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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Irma Thomas

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features The Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas. Enjoy!

^{Irma Thomas - Anyone Who Knows What Love Is}

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.”

-- Lord Acton

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News and Opinion

Meditations On A Delivery Robot Steering To Avoid A Homeless Man On The Sidewalk

I saw a video of a food delivery robot navigating around the body of a homeless person lying on the sidewalk, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

Nothing right about this reality pic.twitter.com/EgDkJkaQac

— Invisidon (@QuantumAlteredX) January 30, 2026

This video is as close to a self-portrait of western civilization as it gets. This is who we are. This is where we’re at. Might as well have giant letters with a big red arrow saying “YOU ARE HERE” overtop it.

It captures so perfectly the creepy dance between suffering, apathy, frivolity and corporate profiteering that makes our particular dystopia so distinctive, in just a few short seconds of footage. This is the dance that makes the empire go round.

It’s got everything:

– A man splayed out on the concrete because it hurts to be human in this global ghost town, and because he was unsuccessful at becoming a productive gear-turner in the capitalist machine, and because social safety nets have been stripped bare in order to help millionaires become billionaires.

– Automation being used to eliminate workers’ wages for the maximization of corporate profits, when it could be getting used to bring about a permanent end to toil and poverty for the entire human species.

– Technological innovation stagnating at fast food delivery robots and predatory service apps instead of inventions which help save our biosphere, provide for the needful, heal the sick and improve our quality of life, because sending someone a Big Mac in a snackbot through an app will generate profits, while making the world a better place will not.

– The machine calmly navigating around the unfortunate soul on the pavement in the same way all the human pedestrians have been doing all day, because that’s what we all learn to do in a society which casts those who can’t keep up to the side of the road like so much refuse.

This is where we are. This is what we have become.

That robot steering its way around that man on the sidewalk is revealing more truth about the kind of world we are living in than you will ever receive from the corporate news media.

That robot has the real story.

That robot is giving you the real on-the-ground scoop on what’s really going on here.

That robot is a better reporter than Jake Tapper. It certainly has more journalistic integrity.

We’re all following that robot off a cliff, into an abyss of madness and oblivion.

What Will the Future Look Like in the New World Order? (w/ John Mearsheimer)|The Chris Hedges Report

US and Iran talks brought back from the brink after White House relents on move to Oman

Talks between the US and Iran scheduled for Friday have been brought back from the brink of collapse after the US initially rejected Iran’s request to move them from Turkey to Oman without the presence of a group of Arab states. Iran’s foreign minister said late on Wednesday that the talks would proceed in Oman after reports of a last-minute effort by Arab states to convince the White House not to walk away from negotiations.

“Nuclear talks with the United States are scheduled to be held in Muscat on about 10am Friday,” wrote the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. “I’m grateful to our Omani brothers for making all necessary arrangements.” US officials have also indicated the talks in Oman will go forward. They will take place amid a massive buildup of US naval and airpower in the region and appear to be a last chance for Tehran to avert a US strike against the country’s leadership and nuclear programme.

The talks had collapsed earlier on Wednesday as Iran vowed they would be confined to its nuclear programme only. The US had demanded the talks also address Tehran’s ballistic missile programme, which Iran had ruled out. Asked whether Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, should be worried after reports of the collapse of negotiations, Trump responded: “I would say he should be very worried, yeah, he should be.”

It is not clear whether the dispute has been fully resolved. Axios reported that the talks had been reinstated after the US was approached by a number of Arab and Muslim countries urging it not to abandon negotiations with Iran.

Richard D. Wolff & Michael Hudson: Warning Signs: The U.S. Is Losing on Every Front

Iran SEIZES Vessels As Trump Threatens Ayatollah

‘Where Is the Ceasefire?’: Israel’s Latest Bombing of Gaza Kills 23, Mostly Women and Children

Israeli bombings across Gaza have killed at least 23 Palestinians since dawn on Wednesday, including at least two infants, according to hospital officials and other health authorities.

“Where is the ceasefire? Where are the mediators?” asked Dr. Mohamed Abu Salmiya, director of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies of 11 people—mostly from the same family—who were killed after Israeli soldiers fired upon a building in northern Gaza.

Israel said the attack was in retaliation after Hamas militants fired at an Israeli soldier, badly wounding him. The Associated Press reports that among the Palestinians killed were “two parents, their 10-day-old girl Wateen Khabbaz, her 5-month-old cousin, Mira Khabbaz, and the children’s grandmother.”

