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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Henry Gray

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Chicago blues piano player Henry Gray. Enjoy!

^{Henry Gray, Bob Corritore & Bob Margolin - Blues Won't Let Me Take My Rest}

“The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.”

-- EO Wilson

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News and Opinion

In Capitalism They Tell You To Become The Hammer If You Don’t Like Being The Nail

Came across an old Hampton Institute tweet:

“If you don’t like being exploited (employee, tenant), then become the exploiter (boss/owner, landlord)” is the capitalist mindset that has been drilled into all of us since we were kids. The real solution is to end exploitation (capitalism) altogether.

You run into this sort of argument all the time when interacting with capitalism supporters.

If people can’t make enough money to get by then they should get better-paying jobs.

If people don’t like getting kicked around by an abusive status quo then they should climb their way into a socioeconomic strata that isn’t getting kicked around as much.

If someone doesn’t like being the nail then they should become the hammer.

They deflect criticisms of the abusive system by babbling about what people can do as individuals to be less abused personally.

It’s like a horror movie villain trapping a bunch of people in a pyramid-shaped room and then filling it up with water so that only the ones who fight their way to the top can get air. He goes, “You don’t like drowning? Better not be among those who are underwater, then!”

In this horror movie, the people don’t curse the villain or swear they’ll kill him. Instead they just say “Well it’s not a perfect system, but it’s the best one possible!” If someone less fortunate manages to pop their head above water for a second and say “Please! We need air!”, they shove him back down and climb on his shoulders saying “Well you need to fight harder to get to the top then.”

Saying “Don’t like drowning? Then fight your way to the top” completely ignores the fact that the entire room is deliberately structured so that there will always necessarily be a large group of people who are drowning. Pointing out the fact that it is technically possible for someone as an individual to claw their way to the top is just a way of avoiding the need to address the abusive nature of the overall system which is premised on the permanent existence of a disadvantaged class.

Not everyone can be an employer; some people have got to be their employees, or their job doesn’t exist. Not everyone can be a landlord; landlords require rent-payers in order to exist. There can’t be a top ten percent who are living comfortably without a bottom ninety percent who aren’t.

This whole dystopia is built on top of an underclass of low-wage workers keeping the gears of industry turning; if they all quit today, the entire economy would be instantly obliterated. Saying “If those low-wage workers want better wages they should stop being low-wage workers” is telling a man to stop drowning while you are holding him underwater by standing on his head.

And what’s really crazy is that in this horror movie, the villain is entirely within reach. He’s standing there taunting everyone at the top of the room from a platform where he controls the water levels, and his legs are right there within grabbing distance. But instead of grabbing those legs and pulling him down so they can drain the room and save everyone, they’re fighting each other for air and saying anyone who drowns is to blame for their own drowning.

Craziest thing you can imagine, really. I wouldn’t even pay to watch that movie, because it’s too unbelievable.

And yet here we are.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Netanyahu Sabotages a Palestinian State

Trump considers skipping disarmament phase of Gaza plan amid deadlock

The US is looking to “forgo” the stage of the Gaza ceasefire initiative, which involves deploying an international security force to the strip to disarm Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions, Israeli media reported over the weekend. The October ceasefire agreement remains in its first stage as talks continue to stall over the issue of Hamas’s disarmament and post-war administration of Gaza.

This potential change in US direction is causing ongoing negotiations to “deadlock,” an Israeli security source told Hebrew news outlet Channel 13. The source said Washington is struggling to get commitments from countries to directly participate in disarming the factions. As a result, it has started to look for “interim solutions, which are currently unacceptable to Israel.”

“This interim solution is the worst there is,” the source added, referring to the plan to forgo disarmament and skip ahead to reconstruction. “Hamas has been strengthening in recent weeks since the end of the war. There can be no rehabilitation before demilitarization. It is contrary to Trump’s plan. Gaza must be demilitarized,” the Israeli source went on to say.Channel 13 notes that there has been a collapse in ceasefire talks over Washington’s inability to form the international force – referred to in Donald Trump’s ‘peace plan’ as the International Stabilization Force (ISF). ...

“Most countries that have expressed interest in participating in the ISF have said they would not be willing to enforce the disarmament … and would only act as a peacekeeping force,” Times of Israel wrote.

Why I’m accusing 63 nations of complicity in genocide | Francesca Albanese

As Israel Keeps Killing Palestinians, Tlaib Leads Bill Recognizing War on Gaza as Genocide

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and 20 Democratic colleagues on Friday introduced legislation that would officially recognize Israel's 25-month war on Gaza as a genocide, a move that came as Israeli forces continued killing Palestinians in the coastal strip and violating a tenuous ceasefire with Hamas.

