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This evening's music features Chicago blues guitarist Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers. Enjoy!

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

-- Thomas Jefferson

News and Opinion

We Should Not Fear The Tyrants; The Tyrants Should Fear Us

If there were a thousand people living on an island, and one of them began making life miserable for everyone else, there would soon be 999 people living on the island.

How strange, then, that a few oligarchs and empire managers get to push around an entire planet full of humans.

I mean, right now we’re all sitting around hoping a few sociopaths in Washington and Tel Aviv don’t collapse the global economy with their reckless warmongering against Iran. There are so many of us and so few of them, and yet everyone’s sitting around going “Golly gosh I sure hope I’ll be able to afford food in the next few months, hopefully the orange guy acts sane and normal for a while so my family gets to eat.”

These are not gods sitting on Mount Olympus exerting omnipotent control over our fate from on high. These are ordinary men with ordinary flesh and bone bodies, walking upon the same earth we walk on. They have soft skin and internal organs. Their heads must remain firmly attached to their necks if they’re to continue to draw breath.

And yet they are permitted to terrorize the people with whom they share a planet.

I am reminded of a quote from Scientific American about an Inuit tribe’s perspective on the problem of psychopathy:

“In a 1976 study anthropologist Jane M. Murphy, then at Harvard University, found that an isolated group of Yupik-speaking Inuits near the Bering Strait had a term (kunlangeta) they used to describe ‘a man who … repeatedly lies and cheats and steals things and … takes sexual advantage of many women — someone who does not pay attention to reprimands and who is always being brought to the elders for punishment.’ When Murphy asked an Inuit what the group would typically do with a kunlangeta, he replied, ‘Somebody would have pushed him off the ice when nobody else was looking.’”

In our society, we do not push psychopaths off the ice when nobody is looking. In our society, we let them rule the world.

We’ve set up systems which elevate those who are willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top, and which protect them once they get there. The ones with the most wealth are the ones who crushed their competitors and exploited the working class the most ruthlessly. The ones who get elected to office are the ones who agree to protect the interests of the rich and powerful no matter how underhanded they have to be. The ones who get promoted to leadership in the military and spy agencies are the ones who’ve demonstrated unwavering loyalty to the bloodthirsty empire they serve.

These systems shield people from the natural consequences of their actions. If you have a lot of money your survival doesn’t depend on getting along with the other members of your tribe; you can just buy whatever services you need, and you can treat the people providing those services like garbage if you pay them enough. If you get elected to office your survival doesn’t depend on advancing the interests of the electorate; you can be as horrible as you like and rely on your security services to protect you.

This is a perversion of the natural order of things. The rich and the powerful should not be allowed to do whatever they want to us and get away with it. They are massively outnumbered. Everything they have, they only have because of us.

Their wealth is dependent on workers and consumers. Their power is dependent on our collectively agreeing to treat made-up rules about government and law like real things. Their lives are dependent on our collectively agreeing not to turn against them in massive numbers and tear them to pieces.

We can have revolutionary change whenever we want to. We already have the numbers. All we need is the will.

Iran FORCES US Navy to Flee as Trump's Tanker Attack BACKFIRES | Alexander Mercouris

US military seized Iranian-flagged container ship, Trump says

The US military took custody of an Iranian-flagged container ship that attempted to get past an American blockade near the strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump announced on Sunday. In a social media post, Trump said that an “Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA” tried to get past the US naval blockade, “and it did not go well for them”.

Trump said that a US navy guided missile destroyer had warned the Touska to stop in the Gulf of Oman, but the vessel did not. “[Our] Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room,” Trump said, adding that US marines now have custody of the vessel. “The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity,” Trump added. The ship is on the treasury department’s list of sanctioned vessels.

Video posted on social media by the US defense department later showed the interception of the ship by US forces. The video includes audio of the container ship’s crew being warned that they will be fired on if they refused to stop. “Vacate your engine room,” a US sailor can be heard saying. “We’re prepared to subject you to disabling fire.” The video then shows the USS Spruance firing on the Touska.