Another attack on a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis killed three more people: Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies, said they included a 12-year-old boy. Another strike killed five more people, including a paramedic named Hussein Hassan Hussein al-Semieri, who was on duty at the time.

A total of 38 Palestinians were wounded in the series of attacks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Since a “ceasefire” agreement went into effect on October 10 last year, the Gaza Government Media Office says Israel has committed at least 1,520 violations, killing at least 556 people—including 288 children, women, and elderly people—and wounding 1,500 others.

In comments to Al Jazeera, the Palestinian human rights advocate Muhammad Shehada said a ceasefire that is violated so consistently “is no ceasefire at all”.

“At most, [the deal] can be just described as some sort of mild diplomatic restraint,” Shehada said. “Whenever the world’s attention is elsewhere, Israel escalates dramatically.”

Since its genocidal war in Gaza began in October 2023, nearly 72,000 Palestinians have been killed and 171,000 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, whose figures the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recently conceded are accurate after more than two years of denial. Independent estimates suggest the true death toll is much higher.

7-year-old Anwar al-Ashi reportedly died of kidney failure in Gaza after months of waiting for Israel to approve his medical evacuation. pic.twitter.com/XQBZcM9tdc

— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 4, 2026

Wednesday’s onslaught came as Israel began to slowly open the Rafah crossing—the main point of entry and exit from the strip—for those in severe need of medical attention to leave.

Gaza’s hospitals have been rendered largely inoperable by two years of relentless bombing and a lengthy blockade on medical supplies entering the strip, which has left more than half the population without medical treatment.

The World Health Organization said last week that 18,500 Palestinians are in need of medical treatment abroad, including hundreds in need of immediate treatment.

According to Egyptian officials, 50 patients were expected to enter through the crossing each day. However, on Monday, just five Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza for treatment, followed by 16 on Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera reporters on the ground.

Around 4,000 of those awaiting treatment are children. According to health officials, one of them, 7-year-old Anwar al-Ashi, died of kidney failure on Wednesday while on a waitlist.

Meanwhile, those attempting to cross have been met with treatment described as “humiliating” by reporters who witnessed it. Israeli troops have subjected patients to strip searches and interrogations—some were blindfolded and had their hands tied.

What “ceasefire”? The Israeli occupation forces continues to shell & bomb Gaza killing 20 Palestinians, mainly women & children, & wounding scores of others within the past 12 hours, at the pretext that one Israeli soldier was wounded. Since the beginning of the “ceasefire” more…

— Hanan Ashrawi (@DrHananAshrawi) February 4, 2026

“The Rafah crossing continues to be a cruel and severely restricted ‘passage’ of pain and humiliation,” said the Palestinian politician and activist Hana Ashrawi. “This continues to be a multifaceted war of aggression, based on the deliberate manipulation of the pain of a captive people.”

Salmiya said that at the rate Israel is allowing them to leave, “it will take about five years on average for all patients to be discharged.” He referred to Israel’s actions as “crisis management, not a solution to the crisis.”

On Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for “the facilitation of rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief at scale—including through the Rafah crossing.”

He added that Israel’s recent suspension of dozens of aid organizations—including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, and Save the Children—defies humanitarian principles, undermines fragile progress, and worsens the suffering of civilians.“

Shehada, who said he and his family were eagerly awaiting the end of travel restrictions, told Al Jazeera that “Israel hollowed [it] out of any substance or meaning.” Instead, he said, “it’s basically a slow-motion massacre.”

Pepe Escobar : The Global Fallout From Striking Iran

‘Vindication’: UK Jury Clears Palestine Action Protesters Who Admitted to Elbit Break-In

In what one campaigner called a “huge blow” to the UK government’s efforts to crush Palestine Action, a London jury on Wednesday cleared six members of the direct action group of aggravated burglary—even after they admitted to breaking into and vandalizing an Israel-linked weapons facility.

Zoe Rogers, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, and Jordan Devlin—six of the so-called “Filton 24”—were found not guilty of aggravated burglary and criminal damage by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court after eight days of deliberation. Devlin, Rajwani, and Rogers were found not guilty of violent disorder, although verdicts were not reached for the three others on the charge.

Prosecutors alleged that the six activists drove a van like a “battering ram” to smash their way into the Elbit Systems UK research, development, and manufacturing facility in Bristol early on August 6, 2024 in a “meticulously organized” attack targeting the subsidiary of the Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems.