Tlaib (D-Mich.)—the only Palestinian American in Congress—introduced H.Res. 876, which, if passed, would "officially recognize that the state of Israel has committed the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza" and affirm that it is official US policy to "prevent and punish the crime of genocide, wherever it occurs."

“The Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza has not ended, and it will not end until we act," Tlaib said in a statement Friday. "Since the so-called ‘ceasefire’ was announced, Israeli forces haven’t stopped killing Palestinians."

According to Gaza's Government Media Office (GMO), Israel has violated the ceasefire agreement 282 times as of November 10, 2025—exactly one month after the US-brokered truce took effect. Alleged violations include airstrikes resulting in massacres, shootings of civilians, property demolitions, and raids beyond the ceasefire's "yellow line" buffer zones.

GMO says Israeli forces have killed least 242 Palestinians and injured more than 620 others during the truce.

This, in addition to the at least 249,000 Palestinians who have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces since October 2023, including upward of 10,000 people who are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the ruins of Gaza, which could take decades to clear. Around 2 million Palestinians have been starved, sickened, and forcibly displaced. Many others have been arbitrarily imprisoned, tortured, and allegedly subjected to rape and other sexual abuse.

"After over two years of slaughter, forced starvation, and mass atrocities in Gaza, the global consensus is clear: The Israeli government has committed genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza," Tlaib noted.

She continued:

Palestinians in Gaza have attested to this genocide for over two years and it has been concluded by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and highly respected international, Palestinian, and Israeli human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, Al-Haq, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, Forensic Architecture, and the University Network for Human Rights.

The resolution calls for the United States to "respect its obligations under the Genocide Convention by employing all means reasonably available to it to prevent and punish the crime of genocide."

These include:

cessation of relevant arms and equipment transfers;

investigation and prosecution of individuals and corporations in the United States implicated in the crime of genocide;

compliance with the orders of the International Court of Justice and the investigations of the International Criminal Court (ICC); and

targeted, lawful sanctions with respect to the state of Israel and individuals or corporations involved in or facilitating the commission of genocide.

“Impunity only enables more atrocity," Tlaib warned. "As our government continues to send a blank check for war crimes and ethnic cleansing, Palestinian children’s smiles are extinguished by bombs and bullets that say made in the USA."

"To end this horror, we must reject genocide denial and follow our binding legal obligations under the Genocide Convention to take immediate action to pursue justice and accountability to prevent and punish the crime of genocide," she added. "We must hold individual perpetrators and complicit corporations to account. We must stop sending weapons to a genocidal military. We must follow international law and use all means available to us, including sanctions, to bring this genocide to an end.”

Despite existing laws prohibiting US assistance to foreign security forces that commit gross human rights violations, the United States—which grew into a world power in part via genocide of Indigenous Americans—has provided arms and diplomatic cover to the perpetrators

of genocides in Paraguay, Guatemala, Bangladesh, East Timor, Kurdistan, and Gaza over the past half-century, while turning a blind eye to other genocides.

Under the Biden and Trump administrations, the US has provided Israel with more than $20 billion in armed aid while thwarting efforts to end the genocide by vetoing numerous United Nations Security Council ceasefire resolutions.

The Trump administration has also slapped sanctions on ICC judges after the tribunal issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including murder and forced starvation.

Trump has also targeted individuals and nations who seek justice for Palestinians, acknowledge the Gaza genocide, or recognize Palestinian statehood.

Tlaib's resolution is co-sponsored by Democratic Reps. Becca Balint (Vt.), André Carson (Ind.), Greg Casar (Texas), Maxine Dexter (Ore.), Maxwell Alejandro Frost (Fla.), Jesús "Chuy" García (Ill.), Al Green (Texas), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), “Hank” Johnson Jr. (Ga.), Ro Khanna (Calif.), Summer Lee (Pa.), Jim McGovern (Mass.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Lateefah Simon (Calif.), Nydia Velázquez (NY), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ).

The resolution—which is unlikely to get through the Republican-controlled Congress—is also endorsed by more than 100 organizations.

“This resolution is an important step towards recognizing Israel’s actions against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip for what they are—genocide," Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa advocacy director Elizabeth Rghebi said in support of the measure.

"The US ratified the Genocide Convention which imposes a duty on states to prevent and punish the crime," Rghebi added. "Amnesty International calls on all members of Congress to urgently support this resolution and ensure the US begins taking the actions necessary to prevent and punish Israel’s genocide in Gaza."

Beth Miller, political director at Jewish Voice for Peace Action, said that “for over two years, the US has been a full partner in the Israeli government’s genocide against Palestinians. Presidents and members of Congress have denied and erased Israel’s ongoing atrocities in Gaza, shielded Israel from accountability in the international arena, and attempted to dehumanize Palestinians."

