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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Goree Carter

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues guitarist and early rock and roller Goree Carter. Enjoy!

^{Goree Carter - Rock Awhile}

"Who would have imagined five years ago when we were seeing Greta Thunberg amplified by every mainstream western liberal institution that we would one day hear reports that she has been captured and tormented by the Israeli military for trying to bring formula to starving babies?"

-- Caitlin Johnstone

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News and Opinion

They Really Think They’ll Be Able To Propagandize The World Into Liking Israel Again

It’s cute how the Zionists think they’ll be able to manipulate and propagandize the world into liking Israel again.

Yeah, saturate all online platforms with weird-faced influencers telling us Israel is awesome. That’ll make us forget those years of genocidal atrocities.

Sure, buy up the social media platforms that young people are using so you can censor criticism of Israel. That’ll convince them that Zionism is cool.

Go on, take control of CBS and make Bari Weiss the boss. That’ll make us forget all those videos of mutilated Palestinian children.

Right, use Zionist oligarchs and influence operations to manipulate governments and institutions into crushing free speech which opposes a genocidal apartheid state. That’ll get everyone supporting the genocidal apartheid state.

Propaganda is an effective tool of mass-scale psychological manipulation, but it isn’t magic. It isn’t going to miraculously erase what people know in their bones to be true.

Your daily reminder, these people are paid to spread Nazi propaganda. The uptick in Nazi propaganda lately is remarkable https://t.co/9wPfHZzHxi

— Anita Zsurzsan (@iamjourjean) October 5, 2025

In order to successfully propagandize people you need to first get them to trust you, and then you need to feed them narratives which appeal to the cognitive biases they already hold. Nobody trusts Israel apologia anymore, and people’s biases are now stacked squarely against the Zionist entity. They’ve got nothing to work with and nowhere to start from.

If a coworker you hate came up to you and started stealing stuff off your desk while telling you he’s your friend and that he would never steal from you, you’re not going to believe him no matter how many words he says to you. No matter how skillful a manipulator he is, no matter how eloquent his words are, nothing he says will trump your first hand observations of your material reality.

That’s what it’s like at this point. They’re trying to throw a bunch of language at us in order to convince us that we haven’t seen what we’ve seen, haven’t experienced what we’ve experienced, and don’t know what we know. And they assume it will work because the language they’re throwing at us is being circulated in high volumes and costs a lot of money.

It won’t work, though. Even if propaganda could convince us that we haven’t seen what we’ve seen and don’t know what we know, propaganda only works if you don’t know it’s happening to you. These past two years have made even relatively apolitical members of the public acutely aware that there is an aggressive campaign to manipulate their perception of the state of Israel, and that anyone pushing them to support that state is untrustworthy. Nobody’s going to buy into the propaganda if they don’t trust the source.

You have earned your $7,000.https://t.co/7vUh4NGagh

— Elijah J. Magnier (@ejmalrai) October 4, 2025

Now that everyone’s aware that Israel is paying influencers $7,000 per post to churn out propaganda on its behalf, whenever you see a video online of some young social media-savvy personality promoting pro-Israel narratives you see their replies flooded with memes and jokes about their $7k jackpot. From now on whenever some sunglasses-wearing zillennial shows up going “Israel is surrounded on all sides by Islamofascists and you think JEWS are the problem? Uhh, no babe. Walk with me,” everyone’s going to go “Found one of those $7k posts.”

It just doesn’t work. Psychological manipulation only goes so far. There’s only so much that clever language can do to decouple someone’s mind from their direct experience of material reality.

This is where Israel went wrong in alienating the liberal Zionists. They needed people at the table who understood how normal human beings think, who could help the Israel project walk the delicate line between apartheid abuses papered over with propaganda and full-scale atrocities which would alienate the world. Instead they decided to go all in with the Smotriches and Ben-Gvirs, trusting that the propaganda machine which had served them so well all those decades would continue to carry them through any international upset they might cause.