The defendants—who had been imprisoned on remand for 17 months—were also accused of using fire extinguishers to spray red paint throughout the facility and of using crowbars and hammers to break computers and other equipment.

The activists admitted to breaking into the facility, only disputing that the sledgehammers were offensive weapons and arguing that they were only meant to damage property.

After the verdicts were announced, the courtroom erupted in cheers and the six cleared activists hugged in the dock.

“These verdicts are a huge blow to government ministers who have tried to portray Palestine Action as a violent group to justify banning it under badly drafted terrorism legislation,” said a spokesperson for the group Defend Our Juries, which has organized numerous protests in support of Palestine Action.

“Despite government efforts to prejudice this trial, citing the allegations of violence to justify treating Palestine Action as ‘terrorists’, as if they were already proved, the jury which heard the evidence has refused to find the defendants guilty of anything, not even criminal damage,” the spokesperson added. “It shows how out of step this government is with public opinion, which is revulsed by the government and Elbit’s complicity in genocide.”

Absolutely stunning and yet not really surprising verdict in the Filton Case!

The state has totally failed to convict any of the six defendants of anything at all!

The jury even found them not guilty of things that they had admitted to - heroically damaging the Zionist war… pic.twitter.com/dPY07VNfJN

— David Miller (@Tracking_Power) February 4, 2026

The jury failed to reach a verdict on an additional charge against Corner, who allegedly caused grievous bodily harm by hitting Police Sgt. Kate Evans in the back with a sledgehammer as she laid on the floor, fracturing her spine.

Journalist Adam Ramsay pointed out that Corner’s altercation with Evans “was widely used to justify the proscription of Palestine Action.”

“The fact that the jury, who heard the full story, didn’t convict him of a crime leaves the case for proscription in tatters,” Ramsay added.

Corner—and possibly other defendants—could face new trials on certain charges if the Crown Prosecution Service determines that there is a realistic chance of conviction and if further action serves the public interest.

Eighteen other alleged Palestine Action members are currently awaiting trials scheduled for later this year.

Numerous observers said the verdicts obliterate the government’s rationale for banning Palestine Action under the highly contentious Terrorism Act of 2000.

“I’m not sure people appreciate quite what a blow to [UK Prime Minister Keir] Starmer’s government the acquittal of the Palestine Action protestors is,” East Anglia Law School professor Paul Bernal said on Bluesky. “It both blows apart the whole proscription idea and demonstrates how out of touch they are.”

“This was a jury,” Bernal added. “Juries represent the public.”

Journalist Jonathan Cook noted that “the UK government pinned its case for declaring Palestine Action a terrorist organization largely on the trial of the so-called Filton Six, claiming they had proved the group to be violent. A jury today found none of them guilty of any of the charges.”

A declassified UK intelligence report published last September by the New York Times acknowledged that “the majority” of Palestine Action’s activities “would not be classified as terrorism” under the country’s highly contentious Terrorism Act of 2000.

In addition to the Filton break-in, Palestine Action’s direct action protests have also including spray-painting warplanes at a British military base and defacing US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland—acts experts say do not constitute terrorism.

Britain’s Terrorism Act has long been condemned by civil liberties defenders, who decry the law’s “vague and overbroad” definition of terrorism, chilling effect on free speech and expression, invasive stop-and-search powers, pre-charge detention and control orders, sweeping surveillance and data collection, and other provisions.

According to rights groups, more than 2,700 people have been arrested during demonstrations of support for Palestine Action since the group’s proscription. Many of those arrested did nothing more than hold up signs reading: “I Oppose Genocide. I Support Palestine Action.”

Arrestees include many elders, including 83-year-old Rev. Sue Parfitt, who argued that “we cannot be bystanders” in the face of Israel’s US and UK-backed genocide in Gaza, which has left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing; nearly 2 million people forcibly displaced; and hundreds of thousands starved by design. ...

Naila Ahmed, head of campaigns at CAGE International, said in a statement Wednesday that the Filton verdicts are “a powerful affirmation of jury independence and moral courage in the face of extraordinary political pressure.”

“Though they cannot get back the 17 months of their life taken from them unlawfully, they should all be compensated and the remaining 18 defendants of the Filton 24 should also be released on bail,” she added. “This case was used to justify the ban against Palestine Action, a decision that should now be overturned.”

