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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Peg Leg Sam

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features country blues harmonica player Peg Leg Sam. Enjoy!

^{Peg Leg Sam - Born For Hard Luck}

"There are so many ways of being despicable it quite makes one’s head spin. But the way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people’s pain."

-- James A. Baldwin

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News and Opinion

Some Days There’s Just Too Much Israeli Psychopathy To Write About

Recent hours have seen too much Israeli depravity to write about, including an assassination strike in Qatar to sabotage peace talks, a second drone attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla, and a Guardian article featuring an IDF sniper who discussed killing civilians like a trophy hunter talking about game animals.

The IDF bombed a Doha residential building on Tuesday in an attempt to assassinate Hamas officials who had gathered to discuss US-Israeli ceasefire proposals, reportedly killing a Qatari security officer and four Hamas aides, as well as the son of the acting Hamas political bureau chief.

President Trump publicly criticized the Israeli attack
, but Middle East Eye reports
that according to US and regional officials the president had actually “blessed” the strike in advance. These would be the same Hamas officials who Trump had just been aggressively threatening
to accept his ceasefire proposal or face severe consequences.

Israeli Airstrikes Target Hamas Leadership in Qatar
Sources told Middle East Eye that the attack was 'blessed' by President Trump #Qatar #Doha #Israel #Hamas #Trump https://t.co/ky1ZtWnpOV

— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) September 9, 2025

Hamas said the following in a statement:

“Targeting the negotiating delegation, as they discussed US President Donald Trump’s latest proposal, confirms beyond doubt that Netanyahu and his government do not want to reach any agreement and are deliberately seeking to thwart all opportunities and thwart international efforts, disregarding the lives of their prisoners held by the resistance, the sovereignty of states, or the security and stability of the region.

“We hold the US administration jointly responsible with the occupation for this crime, due to its ongoing support for the aggression and crimes of the occupation against our people.”

It’s hard to argue with any of this. Clearly nobody who’s calling the shots in Washington and Tel Aviv has any interest in actually ending this genocide. Which should surprise no one, since people who are committing genocide aren’t typically interested in negotiating ceasefire talks with their victims.

People really need to stop taking seriously the idea that Israel has any intention of ever agreeing to a ceasefire. They’ve made it clear that they’re not going to stop until they’ve kicked all the Palestinians out of Gaza and annexed it, and the Trump administration has made it clear they’re going to support this agenda. It’s time to start believing them.

NEW — Footage of the reported drone attack of the "Alma" ship on the Sumud Gaza aid flotilla.

The boat was sailing under the British flag. Fire damage seen in this video.

Comes after the "Family" was attacked yesterday in Tunisian waters.

Fire since extinguished. Crew safe. pic.twitter.com/SANljqf1qn

— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) September 9, 2025

The Global Sumud Flotilla reports that there has been another drone attack on another activist ship bringing aid to Gaza, with video footage clearly showing something incendiary hitting the boat from above and starting a fire.

The day before, the boat that had been carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists was struck in the same way. A video was released showing something on fire being dropped on the boat from above. Another showed an activist reacting to seeing a drone drop the incendiary object and saying later that he clearly saw a drone. Another video picked up whirring sounds immediately prior to the fire.

Yesterday my social media notifications were ablaze with hasbarists trying to claim the first attack was an internal mechanical fire or a cigarette fire, and then when the subsequent footage emerged they shifted to trying to claim it showed a misfired flare from the boat’s own occupants. The evidence is overwhelming that the Sumud flotilla is being attacked by drones, but we can expect the usual spinmeisters to keep pretending to believe obvious lies about it.

These activists are truly risking their lives with their efforts to break the Israeli siege. Their selflessness gives me hope for our species.

An Israeli sniper from Chicago, after killing a 19-year-old and then shooting his brother for trying to retrieve the body: "What was so important about that corpse?”

Those were 2 of the 4 members of the same family killed by Israeli snipers on a single day in Gaza, Nov 2023. https://t.co/BqEN8pwdn4 pic.twitter.com/706syuLu9k

— jasper nathaniel (@infinite_jaz) September 9, 2025

A Guardian article titled “The Gaza family torn apart by IDF snipers from Chicago and Munich” is creating a lot of buzz today because of the incredibly psychopathic quotes it includes from a sniper from Chicago named Daniel Raab.