It hasn’t turned out that way. The world’s eyes are open to what Israel is, and they are never going to close again. You can’t take off the Mickey Mouse mask, show the kids the snarling Freddy Krueger face underneath it, and then put the mask on and hope they start calling you Mickey again. Nobody’s going to forget what you showed them.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Trump Colonizing Gaza

MONOLOGUE: There's hardly one brick standing upon another in Gaza

Israel continues Gaza bombardment as Trump plan negotiators arrive in Cairo

Negotiators have arrived in Cairo before talks on Monday expected to focus on the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and a broader end to the war, as Israel continued strikes on the Palestinian territory, killing 63 people in the last 24 hours.

The talks on Monday would focus on the first phase of Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza, the Egyptian foreign ministry said, which is the release of the remaining 48 hostages held by Hamas in return for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

The US envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to join the talks, according to Israeli media, in addition to Israel’s negotiators and a Palestinian delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas. The Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian told journalists that talks in Egypt would be “confined to a few days maximum”. ...

The hostage release and prisoner swap would mean an immediate end to fighting in Gaza, according to Trump. Since Hamas’s partial acceptance of his plan to end the nearly two-year war in Gaza on Friday, the US, Israel and Hamas have all said they believe a ceasefire is within sight.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the Cairo talks were “the closest we’ve come to getting all the hostages released” in an interview with ABC on Sunday. He warned that talks could still falter over logistics, however, and that details of the hostage release needed to be worked out.

Trump BERATES Bibi: 'STOP THE BOMBING' As Ceasefire Negotiations On

Donald Trump orders Israel to ‘immediately’ stop bombing Gaza as Hamas agrees to free hostages

Donald Trump ordered Israel to “immediately” stop bombing Gaza as he welcomed Hamas’s partial acceptance of his ultimatum to end the nearly two-year war. Hamas has agreed to release all hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, as well as surrender governing power in the Gaza Strip, in accordance with Trump’s plan.

In a statement on Friday evening, the Palestinian militant group asked for further negotiations on other parts of the plan, and did not say whether it would lay down its arms – a key part of Trump’s proposal announced on Monday. Despite the qualified response by Hamas, Trump said in a post on Truth Social: “Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE.

“Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. “We are already in discussions on details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.” ...

Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Saturday that Israel had carried out dozens of airstrikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City despite Trump’s appeal. “It was a very violent night, during which the [Israeli army] carried out dozens of airstrikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City and other areas in the strip, despite president Trump’s call to halt the bombing,” a civil defence spokesperson, Mahmud Bassal, told AFP. He said 20 homes were destroyed in the attacks.

Gaza City’s Baptist hospital said it had received casualties from a strike on a home in the city’s Tuffah neighbourhood, including four dead and several wounded, while Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said two children were killed and eight people wounded in a drone strike on a tent in a camp for displaced people.

"It's Not a Peace Plan": Ex-Israeli Negotiator Daniel Levy on Trump Push to End War on Gaza

The Israeli army announced its rejection of @POTUS’s call for a ceasefire, continuing to bombard areas across Gaza City.

Moments ago, the army said it considers the city an active combat zone, confirming it remains under siege & warning residents against returning north. pic.twitter.com/R6SG7BXkfG

— Ramy Abdu (@RamAbdu) October 4, 2025

Israel accused of detaining Greta Thunberg in infested cell and making her hold flags

The environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg has told Swedish officials she is being subjected to harsh treatment in Israeli custody after her detention and removal from a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza, according to correspondence seen by the Guardian. According to the correspondence, Israeli forces are also reported by another detainee to have taken photographs where Thunberg was allegedly forced to hold flags. The identity of the flags is unknown.