Max Blumenthal : Power Networks Behind U.S.– Israel Policy

Hind Rajab Foundation files complaint in US court targeting Israeli citizen over Gaza war crimes

Belgium-based NGO, Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), filed a legal complaint in a US court on 4 February, demanding a criminal investigation into Israeli dual-national Adi Karni, a former sergeant in the 603rd Combat Engineering Battalion of the Israeli army, over war crimes and genocidal acts committed in Gaza. The filing was submitted while Karni was physically present in the US, where he is scheduled to speak publicly at Boston University. HRF said his presence “directly engages US jurisdiction” and triggers a legal obligation to investigate under federal law.

The complaint invokes the War Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. §2441) and the Genocide Statute (18 U.S.C. §1091), which grants US courts jurisdiction over individuals present on US territory who are credibly accused of committing international crimes abroad. According to HRF, “jurisdiction is not discretionary: presence activates responsibility.” The US filing follows earlier complaints lodged by HRF in multiple countries, including Peru, where a formal criminal investigation into Karni for genocide is already underway.

Hind Rajab Foundation files complaint in the US against Israeli soldier for war crimes and genocide in Gaza
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The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed a legal complaint in the United States against Adi Karni, an Israeli national and former sergeant in the 603rd Combat… pic.twitter.com/mGuCcVqvcg

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) February 4, 2026

The foundation says additional filings have been made elsewhere “to ensure that jurisdiction is activated wherever he travels.” HRF’s submission is based on an investigative report prepared in line with international evidentiary standards.

The report documents Karni’s alleged direct involvement in “controlled demolitions of civilian infrastructure,” the destruction of protected religious buildings, including mosques, and participation in what HRF describes as “widespread and systematic destruction” carried out by his unit in Gaza. The report also cites Karni’s post-deployment statements, including assertions that “there are no civilians in Gaza,” which HRF argues are legally relevant in establishing intent and patterns of dehumanization. The foundation says the conduct documented “may constitute war crimes” and, when assessed in context, contributes to the legal elements of crimes against humanity and genocide.

The Grayzone BLOCKED by Paypal on political grounds

Florida bill seeks to ban use of ‘West Bank’ in schools and state agencies

Florida legislators are pushing to pass legislation that would ban the use of the term “West Bank” in K-12 public schools and state agencies, including public colleges and universities, and mandate use of the term “Judea and Samaria”.

The West Bank is the internationally recognized term for the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory west of the Jordan River that was seized from Jordan by Israel in 1967. The rightwing Israeli government refers to the area as “Judea and Samaria” in reference to the biblical kingdoms of ancient Israel as part of broader efforts to bolster historical and religious claims to the land. The international community, on the other hand, broadly recognizes the West Bank as occupied land that must be part of a future Palestinian state.

The term “Judea and Samaria” has been embraced by many US Republicans since the first Trump administration, including the former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who Donald Trump appointed as ambassador to Israel last year. Arkansas became the first US state to mandate replacing references to the “West Bank” in state institutions with “Judea and Samaria” in April last year. Similar bills have been proposed in the US Congress but have not come up for vote.

Florida’s proposed legislation is the only one to also target K-12 schools. If the Florida legislation passes,, state agencies, including universities and colleges, would be prohibited from using the term “West Bank” in any official state government materials, and would require any new instructional or school library materials in K-12 public schools to comply with the new law and use the term “Judea and Samaria”.

Epstein Defenders BECLOWNED After Files Release

Author who co-wrote two books with Noam Chomsky condemns scholar’s ties to Epstein

An author who collaborated on two books with Noam Chomsky has written a letter condemning the acclaimed scholar’s friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as newly released files shed light on the social relationship between the two men.

Vijay Prashad – a journalist, author and the director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research – wrote that he was “heartsick” over the new correspondence between Chomsky and Epstein. “When the photos and emails appeared, I was immediately disgusted by Epstein’s paedophilia, and so by Noam’s friendship with him,” he wrote on Tuesday. “There is no defence for this, in my view, no context that can explain this outrage.”

Prashad noted that he has written two books with Chomsky. The second of those was Chomsky’s most recent and final book. In his letter, Prashad explains that he had no idea about the friendship between Epstein and Chomsky while he was working with Chomsky.

