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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Perry Bradford

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features early jazz composer and performer Perry Bradford. Enjoy!

^{Perry Bradford & his Gang - Original Black Bottom Dance}

“You think the end justifies the means, however vile. I tell you: the end is the means by which you achieve it. Today's step is tomorrow's life. Great ends cannot be attained by base means. You've proved that in all your social upheavals. The meanness and inhumanity of the means make you mean and inhuman and make the end unattainable.”

-- Wilhelm Reich

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News and Opinion

The Justifications For War With Iran Keep Changing

The justifications for war with Iran keep changing. First it’s nukes, then it’s conventional missiles, then it’s protesters, and now it’s back to nukes again. Kinda seems like war with Iran is itself the objective, and they’re just making up excuses to get there.

As the US moves war machinery to the middle east and holds multi-day war games
throughout the region, President Trump and his handlers have been posting threats to the Iranian government
on social media warning them to “make a deal” on nuclear weapons.

The following appeared on Trump’s Truth Social account on Wednesday:

“A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela. Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary. Hopefully Iran will quickly “Come to the Table” and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was “Operation Midnight Hammer,” a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

“…Hopefully Iran will quickly “Come to the Table” and negotiate a fair and equitable deal - NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS - one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL…” - President DONALD J. TRUMP pic.twitter.com/H6qLbw3Ndi

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 28, 2026

It’s interesting that we’re back on the subject of needing to bomb Iran because of nuclear weapons, given that just a couple of weeks ago we were being told it was very, very important for the US to bomb Iran because of Iran’s mistreatment of protesters. Earlier this month Trump was openly saying “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!… HELP IS ON ITS WAY” while issuing threats to the Iranian government not to respond violently to the uprising. The president then backed off of these threats, reportedly at the urging of Benjamin Netanyahu who told him Israel needed more time to prepare for war.

Prior to that, Trump was saying he would bomb Iran if it continued expanding its conventional missile program. Asked about reports that the US and Israel were discussing plans to strike Iran to stop it from building on its ballistic missile arsenal and reconstructing its air defenses that were damaged in the Twelve Day War, the president told the press “I hope they’re not trying to build up again because if they are, we’re going have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that buildup.”

The US justified its airstrikes on Iranian energy infrastructure during the Twelve Day War by citing concerns that Tehran was building a nuclear weapon, after which Trump confidently proclaimed that “All three nuclear sites in Iran were completely destroyed and/or OBLITERATED. It would take years to bring them back into service.”

And yet here we are a few months later back on the subject of nuclear weapons, with the US president citing urgent concerns over nukes to justify its renewed brinkmanship with Iran.

I kinda think they’re lying to us, folks.

Didn’t Trump say last summer that he destroyed three nuclear sites in Iran that they couldn’t bring back into service for many years? https://t.co/hK9AAqrpAK

— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) January 28, 2026

When someone’s feeding you all sorts of reasons for why they need to bomb a country, and the reasons are all different and unrelated to each other, then those aren’t reasons. They’re excuses.

It’s just like they did with Venezuela. It’s because of fentanyl! Okay it’s not because of fentanyl, but it’s definitely about cocaine! Wait, no, it’s because of the tyrannical dictator! Also this is happening in the western hemisphere so it’s fine and good for us to intervene!

Both Venezuela and Iran are oil-rich nations which have been disobedient to the will of the US empire. Both Venezuela and Iran have presented obstacles to US global hegemony. It’s not about nukes or protesters or dictators or drugs, it’s about ruling the world.

That’s all it’s ever about. They just move the arguments around to get what they want.

Despite all Trump’s showmanship about nuclear weapons, behind the scenes the US is reportedly trying to get Iran to agree to limit its conventional ballistic missiles, which, as The New York Times notes, “are the last deterrent in Iran’s arsenal against a renewed attack by Israel.”

What this means is that the Trump administration is trying to get Iran to consent to becoming a neutered subject who must forever submit to the US and Israel’s demands, because it won’t be able to defend itself if they decide Tehran isn’t being sufficiently compliant.

They’re trying to frame this as being about humanitarian concerns and nuclear weapons, but it’s actually about domination. They either get a submissive vassal, or they get their regime change war.

The more tense things get with Iran, the more the empire is going to lie to us.

COL. Lawrence Wilkerson : Can Iran Defeat Israel in a Regional War?