In an email sent by the Swedish foreign ministry to people close to Thunberg, and seen by the Guardian, an official who has visited the activist in prison said she claimed she was detained in a cell infested with bedbugs, with too little food and water. “The embassy has been able to meet with Greta,” reads the email. “She informed of dehydration. She has received insufficient amounts of both water and food. She also stated that she had developed rashes which she suspects were caused by bedbugs. She spoke of harsh treatment and said she had been sitting for long periods on hard surfaces.”

“Another detainee reportedly told another embassy that they had seen her [Thunberg] being forced to hold flags while pictures were taken. She wondered whether images of her had been distributed,” the Swedish ministry’s official added. The allegation was corroborated by at least two other members of the flotilla who had been detained by Israeli forces and released on Saturday. “They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,” the Turkish activist ErsinÇelik, a participant in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu news agency.

Lorenzo D’Agostino, a journalist and another flotilla participant, said after returning to Istanbul that Thunberg was “wrapped in the Israeli flag and paraded like a trophy” – a scene described with disbelief and anger by those who witnessed it.

Max Blumenthal : Charlie Kirk and Zionist Billionaires

Netanyahu Ordered Drone Attack on Gaza Aid Flotilla Boats in Tunisia

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly ordered attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla that were carried out in early September while the boats were moored in Tunisia, CBS News reported on Friday.

A total of two boats were hit in two attacks that were conducted on September 8 and September 9. Two US intelligence officials told CBS News that Israel forces fired drones from a submarine that dropped incendiary devices and caused fires.

The report noted that under international law, the use of incendiary devices against civilian populations or civilian targets is prohibited. The attacks targeted the Family, a Portuguese-flagged vessel, and the Alma, a British-flagged vessel. In both cases, the crews were able to extinguish the fire, and the attacks caused no casualties.

In a September 22 interview, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack acknowledged that Israel was behind the operation by saying Israel had attacked Tunisia. “So Israel is attacking Syria. Israel is attacking Lebanon. Israel is attacking Tunisia,” Barrack told The National.

Alastair Crooke : Order, Prudence, Rules are GONE!

Col. Wilkerson, Richard Wolff & Michael Hudson: Iran War Is Now IMMINENT: The Point of No Return

Trump Threatens To Bomb Iran Again If It Restarts Nuclear Program, Says He’s ‘Not Going To Wait So Long’

President Trump on Sunday said that he would bomb Iran again if the country restarts its nuclear program, warning the US was “not going to wait so long this time,” a threat that comes amid growing signs that another US-Israeli war against Iran may be coming.

“The B2s, what they did. Those beautiful flying wings, what they did, they hit every single target. And just in case, we shot 30 Tomahawks out of a submarine,” Trump said in a speech at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, during a celebration of the US Navy’s 250th birthday, referring to the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 22.

Trump claimed in the speech that Iran was going to have a nuclear weapon “within a month,” but before Israel launched the war, US intelligence determined Tehran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon, and even if it chose to, it would take years to actually develop a deliverable weapon.

Ukraine frontline, the horns of a dilemma w/ Stanislav Krapivnik

Putin Says Supplying Ukraine With Tomahawk Missiles Could ‘Ruin’ US-Russia Relations

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Sunday that if the US decided to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, it could “ruin” relations between Washington and Moscow. ...

Vice President JD Vance recently confirmed that the Trump administration was considering arming Ukraine with Tomahawks, a step that would mark a significant escalation of the proxy war since the missiles can fire at a distance of over 1,000 miles, putting Moscow well in range.

It’s unclear if arming Ukraine with Tomahawks is a realistic option for the US since the missiles are designed to be fired out of US warships, and only in recent years has it developed a ground-launched, mobile version of a Tomahawk launcher. Such weapons systems were prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which the US withdrew from in 2019.

Larry Johnson : Trump Duped by His Own Advisors

Dems, Reps TRADE BLOWS as Govt SHUTS DOWN

House speaker says Democrats aren’t serious about shutdown negotiation as Democratic leader blames Republicans

The Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, accused Democrats of being “not serious” in negotiations to end the federal government shutdown, while the Democratic leader accused Republicans of driving the shutdown, now on its fifth day and expected to last at least through next week.