Chomsky, 97, has not spoken out about the latest document release. The famed linguist has previously acknowledged knowing Epstein, but claimed their relationship primarily revolved around financial dealings. When asked by the Harvard Crimson in 2023 if he regretted meeting with Epstein, he responded: “I’ve met [all] sorts of people, including major war criminals. I don’t regret having met any of them.”

Prashad acknowledged the limitations of Chomsky’s age on any sort of new explanation. “Since Noam cannot speak or write and explain his relationship with Epstein, the matter is fraught,” Prashad wrote.

Tennessee to test Stephen Miller’s plan of enlisting states for immigration enforcement

The power to enforce immigration law rests with the federal government. But Trump adviser, Stephen Miller, has a vision for states working in coordination with federal immigration officials, and he’s attempting to test it out in Tennessee. Earlier this month, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Miller had been meeting in Washington DC with Tennessee speaker of the house, Cameron Sexton, to craft model legislation for states around the country.

A few weeks later, the speaker announced a suite of eight bills that would turn state and local police officers, judges, teachers, social workers and others into an auxiliary extension of the federal immigration system. It makes the presence of an undocumented person with a final deportation order a state crime in Tennessee. And it mandates that officials report the presence of undocumented persons to ICE, while criminalizing disclosure of information about immigration enforcement activities to the public.

Last year, Tennessee also established an immigration enforcement division under its department of safety and homeland security, and made the records collected by the chief immigration enforcement officer exempt from Tennessee’s already limited public records access laws. Confidentiality extends to records for grant programs administered by the department, preventing watchdogs from examining what local law enforcement agencies do with federal grant money for immigration enforcement. Legislation filed on 15 January doesn’t just extend that confidentiality; it demands it. A state or local official, including judges, “negligently” releasing identifying information of officers involved in immigration enforcement would face a felony and removal from office.

Senate Bill 1464, criminalizing disclosure, appears to be aimed directly at Freddie O’Connell, the Nashville mayor who issued an executive order last year to track and publish ICE contacts in the city. O’Connell briefly published the names of some ICE agents as part of the effort.

“It’s really alarming,” said Lisa Sherman-Luna, executive director of the advocacy organization Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. “We have folks in office who are really creating infrastructure for the secret police, with zero accountability, total impunity, legitimizing the way that ICE is behaving, wearing masks or civilian clothes, not identifying themselves, and giving these guys license to behave in whatever way they desire without an ability for the public to hold them accountable.”

Minnesota girl, 10, released from ICE custody after a month in detention

A 10-year-old Minnesota girl has been released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after a month in detention in Dilley, Texas, school officials said, one of hundreds of children detained at the facility. Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano, a fourth-grader, and her mother walked free from the immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, on Tuesday night. Elizabeth is a student in the school district of Columbia Heights, a Minneapolis suburb, which is also home to five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was released from Dilley over the weekend amid widespread outrage about his detention.

Elizabeth and her mother were taken by federal agents on 6 January, the first of five students from the Columbia Heights district to be detained by ICE during the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown in the region, school leaders said. The family, originally from Ecuador, has an active asylum case, school officials said. The girl and her mother were at a Texas shelter as of Wednesday morning, a family attorney said, and would be heading back to Minnesota to reunite with her father.

There have been growing concerns about Elizabeth’s health as federal officials confirmed that Dilley, which houses families, is now the site of a measles outbreak. Hundreds of children are detained at the facility.

ICE Agents FLAME Trump As WITHDRAWAL In MN Continues

White House border czar says 700 federal agents will leave Minnesota

Tom Homan, the White House border czar, said about 700 federal agents would leave Minnesota, a large drop in agents on the ground but still leaving about 2,000 agents there, far above typical levels for the state.

Homan said the reduction came as county jails were negotiating over increased coordination with federal officials, though it’s not clear which counties have agreed to coordinate with immigration enforcement officials.

The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Minnesota sheriffs are negotiating with Homan for a plan that would see county jails holding immigrants for up to 48 hours after their release date from state custody. Homan said on Wednesday that agreements wouldn’t keep people in custody for any longer than their set sentences.

Sheriffs who agree to participate would notify immigration enforcement agents before they’re released, and agents would be able to pick the person up from a jail, reducing the need for street operations that require more agents, Homan said. Local officials said lessening agents on the ground was a step in the right direction, but nowhere near the kind of action needed.

“We need a faster and larger drawdown of forces, state-led investigations into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and an end to this campaign of retribution,” the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, said.