A joint investigation by the Guardian, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) and Paper Trail Media, Der Spiegel and ZDF connected footage of unarmed civilians being murdered by Israeli snipers in Gaza with social media posts and recorded admissions from the perpetrators. Raab had been tricked by Palestinian journalists into confessing to his crimes in Hebrew under the false promise of anonymity, with footage of his admissions published online last year.

An excerpt from the article:

Daniel Raab shows no hesitation as he watches footage of 19-year-old Salem Doghmosh crumpling to the ground beside his brother in a street in northern Gaza.

“That was my first elimination,” he says. The video, shot by a drone, lasts just a few seconds. The Palestinian teenager appears to be unarmed when he is shot in the head.

Raab, a former varsity basketball player from a Chicago suburb who became an Israeli sniper, concedes he knew that. He says he shot Salem simply because he tried to retrieve the body of his beloved older brother Mohammed.

“It’s hard for me to understand why he [did that] and it also doesn’t really interest me,” Raab says in a video interview posted on X. “I mean, what was so important about that corpse?”

Another:

“They’re thinking: ‘Oh I don’t think [I’ll get shot] because I’m wearing civilian clothes and I am not carrying a weapon and all that, but they were wrong,” said Raab, who majored in biology at the University of Illinois before joining the Israel Defense Forces. “That’s what you have snipers for.”

After Salem was shot, his father, Montasser, 51, rushed to the site, and tried to collect his sons’ bodies for burial, but was also fatally injured by a sniper.

An actual serial killer from Chicago who volunteered to go snipe unarmed human beings as if they were animals on safari https://t.co/RxqrAoXapQ

— Sean Padraig McCarthy (@SeanMcCarthyCom) September 9, 2025

If I had murdered people for trying to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones who I had also murdered, I’d definitely be asking myself a lot of questions, but “what was so important about that corpse?” would definitely not be among them.

Gaza has become a hunting ground which is visited by psychopathic individuals who want to experience what it’s like to kill human beings, and it’s always open season. Those bloodthirsty monsters then re-enter our communities and walk among us without consequences.

They get to go commit atrocities and then come back and resume their lives as though nothing happened, like going off to some kind of genocide summer camp. It’s about the most horrific thing you can imagine.

Israel poisons the entire world.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : How Israel Blackmails Washington

Prof. John Mearsheimer : Israel’s True Goals

Israel orders Gaza City residents to leave as military prepares to occupy city

The Israeli military has issued an evacuation order covering the entirety of Gaza City for the first time during the current round of fighting, ahead of a planned offensive to take over and occupy the city. The order on Tuesday caused a scramble in the densely populated city and placed the fate of its 1 million residents in limbo, as they decided whether to be displaced once again or stay amid intensifying Israeli bombing.

Humanitarians have repeatedly warned that the consequences of an offensive on Gaza City – which is in the grips of famine – would be dire for its residents and the strip as a whole. On Tuesday, six more Palestinians died from hunger, bringing the total number of people who have starved to death in Gaza to 399.

“I say to the residents of Gaza, take this opportunity and listen to me carefully: you have been warned – get out of there!” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said. Israel describes Gaza City as Hamas’s last stronghold. The Israeli military has for weeks urged residents to go to al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, which it has designated as a humanitarian zone that contains increased services. Despite the campaign to displace the city’s residents, only a small proportion – about 50,000 people – of its 1 million residents have left.

Israel’s planned offensive has garnered a wave of international criticism, with much of the international community urging an immediate ceasefire. On Sunday, the Danish foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, called on Israel to “change course” on its Gaza City invasion, while standing next to his Israeli counterpart in Jerusalem.

Aid groups have said that the area does not have the capacity nor services to absorb the renewed wave of displacement and urged Israel to stop its planned assault on Gaza City. Residents have also been skeptical of Israel’s promise of a safe zone, as it continued to bomb al-Mawasi as recently as last week.