Scott Ritter : Trump and Hegseth Haven't a Clue

Iran closes strait of Hormuz again ‘until US lifts blockade’

Iranian officials say they have reversed the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports. A UK maritime agency reported that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had fired at a tanker as it attempted to pass through the strait on Saturday. Reuters reported an Indian-flagged vessel carrying crude oil had also been attacked while in the waterway.

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command said on Saturday that Tehran had restored the strait to its “previous status” and was now “under strict management and control by the armed forces”. Iran said the restrictions would remain if Washington did not “ensure full freedom of navigation for vessels travelling from Iran to destinations and from destinations to Iran”. This was reiterated by the country’s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, and the IRGC’s navy command.

Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Saturday that the recent talks with the US had made progress but gaps remained over nuclear issues and the strait of Hormuz. “We have had progress but there is still a big distance between us,” he told state media, referring to talks last weekend. “There are some issues on which we insist … They also have red lines. But these issues could be just one or two.”

In a post on X, the IRGC’s navy command wrote: “As long as the movement of vessels from Iran and to Iran is under threat, the status of the strait of Hormuz will remain as it was previously. Any breach of commitments by the United States will receive an appropriate response.”

Alastair Crooke : A Bigger War Coming - For Israel

Tehran has ‘no plans to participate’ in new talks, state media reports, as it accuses US of violating ceasefire

Tehran is not currently planning to take part in new talks with the US, Iran state media reported on Sunday evening, as its military accused America of violating a fragile ceasefire between the two countries, hours after Donald Trump said he was dispatching negotiators to Islamabad. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that an Iranian cargo ship that tried to get past the US-enforced blockade near the strait of Hormuz had been seized. “We have full custody of their ship, and are seeing what’s on board!” Trump wrote on social media.

Iran’s military said the ship had been travelling from China. “We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy by the US military,” state media quotes an Iranian military spokesperson as saying. The incident late on Sunday raised the possibility that the ceasefire could fail before negotiators were able to reconvene in Pakistan.

“Iran stated that its absence from the second round of talks stemmed from what it called Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the continuing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency wrote.

Trump said on Sunday that any talks in Islamabad, which would come before the two-week ceasefire expires on Wednesday, were the “last chance” for Iran to agree to a peace deal. “If Iran does not sign this deal, the whole country is getting blown up,” he told Fox News. Trump then reiterated a threat made earlier that the US would specifically destroy Iran’s power plants and bridges if it did not sign the agreement.

He said the deal the US is offering, which entails reopening the strait and ensuring Iran does not have enriched uranium, was a “very fair and reasonable deal” and unless Iran accepts, he vowed to knock out “every single Power Plant” and “every single Bridge”.

Ray McGovern : Why Negotiate With Netanyahu's Agents?

Intemperate Trump brings chaos and confusion to Iran talks

Donald Trump’s decision to send US officials to Islamabad for further talks on Monday with Iran just 24 hours after Iran once again closed the strait of Hormuz will signal to Tehran that the strategic waterway remains a bargaining asset beyond parallel. It will also confirm in Iran’s eyes that the US president’s chaotic approach to diplomacy doubles the need for Tehran to act calmly and strategically – two competencies it believes he totally lacks.

Such is the distrust and fog surrounding relations between Iran and the US that no one can know whether Trump – after meetings in the Situation Room on Saturday – has once again decided to use diplomacy as a giant smokescreen prior to a further military attack on Iran once the ceasefire expires on Wednesday.

At a minimum it is undeniable that the run-up to a proposed second round of talks in Islamabad has been far from propitious, partly because an impatient Trump repeatedly misunderstands the need to proceed sequentially or take account of the sensitivities on the Iranian side. Iranian state media reported on Sunday night that Iran would not join the peace talks, with the country’s official news agency, IRNA, writing that the country’s decision to stay away “stems from what it called Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire”.