Steve Bannon calls for immigration agents at polling sites during midterms

Steve Bannon, the former White House strategist and rightwing podcast host, said he wants to see immigration agents at the polls in November, a proposal that election officials have feared. Bannon has no formal power, but is an influential figure on the far right and is closely tied with the Trump administration.

Donald Trump this week again suggested that the federal government “should take over the voting” and federalize elections, which are run by local and state jurisdictions, as part of his ongoing false claims that Democrats have stolen elections. He also reiterated lies that undocumented people are brought to the US to vote and their participation led to Democratic electoral victories.

Repeating false claims that undocumented people vote in large numbers in US elections, Bannon said on his War Room show on Tuesday: “You’re damn right we’re gonna have ICE surround the polls come November.” The comments come as elections officials nationwide grow more concerned about potential interference from the Trump administration in this year’s midterms. One of those fears is that immigration agents will be near polling places or have a heavy footprint in Democratic areas on election day.

Law enforcement presence at the polls is generally seen as a negative among election officials, and in some places subject to legal parameters, because it can intimidate voters from casting their ballots. Immigration agents, in particular, have caused people – including US citizens and otherwise legal residents – to stay home for fear of detention or racial profiling.

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California can use a new congressional map in November, supreme court rules

California can use a new congressional map that was approved by voters in November, the supreme court has ruled, handing Democrats a major victory in their effort to neutralize Donald Trump’s push to protect Republicans’ fragile House majority in this year’s midterm elections. In December, the court said Texas could use its redrawn congressional map in 2026, designed to carve out as many as five Republican-friendly congressional districts, rejecting a lower-court ruling that found it had been racially gerrymandered.

In a brief, unsigned order released on Wednesday with no justices dissenting, the supreme court denied an emergency request by California Republicans to block the new map from taking effect. The California Republican party, joined by the Trump administration, had argued that the state’s new congressional map had illegally used race as a factor in drawing district lines. A lower court disagreed.

“Donald Trump said he was ‘entitled’ to five more congressional seats in Texas. He started this redistricting war,” said California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, who championed the redistricting ballot initiative, in a post on social media. “He lost, and he’ll lose again in November.”

In November, California voters overwhelmingly approved Newsom’s redistricting ballot initiative, known as Proposition 50, which was presented as a chance for the blue state to check Trump’s power. Unlike Texas, and other states where a vote by the state legislature authorized new district lines, California’s constitution required voter approval to override the map drawn by its independent redistricting commission. States typically undertake redistricting once every 10 years, following the decennial US census. But last year, Trump set off an extraordinary redistricting tit-for-tat when he pressured the Republican-controlled Texas legislature to redraw its congressional map ahead of the November midterms.

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Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy

Flawed economic models mean the accelerating impact of the climate crisis could lead to a global financial crash, experts warn. Recovery would be far harder than after the 2008 financial crash, they said, as “we can’t bail out the Earth like we did the banks”. As the world speeds towards 2C of global heating, the risks of extreme weather disasters and climate tipping points are increasing fast. But current economic models used by governments and financial institutions entirely miss such shocks, the researchers said, instead forecasting that steady economic growth will be slowed only by gradually rising average temperatures. This is because the models assume the future will behave like the past, despite the burning of fossil fuels pushing the climate system into uncharted territory.

Tipping points, such as the collapse of critical Atlantic currents or the Greenland ice sheet, would have global consequences for society. Some are thought to be at, or very close to, their tipping points but the timing is difficult to predict. Combined extreme weather disasters could wipe out national economies, the researchers, from the University of Exeter and financial thinktank Carbon Tracker Initiative, said.

Their report concludes governments, regulators and financial managers must pay far more attention to these high impact but lower likelihood risks, because avoiding irreversible outcomes by cutting carbon emissions is far cheaper than trying to cope with them. “We’re not dealing with manageable economic adjustments,” said Dr Jesse Abrams, at the University of Exeter. “The climate scientists we surveyed were unambiguous: current economic models can’t capture what matters most – the cascading failures and compounding shocks that define climate risk in a warmer world – and could undermine the very foundations of economic growth.”

The new report drew on expert judgments from 68 climate scientists from research institutions and government agencies in the UK, US, China and nine other countries. A key finding was that while economic modelling traditionally links climate damages to changes in average temperatures, societies and markets suffer most from extremes, such as heatwaves, floods and droughts. Another finding was that GDP can mask the full cost of climate damage by failing to account for deaths and ill health, social disruption and degraded ecosystems. GDP can actually increase after disasters owing to spending on recovery, the researchers added.

