cut the budget without Democrats in Congress weighing in. It’s an ongoing disaster.”

"They Poisoned the World": Author Mariah Blake on "Forever Chemicals"

Also of Interest

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

Zionist Shakedown

Why are Israelis ‘not at all troubled’ by starvation in Gaza?

The West’s Ethical Framework Might Not Recover After the Israeli Genocide in Gaza

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With Five Eyes on China, FBI Bulks Up in New Zealand

Autarky Sure Looks Good

US national parks staff in ‘survival mode’ to keep parks open amid Trump cuts

‘It’s not a coincidence’: after Ghislaine Maxwell’s prison move … what next?

A Little Night Music

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe

Jimi Hendrix - Machine Gun

Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child

Jimi Hendrix - Crosstown Traffic

Jimi Hendrix - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

jimi hendrix - all along the watchtower

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Little Wing

Jimi Hendrix - Johnny B Goode

The Scandinavian Experience (1969)