"Congresswoman Tlaib and the original co-sponsors joining her on this historic resolution are making clear that this complicity must come to an end," Miller added. "These representatives are heeding the call of the overwhelming majority of Americans who want to see an end to this genocide and a halt to US support for war crimes."

Al Jazeera uncovers suspicious group behind transfer of Palestinians from Gaza

Biden Officials FEARED PROSECUTION For WAR CRIMES in Gaza

‘National Security Threat’? 95-Year-Old Human Rights Scholar Richard Falk Interrogated for Hours by Canada

Ninety-five-year-old Richard Falk—world renowned scholar of international law and former UN special rapporteur focused on Palestinian rights—was detained and interrogated for several hours along with his wife, legal scholar Hilal Elver, as the pair entered Canada for a conference focused on that nation's complicity with Israel's genocide in Gaza.

"A security person came and said, ‘We’ve detained you both because we’re concerned that you pose a national security threat to Canada,'” Falk explained to Al-Jazeera in a Saturday interview from Ottawa in the wake of the incident that happened at the international airport in Toronto ahead of the scheduled event.

“It was my first experience of this sort–ever–in my life,” said Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, author or editor of more than 20 books, and formerly the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories.

Falk, who is American, has been an outspoken critic of the foreign policy of Canada, the United States, and other Western nations on the subject of Israel-Palestine as well as other issues. He told media outlets that he and his wife, also an American, were held for over four hours after their arrival in Toronto. They were in the country to speak and participate at the Palestine Tribunal on Canadian Responsibility, an event scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Ottawa, the nation's capital.

The event, according to the program notes on the website, was designed to "document the multiple ways that Canadian entities – including government bodies, corporations, universities, charities, media, and other cultural institutions–have enabled and continue to enable the settler colonization and genocide of Palestinians, and to articulate what justice and reparations would require."

Richard Falk is Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton and a former UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian human rights. He is 95 years old. Western governments will target anyone working to hold Israel accountable for genocide. https://t.co/18fQekVxwz

— Linda Mamoun (@mamoun_linda) November 14, 2025

In his comments to Al-Jazeera, Falk said he believes the interrogation by the Canadian authorities—which he described as "nothing particularly aggressive" but "random" and "disorganized" in its execution—is part of a global effort by powerful nations complicit with human rights abuses and violations of international law to “punish those who endeavour to tell the truth about what is happening” in the world, including in Gaza.

Martin Shaw, a British sociologist and author of The New Age of Genocide, said the treatment of Falk and Elver should be seen as an "extraordinary development" for Canada, and not in a good way. For a nation that likes to think of itself as a "supporter of international justice," said Shaw, "to arrest the veteran scholar and former UN rapporteur Richard Falk while he is attending a Gaza tribunal. Clearly, the international repression of the Palestinian cause knows no bounds."

Canadian Senator Yuen Pau Woo, a supporter of the Palestine Tribunal, told Al-Jazeera he was “appalled” by the interrogation.

“We know they were here to attend the Palestine Tribunal. We know they have been outspoken in documenting and publicizing the horrors inflicted on Gaza by Israel, and advocating for justice,” Woo said. “If those are the factums for their detention, then it suggests that the Canadian government considers these acts of seeking justice for Palestine to be national security threats–and I’d like to know why.”

Israel DEMANDS 20 Year US Payout As Politics FLIP

China sends coast guard to Senkaku islands amid row with Japan

China has sent its coast guard through the waters of the Senkaku islands and military drones past outlying Japanese territory as Beijing ramps up tensions over the Japanese prime minister’s remarks on Taiwan. On Sunday the Chinese coastguard said its ships made a “rights enforcement patrol” through the waters of the Senkaku, which are administered by Japan but also claimed by China as the Diaoyu islands.

“China coast guard vessel 1307 formation conducted patrols within the territorial waters of the Diaoyu islands. This was a lawful patrol operation conducted by the China coast guard to uphold its rights and interests,” the statement said.

China and Japan have repeatedly faced off around the islands but the latest activity comes amid an intensifying diplomatic spat after the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, told parliament that if China attack democratically ruled Taiwan it could trigger a military response from Tokyo. That sparked an angry response from Beijing, which has signalled it expects a retraction from Takaichi.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory and intends to annex it under what it terms “reunification”. It has not ruled out the use of force. Taiwan’s government and people overwhelmingly reject the prospect of Chinese rule – preferring to maintain the status quo without explicitly declaring themselves independent, but vowing to defend themselves if necessary. An attack or invasion by China would threaten to spiral into a regional or global conflict, potentially involving the US and other allies including Japan, which has territory just 110km (68 miles) from Taiwan.