Talks between the opposing political parties stalled over the weekend, with no votes anticipated to end the standoff. A CBS poll found just 28% of Democratic voters and 23% of Republicans consider their party’s positions worth shutting down the government.

In his comments to NBC’s Meet the Press, Johnson said his body had done its work in passing a measure to keep the government financed but now it was up to the Senate “to turn the lights back on so that everyone can do their work”. He accused Democrats of failing to engage “in a serious negotiation”.

“They’re doing this to get political cover because Chuck Schumer is afraid that he won’t win his next re-election bid in the Senate because he’s going to be challenged by a Marxist in New York, because that’s the new popular thing out there,” he said, referring to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Bronx representative who may be looking to challenge Schumer for his Senate seat next year.

But Johnson’s counterpart, minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, told the same show JD Vance lied last week when he claimed Democrats were themselves being dishonest claiming they are not trying to give healthcare benefits to undocumented immigrants. “Republicans are lying because they’re losing in the court of public opinion,” Jeffries said, and added his party was “standing up for the healthcare of hard-working American taxpayers, of working-class Americans, of middle-class Americans”.

Kristi Noem calls Chicago a ‘war zone’ after federal agents shoot woman

Kristi Noem, Donald Trump’s homeland security secretary, called Chicago “a war zone” on Sunday after federal agents shot a woman and the governor of Illinois accused the administration of fueling the crisis rather than resolving it. Speaking on Fox News Sunday morning, Noem took aim at the city’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s Ice raids and deployment of the national guard in Illinois, a measure he called “unhinged and unhealthy”.

“It’s wrong, there should be consequences for that and for leaders that stand up and knowingly lie about the situation on the ground,” Noem said. “His city is a war zone and he’s lying so that criminals can go in there and destroy people’s lives.” Noem’s remarks followed Trump’s authorization to deploy 300 members of the Illinois national guard to Chicago, with orders to protect federal officers and property. The move came just weeks after national guard troops were sent to Washington, where the president federalized the city’s police force in what he described as a “crackdown” on crime, a pattern now extending to a string of other US cities. “We’re going to be doing Chicago probably next,” Trump had said at the time. ...

Border patrol agents on Saturday shot and injured a woman while firing at someone who tried to run them over. The woman who was shot was a US citizen and was armed with a semi-automatic weapon, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, noting that the woman was accused in a US Customs and Border Protection intelligence bulletin last week of doxing agents.

Mike Johnson hasn’t sworn in this new Democrat. Is it because she wants to release the Epstein files?

Congress’s newest member, Adelita Grijalva, came to Washington DC this week, expecting to be officially sworn in by the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. Two days later, she returned to her southern Arizona district disappointed, if not a little confused. No swearing-in ceremony had been organized, meaning Grijalva, a Democrat who easily won a special election last month to replace her late father, Raúl M Grijalva, was not able to start her new job.

Trapped in the purgatorial status of representative-elect, she had to be escorted around the Capitol building by her soon-to-be-colleagues, like any other member of the public. Her name is on the door of her new office, but she does not have the keys. “I want to get to work and I can’t,” Grijalva said.

She thinks she knows the reason why Johnson is in no rush to administer the oath: in addition to co-sponsoring bills on the environment, public education and other issues she campaigned on addressing, Grijalva plans to provide the final signature on a petition that would force a vote on legislation to release files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein – which the speaker and Donald Trump oppose. “I can’t think of any other reason. It’s not like my being sworn in changes the majority,” she said.

Another complication, both for the petition and Grijalva’s hopes to taking her seat: the House was out of session all this week. Johnson last month called off planned work days to pressure Senate Democrats into voting for legislation the chamber has approved to fund the government and end the ongoing shutdown. Another complication, both for the petition and Grijalva’s hopes to taking her seat: the House was out of session all this week. Johnson last month called off planned work days to pressure Senate Democrats into voting for legislation the chamber has approved to fund the government and end the ongoing shutdown.