Threat of US-Iran war escalates as Trump warns time running out for deal

The threat of war between the US and Iran appeared to loom closer after Donald Trump told Tehran time was running out and that a huge US armada was moving quickly towards the country “with great power, enthusiasm and purpose”.

Writing on social media, the US president said on Wednesday that the fleet headed by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was larger than the one sent to Venezuela before the removal of Nicolás Maduro earlier this month and was “prepared to rapidly fulfil its missions with speed and violence if necessary”.

Trump said: “Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! “As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again.”

It was the starkest indication yet from Trump that he intends to mount some kind of military strike imminently if Iran refuses to negotiate a deal on the future of its nuclear programme. The post also reflects a remarkable shift in the White House’s stated rationale for sending a carrier strike group to the region, moving away from outrage over the death of protesters to the fate of Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Trump urged Iranians to keep protesting earlier this month, telling them “help is on its way”, but he later backtracked on the grounds that “the killing has stopped”. There is speculation that he actually held back because he did not have enough military assets in the area, Gulf States had urged restraint and Israel had counselled it needed more time to prepare for likely reprisals from Iran.

Trump would also maintain the “preemptive defensive option” of striking Iran if there were indications that it was planning an attack on US troops, he said. “They certainly have the capability because they’ve amassed thousands and thousands of ballistic missiles that they’ve built.” European diplomats had been expecting a crisis to develop over the weekend and detected signs of Israeli nervousness about the scale of possible Iranian reprisals.

John Mearsheimer: There's NO DECISIVE WIN for TRUMP w/IRAN

Trump to Iran: Agree to Nuclear Deal Or the US Will Attack

President Donald Trump renewed his threats to attack Iran if the Islamic Republic does not comply with his demands. The President claimed that Iran must agree to a new nuclear deal or would be attacked by the “armada” Trump has assembled in the Middle East.

After returning to the White House, Trump tightened sanctions on Iran and threatened to attack the Islamic Republic if it did not agree to a deal that would limit or eliminate its civilian nuclear program.

Tehran has stated that it is willing to agree to limitations and strict inspections of its nuclear program, but it will continue to enrich uranium. The President has asserted that Iran must completely eliminate its enrichment program.

Prior to the unprovoked Israeli attack on Iran in June that ignited a 12-day conflict, Washington and Tehran were in the process of establishing a new nuclear agreement. When Trump ordered US forces to aid Israel and attack Iran, those negotiations failed. Iran has offered to return to the table if Trump stops threatening the Islamic Republic.

Pepe Escobar : Why Iran Is In Trump’s Crosshairs!

Israel Seeks 10-Year Military Aid Package with Additional Security Assistance

According to Gil Pinchas, a financial adviser to the Israeli military, talks to establish a new Memorandum of Understanding between Washington and Tel Aviv will kick off in the coming weeks. The current MOU grants Israel $3.8 billion in annual US military aid and is set to expire in 2028.

The MOU is structured as $3.3 billion in financial support that Pinchas dubbed “free money.” Under the deal, the US also sends Israel $500 million every year for the Iron Dome air defense system.

Netanyahu has previously stated that Israel wants to decrease the amount of direct financial support it receives from the US. But, Pinchas explained, that will not result in Washington providing less military support to Tel Aviv.

Pinchas said that Israel could receive more US support for joint projects such as the Iron Dome. He added that the US military deployments to the Middle East are worth “many billions more” than direct financial support.

Trump Governs Without Values | Aaron Maté

Iraq’s former prime minister denounces ‘blatant American interference’ in election

Iraq’s former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has angrily denounced “blatant American interference” in the country’s election after Donald Trump threatened to withdraw US support if he was returned to power.

“We reject the blatant American interference in Iraq’s internal affairs and consider it a violation of its sovereignty,” al-Maliki, who is nominated by the country’s dominant political bloc to return to the premiership, said in a statement on Wednesday.

His comments came after Trump wrote in a social media post: “Last time Maliki was in power, the Country descended into poverty and total chaos … Because of his insane policies and ideologies, if elected, the United States of America will no longer help Iraq and, if we are not there to help, Iraq has ZERO chance of Success, Prosperity, or Freedom.”

Trump’s intervention in Iraqi politics comes as he weighs carrying out new strikes on neighbouring Iran, and as the US starts transferring Islamic State militants from detention sites in Syria to ones in Iraq.