In Taiwan, the defence ministry said on Sunday morning that it had detected 30 Chinese military aircraft, seven navy ships and one “official” ship, which was likely the coast guard, operating around the island over the past 24 hours.

Ray McGovern : Trump Keeps Killing

US military attacks another alleged drug boat in eastern Pacific, killing three

The United States conducted another attack on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people aboard, the Pentagon said on Sunday. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” the US Southern Command announced in a post on social media.

The announcement said the boat was in international waters when it was struck by the Southern Spear joint taskforce. It did not give details on where the vessel was traveling from or what organization it was associated with.

The latest operation was the 21st known attack on drug boats by the US military since early September in what it has called a justified effort to disrupt the flow of narcotics into the United States. The strikes have killed more than 80 people, according to Pentagon figures. Lawmakers in Congress, human rights groups and US allies have raised questions about the legality of the attacks.

The Trump administration has said it has the legal authority to carry out the strikes, with the justice department providing a legal opinion that justifies them and argues that US military personnel who carry out the operations are immune from prosecution. The administration also has not publicly explained the legal justification for the decision to attack the boats rather than stop them and arrest those on board.

The latest deadly strike came as the US navy announced its most advanced aircraft carrier had arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday in a display of power that raised questions about what the new influx of troops and weaponry could signal for the Trump administration’s intentions in South America.

Trump Says US ‘May Be Having Discussions’ With Venezuela’s Maduro

President Trump said on Sunday that the US “may be having discussions” with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, suggesting his administration has not entirely cut off diplomacy with Caracas as previous reports have said. ...

The US claims that Maduro is the leader of the Cartel of the Suns, signaling it will use the terror designation as a pretext to target him. Trump was asked if the designation could justify the US targeting Maduro’s assets or infrastructure inside Venezuela, and claimed that it “allows us to do that,” though any military action without congressional authorization would be illegal under the Constitution. Trump then suggested that the US and Venezuela are talking.

“It allows us to do that, but I haven’t said we’re going to do that, and we may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out, but they would like to talk,” he told reporters.

Maduro has made clear that he’s willing to reach some kind of deal with the US and sent a letter to Trump after the US began bombing alleged drug-running boats in the region. In the letter, the Venezuelan leader urged for diplomacy to resolve any issues and said he was ready to talk to Trump’s special envoy, Ric Grennel, at any time.

Zelensky Tours Europe; Military Crisis Worsens; Hiuliapolie Pokrovsk Kharkov; Kiev's Oil War Fails

‘Worst of the Worst’? DOJ Figures Show 97.4% of 614 Detained Immigrants in Chicago Had No Criminal Record

President Donald Trump and his administration have claimed repeatedly that the immigration raids that have terrorized communities nationwide this year are focused on getting the "worst of the worst" off the streets and out of the country, but new detention data filed by the Department of Justice on Friday shows that only a tiny fraction of the more than 600 people who remain in detention in the Chicago area from raids over recent months have any criminal record, bolstering anecdotal evidence that many of those targeted for by ICE and federal border agents are hard-working, law-abiding members of society.

According to the Chicago Tribune:

The Trump administration on Friday released the names of 614 people whose Chicago-area immigration arrests may have violated a 2022 consent decree, and only 16 of them have criminal histories that present a “high public safety risk.”

The list was produced as part of an ongoing lawsuit alleging immigration agents have repeatedly violated the terms of the in-court settlement, mostly during “Operation Midway Blitz,” that puts a high bar on making so-called warrantless arrests without a prior warrant or probable cause.

The Trump administration on Friday released the names of 614 people whose Chicago-area immigration arrests may have violated a 2022 consent decree, and only 16 of them have criminal histories that present a “high public safety risk.”

The list was produced as part of an ongoing lawsuit alleging immigration agents have repeatedly violated the terms of the in-court settlement, mostly during “Operation Midway Blitz,” that puts a high bar on making so-called warrantless arrests without a prior warrant or probable cause.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the list of 614 detainees comes from a longer list of roughly 1,800 individuals arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Chicago area between June 11 and October 7, of which "only about 750 of them remain in the country." Most of the others were deported, and their criminal histories were not presented in Friday's disclosure.

The consent decree at issue, known as the Castañon-Nava settlement agreement, restricts the ability of ICE agents or others working with them to make warrantless arrests in Illinois.