"America Is Bankrolling This": Jeremy Scahill on Israel's Bombing of Hamas in Qatar

Israel launches airstrikes against top Hamas members in Qatar for Gaza ceasefire talks

Israel has launched a strike on Hamas officials meeting in Qatar’s capital, Doha, reportedly including the group’s chief ceasefire negotiator, in an attack the White House said “does not advance Israel or America’s goals”. Hamas said six people had been killed, including the son of its exiled Gaza chief, Khalil al-Hayya. It said its top leadership, including the negotiations team, had survived. ...

White House officials confirmed that the US had been informed in advance of the attack, which took place on the soil of an important regional US ally and a key mediator in attempts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza. The impending strike led to a flurry of diplomatic activity, including a warning from the White House to the Qatari government about the attack and a follow-up phone call between Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a social media post, Trump sought to distance himself from the attack and insisted he played no role in the attack by one close US ally against another. “This was a decision made by the prime minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network. Trump added that his administration had tried to warn Qatar of the attack but were “unfortunately, too late.” ...

Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani blamed Israel for sabotaging what he said were chances for peace, sharply criticising Netanyahu whom he said practised “state terrorism”.

“Qatar reserves the right to respond to this blatant attack and will take all necessary measures to respond,” he said, adding that mediation efforts are part of the Qatari identity and nothing would deter its role in that regard. As Turkey accused Israel of adopting “terrorism as state policy”, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Arab League secretary general, accused Israel of violating Qatar’s sovereignty, saying it “does not care about the consequences of its shameful actions”.

Aaron Maté : Is the US a Criminal State Like Israel?

COL. Lawrence Wilkerson : The Deadly Trump/Zionist Negotiation Tactics

Von der Leyen under growing pressure to take tougher line with Israel

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is under growing pressure from MEPs to “show leadership” and preserve the EU’s political credibility by taking a tougher approach to Israel’s government over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Von der Leyen is expected to refer to the EU’s role on the world stage in her annual “state of the union” speech to the European parliament on Wednesday, where she will set out her agenda for the year ahead.

But the German Christian Democrat is facing growing criticism from centrists and the left that her commission seems “disconnected” from the situation on the ground and needs to take a tougher line on Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration.

The EU has found Israel in breach of human rights obligations and drawn up a list of possible sanctions, but stopped short of action, amid deep splits among its 27-member states. The commission proposed in July a partial suspension of Israel’s participation in the EU’s Horizon €94bn research programme but has failed to find the necessary majority, without the support of big member states, such as Germany and Italy.

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, told MEPs on Tuesday that Europe was not united over Gaza: “Our options are clear and remain on the table, but member states disagree on how to get the Israeli government to change course … We cannot move as a union until member states share the same view on what to do.”

The US and Its Vassal States Act OUTRAGED After They Allow Israeli Strike on Qatar

Huckabee Says the US Won’t Tell Israel Not To Annex the Occupied West Bank

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in an interview last week that the US has never asked Israel to “not apply sovereignty,” referring to the possibility of Israel annexing parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“The US has never asked Israel to not apply sovereignty,” Huckabee said, according to a September 5 post from a journalist for Israel’s Channel 14. “I have repeatedly stated that the US respects Israel as a sovereign nation and will not tell Israel what to do. This is also what Secretary Rubio has said as recently as this week.”

Israeli officials said last week that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had signaled to them that the US wouldn’t oppose Israel if it moved to annex the West Bank. He has also said publicly that annexation could be Israel’s response to Western states taking steps toward recognizing a Palestinian state.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently outlined a proposal for annexing 82% of the West Bank and leaving six Palestinian population centers isolated as islands. He said that his plan aims for “maximum territory and minimum Arab population.”

Israel Casts Off Restraints; Hits Qatar; MidEast War Coming; Huge Russian Strike West Rages; Drones

Emmanuel Macron appoints his third prime minister in a year

Sébastien Lecornu, a close ally of Emmanuel Macron, has been appointed prime minister, tasked with consulting France’s divided political parties to try to find a consensus on the budget.

The 39-year-old began his political career in the traditional rightwing party of Nicolas Sarkozy before moving to Macron’s centre in 2017 and is seen as fiercely loyal to the president.

His promotion from defence minister shows Macron’s determination to press on with a minority government that stands firmly behind his pro-business economic agenda, under which taxes on business and the wealthy have been cut and the retirement age raised.

However, in an unusual move in French politics, Macron’s office said the president had asked Lecornu to hold talks with all political forces in parliament to find compromises on the budget and other policies before naming his cabinet.