Washington has been pushing Iraq to distance itself from Iran, and sees al-Maliki as too close to Tehran. His last term, which ended in 2014, coincided with the rise of the Islamic State group, which seized swaths of the country.

Rubio declines to rule out further US military action in Venezuela at Senate hearing

Marco Rubio has declined to rule out future US military action in Venezuela but insisted the Trump administration did not intend to take such steps, as he faced questions from lawmakers over Washington’s unprecedented intervention. The US secretary of state appeared before the Senate foreign relations committee on Wednesday to defend the removal of Nicolás Maduro, which has left Venezuela under the control of interim president Delcy Rodríguez while the US seizes and sells its oil.

“The president does reserve the option in self defense to eliminate that threat,” Rubio said when pressed by Connecticut senator Chris Murphy on whether the administration would use force to compel cooperation on oil sales. Rubio cited a hypothetical scenario of an Iranian drone factory threatening US forces in the region, but acknowledged that “military action is not good for recovery and transition”.

Rubio had earlier warned in prepared testimony that the US remains “prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail”, though he told senators Wednesday: “I can tell you right now with full certainty, we are not postured to, nor do we intend or expect to have to take any military action in Venezuela at any time.”

Murphy questioned whether the Trump administration’s approach was “destined for failure,” given that Maduro’s former aides remain in control. “You are taking their oil at gunpoint. You are holding and selling that oil,” Murphy said.

Rubio acknowledged the administration gave no-bid licenses to two US oil trading companies to quickly move Venezuelan oil to market. He characterized this as a “short-term fix” necessitated by Venezuela running out of storage capacity, saying the “long-term plan” involves direct sales to refineries and expanded operations by companies like Chevron.

Trump is crazy Starmer is beyond belief

Federal Reserve holds interest rates as Trump piles on pressure

The US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged after its first rate-setting meeting of the year on Wednesday, resisting enormous pressure from the White House to lower rates. A majority of members in the Fed’s federal open market committee (FOMC) voted to pause interest rate cuts after slashing rates three times in the fall. Rates currently sit at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%.

The Trump administration has put unprecedented pressure on the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, to cut rates, with Donald Trump launching personal attacks on Powell and the justice department opening a criminal investigation into his handling of the refurbishment of the central bank’s offices.

The FOMC has 12 voting members and meets just eight times a year to set interest rates. The stakes of each meeting have been high during Trump’s second term. Though economists say that the Fed’s independence, as the US central bank, is key for economic stability, the president has unabashedly tried to bend the Fed to his economic agenda.

Cutting interest rates can spur short-term economic activity, though at the risk of pushing up prices in the long term. But Trump has claimed that the Fed not lowering interest rates costs the US economy “hundreds of billions of dollars”.

Fed officials have resisted these calls. In December, at the last FOMC meeting, Powell implied the Fed would be pausing cuts for the time being. “We’re well positioned to wait and see how the economy evolves from here,” he said. After the Fed meeting, Trump called Powell “stiff” and said that the rate drop “could have been doubled”.

‘She’s Lying’: Journalist Exposes Secret Watch Lists That Trump Official Says Don’t Exist

Despite denials from a senior Trump administration official, secret watchlists of Americans are being used by federal agencies to track and categorize US citizens—especially protesters, activists, and critics of law enforcement—as “domestic terrorists,” investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein reported Wednesday.

Klippenstein said that two senior national security officials speaking on condition of anonymity told him that there are over a dozen “secret and obscure” watchlists that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI are using to track anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and pro-Palestine protesters, antifa-affiliated individuals, and “others who are promiscuously labeled ‘domestic terrorists.’”

“I can reveal for the first time,” he wrote, “that some of the secret lists and applications go by codenames like Bluekey, Grapevine, Hummingbird, Reaper, Sandcastle, Sienna, Slipstream, and Sparta (including the ominous sounding HEL-A and HEL-C reports generated by Sparta).”

“Some of these, like Hummingbird, were created to vet and track immigrants, in this case Afghans seeking to settle in the United States,” Klippenstein explained. “Slipstream is a classified social media repository. Others are tools used to link people on the streets together, including collecting on friends and families who have nothing to do with any purported lawbreaking.”

“There’s practically nothing available that further describes what these watchlists do, how large they are, or what they entail,” he added.

Klippenstein’s revelation seemingly flies in the face of DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin’s recent denial that the administration has a database containing the names of people accused of domestic terrorism.