“Communities throughout the Chicago area have been traumatized by ICE and other federal agents’ chaotic and violent actions in our neighborhoods in recent months, and potentially hundreds of families already have been permanently separated as a result of unlawful arrests and rapid deportations without due process," said Mark Fleming, associate director of litigation for the National Immigration Justice Center (NIJC), who is backing the legal case against the unlawful arrests and detentions in Chicago, after the order issued by Cummings on Wednesday.

"NIJC and our partners will continue to demand justice for our communities and accountability for the lawless administration we all are facing.”

During Wednesday's hearing, the judge suggested many of those who remain in detention likely have no history of criminal conduct and were targeted by federal agents simply for fitting a specific profile. As the Sun-Times reports:

Cummings said that 54 of those people were arrested at work, including 20 landscapers and four ride-share or taxi drivers. Twenty were arrested commuting to or from work, he added, and nine were arrested at a Home Depot or Menards, “presumably either seeking work or to pick up supplies.”

Seven were also arrested at an “immigration-related hearing,” Cummings said, while 11 were arrested in public places like a park, gas station or even a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru.

“It seems highly likely to me that at least some of those individuals are among the 615 detainees who are not subject to mandatory detention,” Cummings said. He also found them unlikely to be members of gangs, “assorted other ne’er-do-wells” or the “worst of the worst.”

Community members living in Chicago and its outlying suburbs, including Broadview, have expressed anger at Trump's ICE operations in the region, which have seen school teachers, childcare providers, day laborers, and other neighbors targeted and arrested.

On Friday, 21 people were arrested outside the immigration detention center in Broadview following a morning demonstration outside the facility.

Dozens reportedly arrested in Charlotte, North Carolina, amid immigration crackdown

A top border patrol commander touted dozens of arrests in North Carolina’s largest city on Sunday as Charlotte residents reported a surge of encounters with federal immigration agents near churches and apartment complexes. The Trump administration has made the Democratic-led city of about 950,000 people its latest target for an immigration enforcement crackdown it says will combat crime, despite fierce objections from local leaders and the fact that crime rates in the city are steadily declining.

Some businesses in Charlotte chose to stay closed at the weekend and many areas that would often be bustling on a Saturday afternoon were quiet as people stayed home in fear of anti-immigration raids and sweeps.

Gregory Bovino, who led hundreds of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on a similar operation in Chicago, took to social media to document some of the arrests, a total that he said now stands at 81. He added that many of those taken into custody had “significant criminal and immigration history” and that the mass arrests were accomplished in “about 5 hours”. He posted pictures of people the Trump administration commonly dubs “criminal illegal aliens” as a damning characterization for people living in the US without legal permission who have alleged criminal records. That included one of a man with an alleged history of drunk driving convictions. ...

The latest effort by federal law enforcement has been labeled “Operation Charlotte’s Web” as a play on the title of the children’s book but conjuring an image of people caught in a trap. In response to the crackdown, activists were seen in videos posted to social media handing out whistles to community members for them to alert their neighbors to the presence of ICE and federal agents.

With US ‘Paying the Price for Trump’s Mistakes,’ He Ends Tariffs for Bananas, Beef, Coffee, and More

Although President Donald Trump didn't actually confess that his global trade war is driving up the cost of groceries for Americans, he did finally drop his dubiously named "reciprocal" tariffs on key imports on Friday.

According to a White House fact sheet, Trump's new executive order ends his tariffs on beef; cocoa and spices; coffee and tea; bananas, oranges, and tomatoes; other tropical fruits and fruit juices; and fertilizers.

The New York Times had reported Thursday that "the Trump administration is preparing broad exemptions to certain tariffs in an effort to ease elevated food prices that have provoked anxiety for American consumers."

The reporting drew critiques of the administration's economic policies, including from members of Congress such as Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who said that "Trump just admitted it: Americans are footing the bill for his disastrous tariffs."

The Epstein-Israel Connection the Media Still Won’t Touch

A puppy and unlimited toilet paper? Legal experts say Ghislaine Maxwell’s alleged prison life is uncommon

Since Ghislaine Maxwell’s controversial transfer to a low-security prison camp this summer, her time at Texas’s FPC Bryan has prompted uproar over alleged favorable treatment – including claims this week that she was provided custom-made meals, access to a puppy and as much toilet paper as she wants.

Some of the recent accusations were in a 9 November letter thatJamie Raskin sent to Donald Trump. The Democratic representative’s letter, which cited whistleblower information, demanded answers about Maxwell’s conditions – including whether Trump directed anyone in his administration to give her special treatment.

Whistleblower disclosures, Raskin said, also revealed that Maxwell was working on a “commutation application” with Trump’s administration. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of teen girls, a scandal that has dogged Trump for years and has recently hit a feverish pitch during his second term. ...