Why does the U.S. have a license to kill? Today four people on a boat off the coast of Venezuela were executed by U.S. naval forces in an unprovoked attack & extrajudicial murder in international waters. Trump’s aggression against the Venezuela will provoke a regional conflict. pic.twitter.com/pGAJDF2NFj

— Manolo De Los Santos (@manolo_realengo) October 3, 2025

US struck another boat off Venezuela coast, Trump says

US forces on Saturday evening struck another vessel illegally carrying drugs off the coast of Venezuela, Donald Trump said on Sunday to thousands of sailors at a ceremony celebrating the US navy’s 250th anniversary. He added that the US would also start looking at drug trafficking happening on land. Trump made the comment during a speech at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, next to the Harry S Truman aircraft carrier. It was not immediately clear if he was referencing a strike announced on Friday by defense secretary Pete Hegseth.

During his speech, Trump said the navy had supported the mission “to blow the cartel terrorists the hell out of the water. There are no boats in the water anymore. You can’t find them.”

The navy has also been utilized to join an armed conflict with drug cartels, leading to four strikes in the Caribbean on what the administration says are fast-boats engaged in drug trafficking.

Trump added that if drug smugglers were not coming in by sea, “we’ll have to start looking about the land because they’ll be forced to go by land. And let me tell you that’s not going to work out out well for them either.”

The United Nations has condemned the US strikes – which the US defends as countering “narco-terrorist” members of Tren de Aragua, designated a foreign terrorist organization, in international waters – as extrajudicial executions. “International law does not allow governments to simply murder alleged drug traffickers,” the UN said last month. “Criminal activities should be disrupted, investigated and prosecuted in accordance with the rule of law, including through international cooperation.”

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Ohio’s sole national forest could be wiped out as Trump targets land for logging

In the Appalachian foothills outside Athens, Ohio, more than 20,000 acres of forest land was mined for coal in the early 20th century, destroying miles upon miles of pristine woodlands. By the 1930s, the federal government had to step in, taking it out of private hands and establishing the Wayne national forest in an attempt to prevent further degradation. In the decades since, maple, oak and other hardwood trees have taken over, returning to nature a region previously better known for extraction.

Home to important waterways, the eastern hellbender salamander – an amphibian proposed for listing as an endangered species – hundreds of miles of trails and a host of other outdoor recreational activities, the Wayne national forest draws a quarter million visitors every year. “People use the national forest for fishing, hunting, whether they’re trail runners or cyclists or ATV or horseback riders [and] for camping,” says Molly Jo Stanley of the Ohio Environmental Council who lives several miles from its borders.

All the while, underneath the forest floor, gob piles – a layer of coal waste material about a foot deep – is kept in place by the roots of millions of trees and plants. But now, with the Trump administration targeting 100m acres of forest across the country for logging, this critical wilderness area – Ohio’s sole national forest – could be wiped out.

Trump’s executive order was followed by a memo in April from the secretary for agriculture, Brooke Rollins, that established an “emergency declaration situation” that specifically identified the Wayne national forest as a site for lumber production. The memo also outlined the government’s intention to remove protections previously established by the National Environmental Policy Act.

The US Forest Service manages almost 300,000 sq miles of 154 national forests around the country, of which about one-fourth is suitable for timber management. Tracts of trees are regularly sold to private and other lumber companies often following a bidding process. Staff shortages and a lack of interest from lumber buyers in recent years have resulted in the Forest Service missing its sales targets by around 10% on average over the past decade. But more than 80% of the Wayne national forest is classified as suitable for logging, drawing concern from locals.