Lecornu started out in politics as an MP’s assistant, aged 19, and became France’s youngest ever ministerial adviser in 2008 when he worked for Bruno Le Maire. In 2015, Lecornu became the youngest-ever president of a French département, that of Eure in Normandy, after serving as mayor of his home town of Vernon.

Glenn Greenwald Shreds MAGA Over Venezuela Strikes

First two Brazilian judges vote to convict Jair Bolsonaro in coup plot trial

Jair Bolsonaro led a criminal organisation that sought to plunge Brazil back into dictatorship with a murderous power grab involving special forces assassins and a vast disinformation campaign, the supreme court judge presiding over the former president’s trial has claimed as he voted for Bolsonaro’s conviction.

Alexandre de Moraes was the first supreme court justice of five to announce his decision on Tuesday, as the trial of Bolsonaro and seven alleged co-conspirators – including four senior members of the military and the former head of Brazil’s answer to MI6 – entered its final stretch. “The defendant, Jair Bolsonaro, was leader of this criminal structure,” the judge told a courtroom in the capital, Brasília, during a five-hour speech detailing what he called Bolsonaro’s “authoritarian project”.

Bolsonaro has denied involvement in a coup plot. But Moraes said there was “ample evidence” that the far-right populist, who governed the South American country from 2019 until the end of 2022, had tried to cling to power after losing that year’s election to his leftwing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “Brazil nearly went back to being a dictatorship … because a criminal organisation made up of a political group doesn’t know how to lose elections​,” Moraes told the court​. “Because a criminal organisation made up of a political group led by Jair Bolsonaro doesn’t understand that the alternation of power is a principle of republican democracy.”​

Later in the day, a second judge, Flávio Dino, also voted for Bolsonaro and his alleged accomplices to be found guilty, although Dino argued that some of the defendants had higher levels of culpability than others. Bolsonaro’s level of guilt was “rather high”, the judge claimed, indicating he would support a tougher sentence for the former president.

Three more supreme court justices are due to cast their votes in the coming days, with Bolsonaro’s conviction widely considered a foregone conclusion. If found guilty of crimes including leading an armed criminal organisation and a coup d’etat and violently attempting to abolish Brazil’s democracy, the former president faces a sentence of up to 43 years. A verdict is expected by Thursday. While Bolsonaro has denied the charges, he has admitted seeking supposedly constitutional ways of remaining in power.

White House Threatens Brazil With 'Military Might' as Bolsonaro Faces Coup Plot Reckoning

A White House spokesperson suggested Tuesday that US President Donald Trump could use military force against Brazil as two of the country's Supreme Court justices said they would vote to convict former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of a coup plot involving the assassination of current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other officials, including a leading member of the high court.

Speaking during a daily press briefing, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that Trump—a staunch Bolsonaro ally who has called the effort to bring him to justice a "witch hunt"—has "taken significant action with regards to Brazil in the form of both sanctions and also leveraging the use of tariffs."

In addition to imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports, Trump has sanctioned Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes—who has led efforts to hold Bolsonaro accountable and who placed the former president under house arrest during his trial—while threatening further punitive action.

The alleged coup plot for which Bolsonaro and seven other defendants are being tried allegedly involved assassinating Moraes, Lula, and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin.

Leavitt dubiously couched her threat as defense of "free speech," saying that "this is a priority for the administration, and the president is unafraid to use the economic might, the military might of the United States of America, to protect free speech around the world."

In 1964, the US assisted a coup against the mildly reformist democratically elected government of Brazilian President João Goulart, ushering in two decades of military dictatorship that crushed dissent and free speech under the pretext of fighting communism. In a move similar to Trump's deployment of US warships to the coast of Venezuela, then-President Lyndon B. Johnson secretly deployed a naval task force to Brazil for possible invasion.

While there was no invasion, the US subsequently supported the 21-year dictatorship, including by sending specialists who taught Brazilian security forces more efficient torture techniques.

Bolsonaro, who was a young army paratrooper during the dictatorship, has infamously praised the brutal regime and pined for its return.

Tuesday's threat came as Moraes and fellow Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino voted to find Bolsonaro and the seven other defendants—who include senior military and intelligence officers—guilty of plotting a coup.