While the White House has previously said “pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell is not something [Trump] has thought about”, legal veterans told the Guardian that this kind of alleged treatment is uncommon, and raises the specter of still more favorable developments for Maxwell. “The government isn’t going to give an incarcerated prisoner all of these perks in exchange for nothing,” said Eric Faddis, founder of the Colorado law firm Varner Faddis and a former prosecutor. “What it tells me is that the government believes they received something of value from Ghislaine and this is sort of her reward.”

Trump SHOCK REVERSAL On Epstein Files In 11th Hour Loss

Trump’s investigation into Epstein ties to political foes might be ‘smokescreen’, Republican says

Republican congressman Thomas Massie challenged Donald Trump on Sunday over whether the US president is making a “last-ditch effort” to keep the full files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from becoming public by ordering a fresh investigation. Massie and Democratic congressman Ro Khanna, the two US representatives leading the bipartisan push to make all the files held by the government public both raised fresh concerns about the latest actions by the White House.

Speaking on ABC’s This Week, Massie criticized Trump for ordering attorney general Pam Bondi on Friday to examine Democrats with ties to Epstein. This despite emails released last week by the House of Representatives’ oversight committee that suggest Trump was aware of Epstein’s conduct and that Epstein had also advised Steve Bannon, a key figure in Trump’s Make America Great Again (Maga) base.

“The president’s been saying this is a hoax,” Massie said, referring to several claims Trump has made in reaction to repeated calls for full disclosure of the files. “He’s been saying that for months. Well, he’s just now decided to investigate a hoax, if it’s a hoax. And I have another concern about these investigations that he’s announced. If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can’t be released. “So, this might be a big smokescreen, these investigations, to open a bunch of them, as a last-ditch effort to prevent the release of the Epstein files,” he added.

ABC anchor Jonathan Karl asked Massie about what the Epstein records might contain and why Trump appears afraid of what they might reveal. “You know, I’ve never said that these files will implicate Donald Trump,” Massie replied. “And I really don’t think that they will. I think he’s trying to protect a bunch of rich and powerful friends, billionaires, donors to his campaign, friends in his social circles. That’s my operating theory on why he’s trying so hard to keep these files closed.”

Massie also said it was possible that more than 100 House Republicans may vote in favor of releasing the Epstein files, documents currently held by the justice department related to the alleged crimes and alleged clientele of the late financier and sex offender, when the measure reaches the House floor for a vote this week. He urged skeptics to rethink their position.

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Trump ends support for Marjorie Taylor Greene amid growing Epstein feud

Donald Trump announced Friday that he is withdrawing his support for and endorsement of Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime ally and previously fierce defender of the president and the Maga movement. Trump’s move away from Greene came just hours after she said in an interview she thought the president’s attempts to stop the release of the files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein is “insanely the wrong direction to go”.

“I am withdrawing my support and endorsement of ‘Congresswoman’ Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the great state of Georgia,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday evening. “All I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” Trump said he would give his “unyielding support” to a primary challenge against her “if the right person runs”. Greene currently represents Georgia’s 14th congressional district.

Earlier on Friday, Greene told Politico that Trump should not be trying to stop the release of the Epstein files when rising costs in the US are making it difficult for even the president’s own supporters to pay their bills. “It’s insanely the wrong direction to go. The five-alarm fire is healthcare and affordability for Americans. And that’s where the focus should be,” Greene said.

Schumer Career OVER After Shutdown Cave

Maine Senate Candidate Graham Platner Says ‘Nobody Works Hard Enough to Justify $1 Billion’

Echoing recent viral comments by music superstar Billie Eilish, Maine Democratic candidate for US Senate Graham Planter is also arguing that the existence of billionaires cannot be justified in a world where working-class people with multiple jobs still cannot afford the basic necessities of life.

In video clip posted Friday of a campaign event in the northern town of Caribou from last month, Platner rails against the "structures" of an economy in which billionaires with vast personal fortunes use their wealth to bend government—including the tax code—to conform to their interests while working people are left increasingly locked out of controlling their own destinies, both materially and politically.

"Nobody works hard enough to justify $1 billion," the military veteran and oyster farmer told potential voters at the event. "Not in a world where I know people that have three jobs and can't even afford their rent."

With audience members nodding their heads in agreement, Platner continued by saying, "I refuse to believe that in a state like Maine, where people work as hard as we do here, that it is merely hard work that gets you that kind of success. We all know it isn't. We all know it's the structures. It's the tax code. That is what allows that money to get accrued."

No one works hard enough to justify being a billionaire. pic.twitter.com/Ezvf5fPLfv

— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) November 14, 2025

The systemic reasons that create vast inequality, Platner continued, are also why he believes that the process of the super wealthy becoming richer and richer at the expense of working people can be reversed.