Advocates raise alarm over Pfas pollution from datacenters amid AI boom

Datacenters’ electricity demands have been accused of delaying the US’s transition to clean energy and requiring fossil fuel plants to stay online, while their high level of water consumption has also raised alarm. Now public health advocates fear another environmental problem could be linked to them – Pfas “forever chemical” pollution.

Big tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon often need datacenters to store servers and networking equipment that process the world’s digital traffic, and the artificial intelligence boom is driving demand for more facilities. Advocates are particularly concerned over the facilities’ use of Pfas gas, or f-gas, which can be potent greenhouse gases, and may mean datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thought. Other f-gases turn into a type of dangerous compound that is rapidly accumulating across the globe.

No testing for Pfas air or water pollution has yet been done, and companies are not required to report the volume of chemicals they use or discharge. But some environmental groups are starting to push for state legislation that would require more reporting. Advocates’ concern increased in mid-September when the Environmental Protection Agency announced it would fast-track review of new Pfas and other chemicals used by datacenters. The datacenter industry has said the Pfas it uses causes minimal pollution, but advocates disagree.

“We know there are Pfas in these centers and all of that has to go somewhere,” said Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, an attorney with the Earthjustice non-profit, which is monitoring Pfas use in datacenters. “This issue has been dangerously understudied as we have been building out datacenters, and there’s not adequate information on what the long term impacts will be.”

Youth-led US climate activists widen focus to fight authoritarianism

As the Trump administration cracks down on both environmental policies and progressive activism, the Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate justice organization that popularized calls for a Green New Deal, is widening its mission to fight authoritarianism.

“Every day, Donald Trump is seizing power and shredding the Constitution,” Sunrise’s executive director, Aru Shiney-Ajay, wrote in an open letter to Sunrise members, funders and allies. “What ordinary people do in the coming months will determine whether he and his billionaire cronies can cement their grip on power and turn this country into a playground for the rich and powerful.”

Unlike the majority of Sunrise’s past work, its newer efforts will not necessarily center the climate crisis. But Stevie O’Hanlon, a co-founder and spokesperson for Sunrise, said the projects will aim to build a world where climate action is possible. “In order to win the bold action that we’ll need to prevent climate catastrophe, we’re going to need a country where we have the right to dissent and protest,” she said. “How are we going to win on climate under authoritarianism?”

One key focus will be campus organizing to urge schools to resist Trump’s attempts to control their curricula and rules around political dissent, the letter from Shiney-Ajay says. Another will be garnering rapid responses to the administration’s deployment of troops and immigration policies to cities, and attempts to “infringe on our first amendment rights”. And a third expansion area will be training young activists to “recognize authoritarianism” and resist it using non-violent tactics. ...

Future Sunrise Movement efforts could include nationwide efforts to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) raids, campaigns to back city officials standing up to Trump, and actions to resist Republicans’ cuts to healthcare programs. The organization will also build toward a mass student mobilization on 1 May 2028, when United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain has called for a general strike.

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Also of Interest

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

Ukraine – Russian Hit On Freight Train, Passengers Hurt

Musing About Trump’s Recent Moves

Trump’s hatred for renewables means the US is falling behind the rest of the world

Supreme Court denies bid to hear Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal

Wikipedia Founder Tells Tucker The CIA Runs Wikipedia!

Soybean Farmer RIPS Trump: BAIL OUT Argentina While I Go Broke

French PM Lecornu QUITS. Macron, ALONE & ISOLATED

Van Jones Says 'Dead Gaza Babies' Are Foreign Misinformation

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A Little Night Music

Goree Carter - I'm Your Boogie Man

Goree Carter - She's My Best Bet

Goree Carter - Love's a Gamble

Goree Carter - Bullcorn (After Hours?)

Goree Carter - I've Got News For You

Goree Carter - Jumpin' At Jeffs'

Goree Carter - Let's Rock

Goree Carter - Come on Let's Boogie

Goree Carter - Hoy Hoy

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