"The defendant, Jair Bolsonaro, was leader of this criminal structure," Moraes told the court in the capital city of Brasília.

"Brazil nearly went back to being a dictatorship... because a criminal organization made up of a political group doesn't know how to lose elections," the justice added. "Because a criminal organization made up of a political group led by Jair Bolsonaro doesn't understand that the alternation of power is a principle of republican democracy." s

In addition to attempting a coup, Bolsonaro is charged with involvement in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, violent damage of state property, and other charges. A coup conviction carries a sentence of up to 12 years' imprisonment under Brazilian law. However, if convicted on all counts, Bolsonaro and his co-defendants could face decades behind bars.

The former president and seven other defendants are accused of being the "crucial core" of a plan to overturn the results of the 2022 election, which Lula narrowly won in a runoff. Like Trump in 2020, Bolsonaro and many of his supporters falsely claimed the contest was "stolen" by the opposition. And like in the US, those claims fueled mob attacks on government buildings. Around 1,500 Bolsonaro supporters were arrested in the days following the storming of Congress and the presidential offices.

Bolsonaro is already banned from running for any office until 2030 due to his abuse of power related to baseless claims of electoral fraud.

Members of Lula's Workers' Party (PT) and other leftist lawmakers applauded Tuesday's conviction votes.

"Our expectation is that justice will be done," Federal Deputy Nilto Tatto (PT-São Paulo) said outside the court. "It was, clearly, an attempted coup. They tried to discredit the electoral system and even set up a scheme to assassinate President Lula."

Leftist lawmakers also condemned the White House's threat, with Federal Deputy Lindbergh Farias (PT-Rio de Janeiro) calling it "a blatant attempt to interfere with our sovereignty and judicial independence."

"This has nothing to do with 'freedom of expression': It is external pressure, blackmail, and intimidation to sabotage Brazilian justice," Farias asserted. "Brazil is neither a backyard nor a colony of anyone. And the trial of the coup plot, which already has two votes in favor... will continue to the end, because here the Constitution decides, not Donald Trump."

Federal Deputy Erika Hilton (Socialism and Liberty-São Paulo) called Leavitt's "free speech" justification "ridiculous."

"First of all, no one is restricting Bolsonaro's freedom of speech," she said. "He can say whatever he wants, from inside his house, where the ineligible individual is serving house arrest due to the risk of flight."

"It's also important to remember that US legislation does not apply to Brazil," Hilton continued. "Instead of protecting absolute freedom of speech to shield groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the right of murderers to enter schools with rifles, our Constitution addresses issues relevant to our country, our democracy, and our people. And in this Constitution, made after the end of a military dictatorship, there is provision for... punishment against those who attempt a coup d'état."

"Of course, besides not caring, Trump isn't even capable of understanding all this," she added. "He's too busy planning his defense for the next public accusation of child sexual exploitation, his next round of golf, or his next dip in a pool of Doritos-flavored sauce. And with his brain in an advanced state of degeneration, Trump was only capable of an empty threat."

US created 911,000 fewer jobs through March 2025 than initially reported

The US added 911,000 fewer jobs than first estimated for the year to March 2025, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced on Tuesday, highlighting recent concerns about the health of the labor market. The revisions are 50% higher than last year’s adjustment and were on the higher end of Wall Street estimates between 600,000 and 1 million.

The revision comes after a lackluster August jobs report, with only 22,000 jobs added in the US. That report too contained revisions and noted that 13,000 jobs were lost for the month of June 2025, the first negative jobs report survey since December 2020. The unemployment rate increased to 4.3%, the highest rate since 2021.

Donald Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of labor statistics, after a weak July job’s report that he claimed – without evidence – was “RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad”. But while these revisions to the jobs data are large, they are not unusual. During periods of economic change – such as the introduction of tariffs and the arrival of AI in the workplace – economists note businesses often take longer to reply to the BLS’s surveys, leading to gaps in their data. ...

The largest revisions were in leisure and hospitality (down 176,000), professional and business services (down 158,000) and retail trade (down 126,200). Government jobs were adjusted down by 31,000 jobs. The numbers released will face further revisions when BLS releases final benchmark figure in February 2026.