Iran’s three demands before entering another round of talks were a ceasefire in Lebanon, an end to the US blockade on Iranian ports and progress on Iranian asset releases. Iran and the mediators in Pakistan saw this as a traditional diplomatic step-by-step reciprocal process whereby one confidence-building measure from one side would lead to another on the other side. As a result, the imposition on Israel of the two-week ceasefire in Lebanon by Trump was regarded as significant by Iran, and was due to lead to a reciprocal partial lifting of the Iranian chokehold on the strait of Hormuz – a step announced somewhat clumsily by the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in a tweet on Friday morning. In return it was expected that Trump would lift the US blockade of Iranian ports, and the momentum surrounding the virtuous circle would build.

But in a series of tweets on Friday Trump kept the blockade in place, claimed Iran had completely lifted the restrictions on tanker traffic in the strait, and for good measure said Iran had agreed to hand over Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the US for safe keeping. In short, he gave the impression that Iran had surrendered. The backlash that followed in Tehran on Friday was inevitable, and whether there was a genuine split between the foreign ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership or simply misapprehension due to Trump’s mischaracterisation of what Araghchi had said is unclear.

“Our greatest ally” that takes billions of our tax dollars and weapons every year. https://t.co/N1AoqoahWA

— Marjorie Taylor Greene (@mtgreenee) April 19, 2026

Israel HUMILIATES Trump, Ignores Ceasefire Demands

Israel Continues ‘Gaza Tactics’ in Lebanon, Leveling Villages and Homes in Violation of Ceasefire

Despite a ceasefire announced Friday, after US President Donald Trump said Israel was “PROHIBITED” from continuing to strike Lebanon, Israel continued to level villages and homes across southern Lebanon from Friday into Saturday in what has been described as a continuation of its “Gaza tactics.”

Just as it did in Gaza, Israeli Army Radio announced Friday night that Israel had established a “yellow line” in southern Lebanon about 10 kilometers north of the Israeli border, effectively allowing Israel to occupy about 10% of Lebanese territory and maintain control of 55 towns and villages.

According to a report by Lebanon’s National Council for Scientific Research, Israeli forces have been destroying more than 1,000 homes per day since March 2, sometimes wiping out entire villages across southern Lebanon.

The campaign escalated later in the month after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to “accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes” near the Israeli border based on the “model in Gaza,” where Israel has destroyed around 90% of all infrastructure and left most of the population sheltering in tents.

The Israeli army announced on Saturday the establishment of a “yellow line” in South Lebanon, in replication of the Gaza model.

The line separates 55 occupied southern villages from the rest of Lebanon, and stretches from Naqoura to eastern Lebanon, at 8 to 10 kilometers deep… pic.twitter.com/R38rhcCitr

— Megaphone News English (@MegaphoneNewsEN) April 18, 2026

Israel has described this as an effort to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure. But the razing of entire villages has often appeared indiscriminate, and numerous attacks have targeted or damaged schools, hospitals, and other nonmilitary infrastructure. More than 40,000 homes have reportedly been destroyed or damaged.

Demolitions and land-clearing operations have continued after Friday’s ceasefire, according to reporters on the ground in Lebanon for Al Jazeera. Israeli artillery also reportedly shelled areas around Beit Lif, al-Qantara, and Toul.

On Friday, Israel warned tens of thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians in southern Lebanon not to return to their homes despite the ceasefire, although some have begun to make the trek anyway. Many have found their former homes reduced to rubble.

“There’s destruction, and it’s unlivable,” said one resident who was displaced from his home in Nabatieh. “We’re taking our things and leaving again.”

IDF: Since the ceasefire came into effect, IDF soldiers south of the Yellow Line in southern Lebanon have identified in several incidents in which terrorists violated the ceasefire understandings by approaching from north of the Yellow Line toward IDF soldiers, posing an…

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) April 18, 2026

Israel said Saturday that it had also carried out new airstrikes in southern Lebanon against people who approached the newly established yellow line. The Israeli military claimed that individuals crossed from north of the line toward Israeli troops, prompting “precise strikes” by air and ground forces against them.