"The world that we live in today," he explained, "is not organic. It is not natural. The political and economic world we have did not happen because it had to. It happened because politicians in Washington and the billionaires who write the policies that they pushed made this happen. They changed the laws, and they made it legal to accrue as much wealth and power as they have now."

The solution? "We need to make it illegal again to do that," says Platner.

The comments questioning the justification for billionaires to even exist by Platner—though made in early October—echo more recent comments that went viral when spoken by Billie Eilish, a popular musician, who told a roomful of Wall Street movers and shakers in early November that they should do a better job reflecting on their outrageous wealth.

"Love you all, but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me," Eilish said during an award event in New York City. "If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties."

While those remarks took a long spin around the internet, Eilish on Friday doubled down on uncharitable billionaires by colorfully calling Elon Musk, who could end up being the world's first trillionaire, a "fucking pathetic pussy bitch coward" for not donating more of his vast fortune, among the largest in the world, to humanitarian relief efforts.

This week, as Common Dreams reported, a coalition of economists and policy experts called for the creation of a new international body to address the global crisis of inequality.

Like Platner, the group behind the call—including economists like Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Piketty, Ha-Joon Chang, and Jayati Ghosh—emphasized the inequality-as-a-policy-choice framework. Piketty, who has called for the mass taxation of dynastic wealth as a key part of the solution to runaway inequality, said “we are at a dangerous moment in human history” with “the very essence of democracy” under threat if something is not done.

On the campaign trail in Maine, Platner has repeatedly suggested that only organized people can defeat the power of the oligarchs, which he has named as the chief enemy of working people in his state and beyond. The working class, he said at a separate rally, "have an immense amount of power, but we only have it if we're organized."

No one from above is coming to save us. It’s up to us to organize, use our immense power as the working class, and win the world we deserve. pic.twitter.com/Xm3ZIhfCJI

— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) November 11, 2025

"No one from above is coming to save us," Platner said. "It’s up to us to organize, use our immense power as the working class, and win the world we deserve."

Mamdani Backers Rally to ‘Tax the Rich’

Hundreds of people in New York City gathered on Sunday in Union Square with calls to "Tax the Rich" as they showed their support for the progressive agenda of mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist elected earlier this month who will take the helm of the nation's largest city on January 1.

The "Tax the Rich — Seize Our Future" event was co-sponsored by the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialist of America, Housing Justice For All and NYS Tenant Bloc, Jewish Voice for Peace NYC, UAW Region 9A, the Invest in Our New Coalition, and others.

The groups are backing Mamdani's call for universal childcare, free public busses, a rent freeze, and city-operated grocery stores in the city, all which will be made more possible with revenue raised by increased taxes on the city's wealthiest individuals and for-profit companies.

"Zohran Mamdani’s cost-of-living agenda has the support of masses of working class New Yorkers—but winning an ambitious affordability agenda cannot be won with one mayor alone," said the NYC-DSA in a post about the "Tax the Rich" event on their website. "To build the universal public goods we deserve, we need to ensure the wealthiest individuals and corporations in our state are paying their fair share in taxes."

We supported Zohran Mamdani for mayor, NYC-DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo says at a Tax the Rich rally. “We're only getting started. This year, we're going to tax the rich.” pic.twitter.com/n9v9ZZkTeY

— Jeff Coltin (@JCColtin) November 16, 2025

"It will take a movement to push Albany to put working New Yorkers before billionaire donors and tax the rich," said Danny Zaldes, a DSA member and organizer as he called on others to join the effort

"As we know, power concedes nothing without a demand,” declared Democratic state Sen. Jabari Brisport (D-25) during his speech at the rally, “and today we demand to tax the rich!”

The rally served as the launch of a new campaign by coalition members behind the event, one aimed at making sure that Mamdani maintains grassroots support even as he takes charge of the city's municipal government in the New Year.

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$170,000 a minute: why Saudi Arabia is the biggest blocker of climate action

Can you imagine someone giving you $170,000 (£129,000)? ... Can you imagine getting another $170,000 one minute later? And the handouts then continuing every minute for years? If so, you have a feel for the colossal cash machine that is Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco, the world’s biggest producer of oil and gas last year. That tidal wave of cash keeps the authoritarian kingdom afloat, as it lavishes money on fossil fuel subsidies for its citizens, soft power projects like the football World Cup and mind-boggling construction projects. But it is also why the drive for accelerating climate action, principally getting the world off fossil fuels, is seen as an existential threat to Saudi Arabia: its economy and even its ruling royal family.