Arkansas Farmers BEG For GOVT HELP as Tariffs CRUSH Businesses

US supreme court to decide on legality of Trump’s sweeping global tariffs

The US supreme court agreed on Tuesday to decide the legality of Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, setting up a major test of one of the Republican president’s boldest assertions of executive power that has been central to his economic and trade agenda.

The justices took up the justice department’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing most of his tariffs under a federal law meant for emergencies. The court acted swiftly after the administration last week asked it to review the case, which involves trillions of dollars in customs duties over the next decade.

The court, which begins its next nine-month term on 6 October, placed the case on a fast track, scheduling oral arguments for the first week of November. The justices also agreed to hear a separate challenge to Trump’s tariffs brought by a family-owned toy company, Learning Resources.

The US court of appeals for the federal circuit in Washington ruled on 29 August that Trump overreached in invoking a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose the tariffs, undercutting a major priority for the president in his second term. The tariffs, however, remain in effect during the appeal to the supreme court.

The levies are part of a trade war instigated by Trump since he returned to the presidency in January that has alienated trading partners, increased volatility in financial markets and fueled global economic uncertainty. Trump has made tariffs a key foreign policy tool, using them to renegotiate trade deals, extract concessions and exert political pressure on other countries.

Trump-Epstein Letter IS REAL and CREEPIER Than We Thought

Trump calls release of suggestive note to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein a ‘dead issue’

White House officials on Tuesday doubled down on their assertion that a sexually suggestive letter carrying what appeared to be Donald Trump’s signature that was included in a birthday book for convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had not been signed by the president. The letter, and its drawing of a naked woman’s torso around an imagined conversation between Trump and Epstein, was part of a batch of documents released by the House oversight committee in response to a subpoena after its existence was first reported in July by the Wall Street Journal.

The release of the letter and the entirety of the birthday book only intensified a furore that Trump has been attempting to shut down for months – and hardened the White House’s resolve to claim the purported Trump signature on the letter was a fabrication or a forgery.

At a press briefing, Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, denied Trump’s involvement in the letter and added that the White House would support an expert review of the signature to determine whether it had been done by Trump’s hand. “Three separate signature analysts who said this was not the president’s authentic signature and we have maintained that all along. The president did not write this letter, he did not sign this letter, and that’s why the president’s external legal team is pursuing litigation against the Wall Street Journal,” Leavitt said. ...

Earlier on Monday, Trump declined to address the letter in an interview with NBC. “I don’t comment on something that’s a dead issue,” Trump said.

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Michigan judge dismisses charges against 15 of Trump’s 2020 fake electors

A judge in Michigan dismissed the felony charges against a slate of electors who falsely signed on to documents claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 election in the latest blow to efforts to hold the president and his allies accountable for attempting to overturn the results of the White House race he lost to Joe Biden.

Sixteen people were initially charged with eight felonies each related to forgery and conspiracy by the Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, in 2023, though one of them had his charges dropped after he agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. The fake electors in Michigan will not go to trial.

District court judge Kristen Simmons decided that the state had not provided “evidence sufficient to prove intent”, a requirement for fraud cases. She told a courtroom on Tuesday that the case did not involve the intent of those who orchestrated the scheme, like Kenneth Chesebro and other Trump attorneys – but those who actually signed the documents, Votebeat reported.

“I believe they were executing their constitutional right to seek redress,” Simmons said of those who signed the documents.

Mamdani BACKTRACKS On Israel! Prioritizes “Jewish Feelings” Over Palestine!

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Fossil-fuel firms receive US subsidies worth $31bn each year

The US currently subsidizes the fossil-fuel industry to the tune of nearly $31bn per year, according to a new analysis. That figure, calculated by the environmental campaign group Oil Change International, has more than doubled since 2017. And it is likely a vast understatement, due to the difficulty of quantifying the financial gains from some government supports, and to a lack of transparency and reliable data from government sources, the group says.

These handouts pose a massive barrier to decarbonization, says the new report, which experts have long warned is urgently necessary to avert the worst consequences of the climate crisis. “These subsidies allow for new production that would not otherwise occur,” said Collin Rees, US program manager at Oil Change International and the primary author of the new analysis. “They also, to an enormous extent, go to lining the pockets of shareholders and investors and fossil fuel executives.”