They said that rather than waiting for perfect models of risk, greater emphasis should be placed on extremes, not just central estimates, and on the vulnerability of the entire financial system. Investors should also speed up the move away from fossil fuels as a fiduciary duty to avoid large future losses, said Campanale.

Agriculture Experts Warn of ‘Widespread Collapse’ in US Farms Thanks to Trump Policies

A large group of agriculture experts warned that US farms are taking a financial beating thanks to President Donald Trump’s global trade war.

In a letter sent to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees on Tuesday, the experts warned of a potential “widespread collapse of American agriculture and our rural communities” caused in no small part by Trump administration policies.

The letter’s signatories—which include former leaders of American agricultural commodity and biofuels associations, farm leaders, and former USDA officials—pointed to Trump’s tariffs on imported goods and his mass deportation policies as particularly harmful.

“It is clear that the current administration’s actions, along with congressional inaction,” the letter states, “have increased costs for farm inputs, disrupted overseas and domestic markets, denied agriculture its reliable labor pool, and defunded critical [agricultural] research and staffing.”

The letter goes on to describe Trump’s tariffs as “indiscriminate and haphazard,” noting they “have not revitalized American manufacturing and have significantly damaged American farm economy.”

The tariffs have also hurt farmers’ access to overseas markets, the letter continues, as foreign nations have reacted with retaliatory tariffs.

“Consider the impact of the China trade war on soybeans alone,” the letter says. “In 2018, when the China tariffs were initially imposed, whole US soybean exports represented 47% of the world market. Today, whole US soybeans represent just 24.4%—a 50% reduction in market share. Meanwhile, Brazil’s share of the world export market grew by more than 20%.”

When it comes to the administration’s immigration policies, the letter says that “mass deportations, removal of protected status, and failure to reform the H-2A visa program is wreaking havoc with dairy, fruit and produce, and meat processing.”

“Those disruptions are causing food to go to waste and driving up food costs for consumers,” the letter adds. “These disruptions are also financially squeezing food and agriculture businesses and sowing the seeds of division in rural communities. Farmers need these workers.”

The letter offers several policy proposals that the administration and Congress could take to help US farmers, including ending tariffs on farm inputs, repealing tariffs that have blocked access to overseas markets, passing reform to the H-2A visa program to help ensure farmers have sufficient workers, and extending trade agreements with Mexico and Canada for the next 16 years.

The letter also urges Congress to “convene meetings with farmers to discuss challenges that they are facing gather input on additional policy solutions and build momentum to address the farm crisis.”

One of the letter’s signatories, former National Corn Growers Association chief executive Jon Doggett, told the New York Times on Tuesday that he felt he had to speak out because “we’re not having those conversations” about the struggles facing US farmers “in an open and meaningful way.”

The agriculture experts who signed the letter aren’t alone in their concerns about US farmers’ financial condition, as Reuters reported that US Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said during a Tuesday conference call that he was aware that US farmers are “losing money, lots of money.”

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Also of Interest

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

With or without a ceasefire, Israel is still targeting Gaza’s journalists

Pro-Israel lobby group pressures ‘moderate’ US Democrat in new strategy

Epstein Files Shows How the Elites Move

The Amount Of Contempt Elites Have For Public Intelligence Is Breathtaking

Collective West Press Starting to Acknowledge Ukraine’s Untenable Position and Inevitable Loss

Why American Life Expectancy is Falling Behind Globally, Falling Apart by State

ACLU Calls On UN to Initiate ‘Urgent Action’ Protocols Over Trump’s Authoritarian Abuses in Minnesota

ICE attorney who said ‘this job sucks’ removed from detail

Wildlife photographer of the year – people’s choice 2026

The White Collar AI APOCALYPSE Is HERE

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A Little Night Music

Irma Thomas - I Need Your Love So Bad

Irma Thomas- Good To Me

Irma Thomas - Ruler of my heart

Irma Thomas - Break-A-Way

Irma Thomas - It's Raining

Irma Thomas - I Done Got Over

Irma Thomas - Times Have Changed

Irma Thomas - A Woman Will Do Wrong

Irma Thomas - Fancy

Irma Thomas - Wish Someone Would Care

Irma Thomas - Time Is On My Side

The Funky Meters with Irma Thomas and Allen Toussaint - Full Set - Blues & BBQ Festival (2015)

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