An Israeli military statement described those approaching as “terrorists” who violated the ceasefire and said it carried out the strikes in “self-defense against threats.” However, it did not specify what threat those approaching the line posed.

Previous attacks that Israel has said were directed at Hezbollah fighters have devastated civilian areas in southern Lebanon, as well as Beirut and its surrounding suburbs.

According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between military and civilian casualties, more than 2,167 people have been killed since Israel renewed its attacks in Lebanon on March 2.

In Gaza, despite a ceasefire, nearly 100 Palestinians have been killed near the yellow line since it was established in October 2025. Those killed have included at least 36 women, children, and elderly people, according to TRT World.

On Wednesday, a group of United Nations experts denounced what they called Israel’s “illegal aggression and indiscriminate bombing campaign” aimed at occupying land in violation of the UN Charter.

“The issuance of blanket evacuation orders, combined with the destruction of urban and village housing that displaced persons would have returned to, is consistent with the pattern of domicide that was initiated during the genocide in Gaza,” they warned.

On Saturday, a group of peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon also came under attack, resulting in the death of a French soldier. Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and pledged to identify the “perpetrators.”

Palantir Unveils TERRIFYING MANIFESTO For New Surveillance State

Trump energy secretary says gas prices might not drop back under $3 a gallon until 2027

Chris Wright, the Trump administration’s energy secretary, acknowledged Sunday that it might not be until 2027 before US gas prices come back under $3 a gallon. Asked by Jake Tapper, the CNN State of the Union host, when he thought “it’s realistic for Americans to expect the gas will go back to under $3 a gallon”, Wright replied: “I don’t know. That could happen later this year. That might not happen until next year.”

Wright then maintained, without elaborating that “prices have likely peaked and they will start going down”. He said a conclusion to the war in Iran that the US started alongside Israel in late February would see energy prices “go down”. Tapper pressed Wright on whether it might be 2027 before gasoline prices drop under $3 a gallon, the level they were at in December, as the Trump administration touted.

Wright seemingly deflected, saying: “Under $3 a gallon is pretty tremendous in an inflation-adjusted terms. We had that in the Trump administration, but we hadn’t seen that in inflation-adjusted terms for quite a long time. We will get back there, for sure.” Donald Trump campaigned aggressively on promises to lower gasoline prices as he successfully ran for a second presidency in November 2024. He even promised to lower gasoline prices below $2 a gallon.

“Energy is going to bring us back,” he said in a September 2024 campaign speech. “That means we’re going down and getting gasoline below $2 a gallon, bring down the price of everything from electricity rates to groceries, air fares, and housing costs.”

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Is the War Over?

Louisiana Advances One of the Country’s ‘Cruelest’ Anti-Homeless Bills

The Louisiana House of Representatives voted this week to pass what the National Homelessness Law Center says is “one of the cruelest anti-homeless bills in the country.”

Like many other anti-homeless bills being advanced around the country following a 2024 Supreme Court decision allowing states and cities to criminalize homelessness, House Bill 211, which passed by a vote of 70-28, makes unauthorized sleeping in public spaces a crime.

It is punishable by a fine of up to $500, imprisonment for up to six months, or both. Repeat offenders could face one to two years in prison with hard labor and a $1,000 fine.

The bill, which will now advance to the GOP-controlled state Senate, has been nicknamed the “Streets to Success Act” because, according to its sponsor, state Rep. Debbie Villio (R-79), the goal is not to jail homeless people but to “connect them to service providers.”

Those who are convicted of sleeping outdoors could be given the option to avoid jail time by instead entering into a mandatory treatment program for at least 12 months. The bill authorizes local governments to set up semi-permanent camps in remote areas, where defendants would be required to stay and receive treatment.