For the analysis, Oil Change International totaled up tax breaks, lower rates to acquire land and other resources, direct appropriations, and other financial support from the US and government-funded groups, using the definition of fossil fuel subsidies established by the World Trade Organization. All told, US subsidies allow the sector to receive stunning 30,000% returns on investments, the authors found.

Among the biggest subsidies the US offers oil companies, the report found, is a federal tax rule allowing corporations to credit taxes and royalties they pay to foreign governments on overseas income against their domestic tax bills, to avoid being taxed twice. Another major support measure is a tax credit for capturing carbon, which is often framed as a climate solution but is primarily used to extract hard-to-reach reserves in a practice known as enhanced oil recovery.

Amid pressure from campaigners and United Nations climate experts, at least 53 countries reformed their fossil-fuel subsidies between 2015 and 2020, according to the Swiss research group Global Subsidies Initiative. In 2021, Joe Biden also vowed to begin eliminating subsidies for planet-heating energy sources. Yet the US is moving in the wrong direction on the issue, the new report found: Trump’s signature tax-and-spend bill, which the president signed in July, is poised to hand fossil-fuel companies an additional $4bn per year across the next decade, the analysis found.

California firefighters race to protect ancient sequoia trees as wildfire spreads

Firefighters in California are racing to protect a historic grove of ancient giant sequoia trees in the Sierra national forest as the Garnet fire continues to spread through Fresno county. The Garnet fire, which began on 24 August and was caused by lightning, reached McKinley Grove on Monday, the US Forest Service said. The grove is home to about 170 giant sequoia trees, some estimated to be 2,000 years old, according to the non-profit Save the Redwoods.

Videos released by the Forest Service on Monday show a “low intensity fire” moving through the grove, along with dense smoke and orange skies. While the fire reached the forest on Monday, officials said that while embers had ignited some branches, no sequoias had fully caught fire as of Monday afternoon.

“There is no crown fire within the grove, there are no trees fully on fire, these are embers that lofted into branches and have nestled in place,” the forest service said.

Crews had taken precautions well in advance, officials said, including the installation of a 24-hour sprinkler system around the grove and firefighting crews cleared heavy fuel buildup from around the trees. But despite these efforts, forest officials said: “Several spot fires did get established north of McKinley Grove Road in and around the grove of Giant Sequoias.” As of Monday afternoon, fire crews continued to work to contain these spots as well as “employing aggressive firefighting tactics throughout the perimeter of the fire”.

As of Monday evening, the Garnet fire had burned 54,925 acres (22,000 hectares) and was 14% contained.

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Also of Interest

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

The Gaza family torn apart by IDF snipers from Chicago and Munich

Global Condemnation for Israeli Attack on Hamas Negotiators as Qatar Suspends Ceasefire Mediation

Spain Becomes Fourth EU Country to Announce Sanctions Against Israel: Beginning of a Trend?

More Trump Administration Circular Firing Squad with Investor-Spooking ICE Raid on Hyundai-LG Plant

Pentagon Official: Trump Boat Strike Was a Criminal Attack on Civilians

NYT Pushes Another Scare Report About Nuclear Sites In Ukraine

The West Is In A Far Worse Position than the Warsaw Pact Was At The Start Of the Cold War

The president doth protest too much: Trump’s denial on Epstein is backfiring

Epstein 50th birthday book: who is in it and what did they say?

Ben & Jerry’s founders call for the brand to be ‘freed’ from its owners

Saagar BREAKS DOWN FULL Epstein 'VILE' Birthday Book

U.S. DECAPITATION plan for Venezuela

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A Little Night Music

Peg Leg Sam w/ Louisiana Red - Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho

Peg Leg Sam with Baby Tate - Who's That Left Here 'While Ago

Peg Leg Sam - Fast Freight Train

Peg Leg Sam - One Mint Julep

Peg Leg Sam - Lost John

Peg Leg Sam & Baby Tate - Skinny Woman Blues

Peg Leg Sam - Ain't But One Thing Give a Man the Blues

Peg Leg Sam & Baby Tate - Easy Ridin' Buggy

Peg Leg Sam - Navaho Trail

Peg Leg Sam & Henry Rufe Johnson - Before You Give It All Away

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