For decades, Saudi Arabia has fought harder than any other country to block and delay international climate action – a diplomatic “wrecking ball” saying that abandoning fossil fuels is a fantasy. Its opposition has continued in the run-up to the UN Cop30 climate summit in Brazil, yet the country is now also making a whirlwind switch to renewable power at home. In another contradiction, slowing climate action worsens the impacts on a desert kingdom that is extremely vulnerable to global heating and where its 36 million people already contend with conditions “at the verge of livability”.

How can these contradictions be understood, and can countries desperate to fight a climate crisis that is already killing a person a minute outflank Saudi obstruction? “The Saudis are not crazy.” says Karim Elgendy, an expert on climate and energy in the Middle East. “But they don’t want to be a failed state.” ...

An early and pivotal victory for Saudi Arabia and its oil-rich Opec allies was blocking the use of voting to take decisions in UN climate negotiations – voting is common in other UN bodies. Instead, consensus is needed for approval. “This impasse has never been overcome. It gives outsized influence to laggards, which suits Saudi Arabia very well,” a report by the Climate Social Science Network found, with the impasse since “crippling” the talks. Armed with an effective veto, Saudi Arabia has held back climate negotiations ever since by becoming master of the arcane and complicated procedural rules that govern the process, “seeking to ensure it achieves as little as possible, as slowly as possible”, the report said.

More than a dozen obstruction tactics have been deployed, from disputing the agendas to claiming that strands of the talks have no mandate to discuss issues it dislikes – such as phasing out fossil fuels – to insisting action to help vulnerable countries adapt to global heating is linked to compensating oil-rich nations for lost sales. Delay is a key aim and, for example, Saudi Arabia strongly opposed any virtual negotiations when Covid shut down the world in 2020. “They are really good at it, absolutely masterful,” says Dr Joanna Depledge at the University of Cambridge.

South Pacific nation of Tuvalu rebukes Trump’s ‘shameful disregard’ at Cop30

Of all the representatives from 193 countries present at the crucial UN climate talks in Belém, Brazil, only one has summoned the courage to take the stage and publicly denounce the absent and hostile Trump administration: the climate minister of tiny Tuvalu. On Monday, Maina Vakafua Talia told leaders and diplomats at the Cop30 summit that Donald Trump had shown a “shameful disregard for the rest of the world” by withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement.

At a gathering where Trump has loomed large despite refusing to send a US delegation, Talia’s public rebuke is in stark contrast to mostly private murmurings from delegations aghast at attempts by the US to halt climate action but wary of potential retribution from the White House.

“We can’t remain silent while our islands are sinking. We can’t remain silent while our people are suffering,” Talia said. Tuvalu is a nation of atolls and reef islands in the south Pacific and is considered acutely vulnerable to sea level rise and fiercer storms caused by the climate crisis.

“The US has withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement, and I think that’s a shameful thing to do,” he said. “We look to the US for options, for peace, but it seems they are going in the opposite direction and we should hold them accountable. Just because the US is a bigger country doesn’t mean we have to be silent. What matters to us is our survival.”

Trump himself has made clear his disdain for the climate crisis, calling it a “con job” and a “hoax” while axing environmental rules and clean energy projects in the US and urging other countries to remain dependent on fossil fuels. “If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,” the US president told leaders at a UN speech in September. “You need strong borders and traditional energy sources if you are going to be great again … All of these predictions made by the UN, often for bad reasons, are wrong. They were made by stupid people.”

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Also of Interest

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

US Inequality Is Way Past Revolution Time

South African activists allege Israel used shadowy NGO to 'traffic' Palestinians from Gaza

Freed Palestinian child prisoners recount torture in Israeli custody

Israel Attacks UNIFIL Peacekeepers in Southern Lebanon

Craig Murray: London Opposes Review of Palestine Action Terrorist Proscription

Cities Panic Over Having to Release Mass Surveillance Recordings

Thoughts On The Shutdown

Climate crisis or a warning from God? Iranians desperate for answers as water dries up

The last frontier of empathy: why we still struggle to see ourselves as animals

Baby sea otter named Caterpillar rescued off central California coast

Who Is FUNDING The Protests In Mexico?

Biden Press Secretary DEFENDS Lying About Gaza Genocide!

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A Little Night Music

Henry Gray - You Messed Up

Henry Gray - Watch Yourself

Little Henry Gray - Matchbox Blues

Henry Gray - That Ain't Right

Henry Gray - Stagger Lee

Henry Gray - Raining in My Heart

Henry Gray - Dust my broom

Henry Gray & The Cats - Sweet home Chicago

Henry Gray, Terrance Simien & Li'l Buck Sinegal - Full Set - Crescent City Blues & BBQ Fest (2018)

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