The bill requires homeless defendants to pay “all or part of the cost of the treatment program to which he is assigned,” a steep cost for many, as the average cost for residential drug and alcohol rehab treatment in Louisiana is more than $4,400 per week, according to the addiction referral service directory Addicted.org.

Family of US man who died after officer shoved knee into back sues police

Relatives of a man whom investigators determined died after a Kansas sheriff’s deputy shoved his knee into the cuffed man’s back for a minute and 26 seconds have filed a federal lawsuit. Attorneys for the family of Charles Adair renewed their demand on Friday that video of what happened be released publicly in announcing the wrongful death lawsuit.

Adair was arrested in July on misdemeanor warrants for failure to appear on multiple traffic violations. At the time, Adair’s leg needed to be amputated and was so badly infected that he was taken straight to the hospital, a Kansas bureau of investigation agent wrote in the affidavit. Before Adair was cleared to return to the jail, he was diagnosed with a type of bone infection that sometimes develops in people with diabetes. A medical screening also found he was schizophrenic, the affidavit said.

The lawsuit said he was incoherent and that deputies believed Adair’s medical condition “was affecting his brain”. After having his leg rewrapped the following evening, he got into an argument with the deputy who was wheeling him back to his cell. Adair ultimately threw himself out of the wheelchair, the affidavit said. Once he was back in his cell, he was placed on his stomach on the bottom bunk, with his legs and knees on the ground. The lawsuit and court records said he repeatedly yelled: “Help!”

The lawsuit said Adair was complying with commands but that Fatherley “pressed his body weight on to Mr Adair’s back”. Other deputies then removed Adair’s handcuffs while Fatherley shifted his weight forward. The lawsuit said none of the other officers who were present intervened and that the deputies failed to modify their tactics to account for Adair’s apparent mental health impairment.

The lawsuit also said Fatherley, who is on administrative leave and free on bond, was not cut off from his sheriff’s office email after he was charged, allowing him to communicate with other members of the agency and employees that he knew were witnesses.

Krystal Ball CALLS OUT AOC

Colombia convenes climate ‘coalition of the willing’ to break global fossil fuel deadlock

Everybody knows fossil fuels cause climate breakdown, but until recently, mention of them was all but erased from the annual UN climate summits. Last year, two weeks of discussions ended without fossil fuels being mentioned in the final outcome. Frustration with those talks led a small developing country with a large fossil fuel sector – Colombia, the largest coal and fourth biggest oil exporter in the Americas – to rewrite the rules. With co-convener the Netherlands, and support from more than 50 countries, Colombia will host a groundbreaking new global conference this month to begin the long-awaited “transition away from fossil fuels”.

Now, with nations embroiled in another oil-inflected war and fuel prices soaring worldwide as a consequence, the conference in Santa Marta on 28 and 29 April looks more prescient than ever. Countries are paying the price for oil addiction, not just in their energy bills but in food prices, consumer inflation, shortages, and businesses threatened with collapse. “We, of course, didn’t know that war was going to break out, but we knew the challenges of a dependency on fossil fuels,” said Irene Vélez Torres, Colombia’s environment minister, who will preside over the talks. “This conference comes in the best possible moment.”

The oil crisis, sparked by the US-Israeli attack on Iran, is spotlighting the stark choice world leaders face between oil, gas and coal and the cleaner, safer renewable energy of the future. This is “the moment in which history is going to split,” said Vélez. Spurred by soaring prices, some countries – and millions of individuals – are already making the switch. Record numbers of households in the UK are turning to solar panels, electric vehicles and heat pumps. Not counting China, global power generation from coal and gas has fallen, while renewables have surged ahead, with solar generation up 14% and wind by 8%. After the closure of the Hormuz strait, coal-fired power generation fell in the US, India, EU, Turkey and South Africa, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, despite fears that countries would return to coal.