“There’s just one problem: She’s lying,” wrote Klippenstein.

Many observers already thought as much, especially after a masked federal enforcer taunted an anti-ICE protester in Maine by telling her that “we have a nice little database, and now you’re considered a domestic terrorist.”

White House “border czar” Tom Homan—who was recently sent to Minnesota to oversee the anti-immigrant blitz following the departure of Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino amid outrage over the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti—also said this month that “we’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding, and assault, we’re going to make them famous.”

Reporting Tuesday that Pretti—the nurse who was disarmed and then shot dead by federal enforcers in Minneapolis last week—was known to Trump officials after a previous encounter in which agents broke his rib raised further questions about government watchlists.

“We came out of 9/11 with the notion that we would have a single ‘terrorist’ watch list to eliminate confusion, duplication, and avoid bad communications, but ever since January 6, not only have we expanded exponentially into purely domestic watchlisting, but we have also created a highly secretive and compartmented superstructure that few even understand,” a DHS attorney “intimately familiar” with the matter told Klippenstein on condition of anonymity, referring to the deadly January 2021 Capitol insurrection.

According to Klippenstein:

Prior to 9/11, there were nine federal agencies that maintained 12 separate watchlists. Now, officially there are just three: a watch list of 1.1 million international terrorists, a watch list of more than 10,000 domestic terrorists maintained by the FBI, and a new watch list of transnational criminals, built up to more than 85,000 over the past decade...

Among other functions, the new watchlists process tips, situation reports, and collected photographs and video submitted by both the public and from agents in the field; they create a “common operating picture” in places like Minneapolis; they allow task forces to target individuals for surveillance and arrest; and they create the capacity for intelligence people to link individuals together through geographic proximity or what is labeled “call chaining” by processing telephone numbers, emails, and other contact information.

Asked about how the Trump administration might try to legally justify these watchlists, Rachel Levinson-Waldman, the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program director, cited President Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memo 7 (NSPM-7), which mandates a “national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts.”

Levinson-Waldman also noted Attorney General Pam Bondi’s December 5 memo directing federal agencies to expand the investigation and prosecution of “domestic terrorism,” including groups “aligned” with antifa, an anti-fascist ideology that does not exist as an organization.

One senior intelligence official who confirmed the existence of the watchlists warned Klippenstein: “Lists of this and that—this social media post, that video taken of someone videoing ICE, the mere attendance at a protest—gets pulsed by federal cops on the beat to check for criminality but eventually just becomes a list itself of criminality, with the cops thinking that indeed they are dealing with criminals and terrorists. Watchlists, and the whole watchlisting process, should be as transparent as possible, not the other way around.”

“If we don’t explore more why all of these secret lists exist,” the official added, there could be “even more of an environment of paranoia on the ground and more tragic killings.”

ICE Has an Office in Tel Aviv, Israelis Set Fires in Argentina (w/ Anya Parampil)

ICE thwarted from entering Ecuador’s consulate in Minneapolis by employee

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent attempted to enter Ecuador’s consulate in Minneapolis, but was turned back by an employee, prompting an official complaint to the US embassy in Quito, the country’s foreign ministry said. ...

Video of the incident verified by Reuters showed an employee at the consulate telling the agent: “This is the consulate of Ecuador, you are not allowed to enter.”

“Relax, relax, I didn’t enter,” the agent replies, before telling the staffer: “If you touch me, I will grab you.” The agent leaves shortly after.

Greg Meeks, the top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee, blasted the incident as “another outrageous and unacceptable disregard for the rule of law” by the Trump administration, as well as a breach of diplomatic protocols.

“Diplomatic facilities are protected for a reason. Any effort by US law enforcement officials to enter another country’s diplomatic facility without permission is not only unlawful, it risks setting a profoundly dangerous precedent that could put American diplomats, servicemembers and their families abroad at risk,” Meeks said.

ICE Agents Film Minnesota Protesters & Immigrants as Part of Massive Facial Recognition Push

Families in Maine scramble to halt ICE’s transfer of detainees out of state

Family members have been scrambling to learn the whereabouts of more than 200 people arrested during a federal immigration crackdown that has swept across Maine this week, immigration attorneys said, as federal authorities quickly ferried detainees out of the state. “We were buried in phone calls,” said Jenny Beverly, an immigration attorney with Haven Immigration Law. She said her team worked long hours to locate detainees and stop their transfer out of Maine.

When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents transfer detainees out of state, they become even harder to reach and face greater odds of removal from the US, the attorneys said. Most immigrants lost their first layer of legal protections in September, when the federal board of immigration appeals ruled that people who crossed the US border unlawfully are no longer eligible for release on bond, reversing years of legal precedent.

Now, lawyers are increasingly turning to habeas petitions, which make use of a detainees’ rights to challenge their detention, Beverly said. The catch is that these petitions must be filed in the same jurisdiction where a detainee is in custody. If a detainee is moved quickly, lawyers lose the opportunity to challenge their detention. There are only a handful of lawyers who are trained to file habeas petitions in Maine, Beverly said, so an influx of requests could overwhelm the system.

“ICE came with the machinery in place to get people out of here as soon as possible. We are racing against the clock as soon as we get a phone call to get something filed,” Beverly said. “Frankly, I feel that enforcement was done [at this pace] on purpose so that we can’t keep up.”

Senate Democrats demand DHS funding bill include reforms to ‘rein in ICE’

Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, on Wednesday demanded that legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) include a ban on wearing masks and other reforms aimed at federal agents involved in immigration enforcement, setting up a clash with Republicans that could see the government partially shut down in the coming days.

Congress is racing to head off a lapse in federal funding from beginning after Friday, and the Senate’s Republican leaders plan to hold a key procedural vote on Thursday on the DHS funding measure and five bills that authorize spending by several other government departments.

But following the weekend killing of US citizen Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, Schumer called for the DHS bill to be rewritten and voted on separately. On Wednesday, he announced that Democrats had “united” on a “set of common sense and necessary policy goals that we need to rein in ICE and end the violence”.

These include a prohibition on patrols by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a mandate that they coordinate with local and state police; the imposition of a uniform code of conduct and requirement of independent investigations into violations; and a ban on mask wearing by federal agents, along with a rule that they wear body cameras and carry identification.

At a press conference held shortly before Schumer unveiled the Democrats’ demands, Senate majority leader John Thune signaled openness to discussing reforms to ICE with Democrats, but no change in the GOP’s plans to begin voting on the spending bills Thursday. All six were approved by the House of Representatives last week.

Two agents who shot Alex Pretti put on leave as Trump tries to quell backlash

The two agents who fatally shot a man in Minneapolis over the weekend have been on administrative leave since Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Wednesday, as Donald Trump tried to quell the backlash even while immigration raids in the city continued. The move, which the DHS emphasized is standard protocol when agents are involved in fatal shootings, comes as the president suggested he would “de-escalate” his immigration enforcement crackdown in the state, but without offering details or whether tactics would change.

In Minnesota, meanwhile, it remained unclear whether there had been any substantial restraining of federal actions, despite Trump recently removing the border patrol commander Gregory Bovino. Immigration raids have continued, including an incident on Tuesday during which agents tried to enter the consulate of Ecuador without a warrant. And US attorney general Pam Bondi announced new arrests for “rioters” she said were “assaulting federal law enforcement”.

The fallout from the killing of Alex Pretti on Saturday has continued to dog the White House even as Trump travelled to a rally in Iowa to deliver remarks about the economy in the hopes of bolstering Republicans before the midterm elections in November. Trump hedged his views on the killing of Pretti, telling reporters before the Iowa event that he did not think Pretti was an “assassin”, a term used by his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, but he continued to blame Pretti for carrying a gun he was licensed to possess.

The backlash has nonetheless remained ferocious towards the aggressive tactics of agents, and the National Rifle Association criticized the administration for dismissing Pretti’s constitutional and legal right to carry a gun. A third round of No Kings protests is being planned for 28 March – galvanized by the killing of two US citizens in back-to-back incidents in the immigration operation in Minnesota. Organized by groups around the country, the demonstration is expected by some to draw as many as 9 million people, which would make it the largest protest in US history.

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FBI executes search warrant at election office in Fulton county, Georgia

The FBI executed a search warrant at the election office in Fulton county, Georgia, on Wednesday for records related to the 2020 election, according to a spokesperson for the county and the FBI.

The warrant sought all ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton county, tabulator tapes, ballot images and voter rolls, according to a warrant obtained by the Guardian.

Fulton county commissioner Mo Ivory said that the initial warrant was “incorrect legally” and challenged on the scene by county officials. The FBI subsequently obtained a corrected warrant. The county’s clerk of superior court, Che Alexander, is the custodian of the material and was on site at the warehouse inventorying what the FBI was taking, Ivory said.