For the first time, the countries that want to forge ahead with the energy transition cannot be held back by the naysayers, Vélez told the Guardian in an interview. With a “coalition of the willing”, Colombia and co-host the Netherlands hope to break the deadlock of the long-running UN climate talks that are frequently hijacked by the unwilling. While 54 countries have confirmed their attendance at the conference, some of the world’s biggest economies and biggest polluters, including the US, China, India, Russia and the Gulf petro states, will be missing. “Whatever nations have not yet taken that decision, then this is not the space for them. We are not going to have boycotters or climate denialists at the table,” Vélez said.

The 54 countries confirmed represent about a fifth of global fossil fuel production and about a third of demand. They include the UK, the EU, Canada, and Australia and Turkey, which will jointly preside over the next UN climate summit, Cop31, this November. Among the dozens of developing countries confirmed are some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, such as Pacific islands, but also major fossil fuel producers, such as Nigeria, Angola, Mexico and Brazil.

Climate Defenders Warn GOP Immunity Bill Puts ‘Big Oil Above the Law’

Green groups warned Friday that Big Oil-backed Republican legislation would give fossil fuel companies immunity from laws or lawsuits aimed at holding them accountable for their role in causing the climate emergency.

On Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a bill co-sponsored by Sens. Ted Budd (R-NC), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) that, if passed, would “prohibit liability against those engaged in the mining, extraction, production, refinement, transportation, distribution, marketing, manufacture, or sale of energy for damages or injunctive or other relief from the use of their products, and for other purposes.”

Congresswoman Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) on Friday introduced the House version of the legislation, dubbed the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026, “to protect American energy from leftist legal crusades punishing lawful activity,” as her office put it.

If passed, the legislation would ban retroactive climate liability lawsuits, dismiss any such litigation pending upon the law’s enactment, void all state energy penalty laws, and affirm that the federal government maintains exclusive authority and jurisdiction over the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and other interstate environmental standards.

Other Republican-controlled states including Tennesseee and Utah have recently passed such legislation, and others—including Iowa, Louisiana, and Oklahoma—have introduced similar bills.

“This blatant championing of some of the world’s largest polluters shows how far certain elected officials will go to undermine democratic policymaking and deny people and communities access to justice,” Kathy Mulvey, climate accountability campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said Friday.

“No company should be above the law, especially those that planned, funded, and continue to engage in a coordinated decadeslong campaign to protect their profits by deceiving the public and blocking climate action,” Mulvey continued.

“Such corporate impunity would twist the knife of the climate crisis that is already directly harming people across the country,” she added. “Congress must not capitulate to wealthy special interests. Communities deserve the right to hold polluters accountable for the deadly and costly harms they are causing.”

Also of Interest

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

Patrick Lawrence: Iran & Ukraine — Two Theaters in the Non–West’s Single War for Parity

Iran War: Mad King Trump Gets the Strait Slammed in His Face

War On Iran: – Trump Claims Victory, Lays Grounds To Resume Fighting

Bittersweet emotions as Lebanese return south to scenes of destruction

Republican senator criticizes Trump’s ‘holy war’ with Pope Leo

Israeli soldier filmed smashing Jesus statue in Lebanon

A major US court case could help fix the ills of Citizens United

Climate, Indigenous Groups Rip Trump GOP for ‘Handing Over the Arctic Refuge to Big Oil’

Epstein, Gates discussed how to get rid of the poor

A Little Night Music

Otis " Big Smokey" Smothers & Barrelhouse Chuck" Searching For My Baby

Smokey Smothers - Blind and Dumb Man Blues

Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers - I've Been Drinking Muddy Water (Alt take)

Otis "Smokey" Smothers - I Cant Judge Nobody

Otis "Smokey" Smothers - That's Alright

Smokey Smothers - Smokey's Love Sick Blues

Smokey Smothers - Give It Back

Otis "Smokey" Smothers - Everybody's Talking

Smokey Smothers - Honey, I ain't teasin'

Smokey Smothers - Twist with me Annie