“The commissioners, the chairman, the county attorney are trying to figure out a legal plan,” Ivory said in an Instagram reel from inside the building as FBI agents worked. “Maybe an injunction, a motion to quash, something. We’re trying to figure it out.”

Democratic elected officials said they were concerned that the chain of custody of the material was not being fastidiously maintained in the seizure. “I have also heard from Fulton officials that there is no protection for chain of custody,” said state senator Josh McLaurin, a Democrat who is running for lieutenant governor. “There is no assurance that chain of custody is being preserved. That is so important, because if they are able to modify the contents of these boxes – when I say ‘they’, I mean the Trump Administration – then there really is no way of knowing what did happen in 2020.”

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‘Shameful’: Trump’s EPA accused of prioritizing big business over public health

After a tumultuous year under the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has adopted a new, almost unrecognizable guise – one that tears up environmental rules and cheerleads for coal, gas-guzzling cars and artificial intelligence. When Donald Trump took power, it was widely anticipated the EPA would loosen pollution rules from sources such as cars, trucks and power plants, as part of a longstanding back and forth between administrations over how strict such standards should be.

But in recent weeks, critics say the EPA has gone far further by in effect seeking to jettison its raison d’etre, forged since its foundation in 1970, as an environmental regulator. The EPA is poised to remove its own ability to act on the climate crisis and has, separately, unveiled a new monetary worth assigned to human lives when setting air pollution regulations. The current new value? Zero.

“The EPA was designed to protect public health and the environment and did a remarkably effective job of that,” said William Reilly, who was EPA administrator under a previous Republican president, George HW Bush. “That record is now at risk and we will see the degradation of air quality in major cities. The administration seems to conceive the purpose of the agency as solely promoting business, which has never been the agency’s mission. That’s revolutionary – it’s not been seen before.” ...

After returning to the White House, Trump vowed to “unleash” oil and gas drilling and the burgeoning AI industry by sweeping away environmental regulations that the president says only serve a “globalist climate agenda” and a “scam” clean energy sector. The EPA under its current administrator, Lee Zeldin, has zealously followed this lead – initiating 66 environmental rollbacks in the first year, according to a tally compiled by green group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

This list includes paring back limits on pollutants such as mercury and soot coming from cars and power plants, cancelling grants for renewables and aid for communities blighted by toxins, squashing clean water protections and deleting mentions of the climate crisis from the EPA website. Two particular reversals have shocked former EPA staff and could fundamentally transform the agency. Last year, the agency announced it would rescind the so-called “endangerment finding”, a landmark 2009 determination affirmed by the supreme court and outside experts that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide harm human health. Removing the finding would essentially demolish all climate-related regulations issued by the federal government, a move cheered by pro-fossil fuel companies and Republican-led states that have urged Trump to take drastic action to remove any restraints on global heating.

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Also of Interest

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

Patrick Lawremce: Trump’s War on the Future Has a Past

Trump Wants To Win – But Iran Is No Easy Target

Coercion Disguised as Consent: Why US Claims of Venezuelan ‘Cooperation’ Are Null and Void

CNN: Crazy Maduro Held Nutty Belief CIA Was Out To Get Him

Kim Keon Hee, wife of South Korea’s ousted president, jailed for corruption

ICE Exposes Democratic Party Irrelevance

America’s Leaders In Waiting Have Identified Themselves

Bruce Springsteen releases anti-ICE song dedicated to Minneapolis

A $1.2 Trillion ‘Rip Off’: Report Spotlights Massive Scale of Medicare Advantage Fraud

Copyrighted art, mobile phones, Greenland: welcome to our age of shameless theft

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A Little Night Music

Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools - I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle

Sippie Wallace w/ Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools - Section Hand Blues

Ethel Ridley & Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools - If Anybody Here Wants a Real Kind Mamma

Perry Bradford & The Georgia Strutters - It's Here For You

Mamie Smith - Crazy Blues

Original Dixieland Jazz Band - Crazy Blues

Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools - My Sweetie Went Away

Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools - I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle

Sippie Wallace w/ Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools - Parlor Social De Luxe

Louise Vant & Perry Bradford's Mean Four - New Crazy Blues

Perry Bradford's Original Jazz Hounds - Slow Down

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