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"All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out."

-- I. F. Stone

News and Opinion

The Number Of Dead Iranian Protesters Keeps Changing Because It’s A Fictional Story

The most common pro-war talking point about Iran is that they massacred tens of thousands of protesters in January of this year — but what’s funny is that they never cite the same number. Because it’s a completely fictional story, they can just make up any number they want.

In online discourse with empire apologists these past few months I’ve been told that the number of dead protesters is thirty thousand, forty thousand, fifty thousand, sixty thousand, seventy thousand, eighty thousand, ninety thousand, and a hundred thousand.

They really do seem to just throw out whatever number feels believable in a given moment. I recently saw an exasperated Glenn Greenwald ask an interlocutor on Twitter, “How do you decide when to claim that Iran killed 30,000 protesters, or 45,000, or 70,000? Does it depend on the day of the week or lyrical flow or something else?”

We're up to 80k, guys! pic.twitter.com/ltHMygaBTu

— Tehran Tadhg (@TadhgHickey) March 17, 2026

Iranian regime change muppet Reza Pahlavi claimed in January that 50,000 protesters had been massacred by the Iranian government that month.

Notorious Korean propagandist Yeonmi Park put the number at 40,000.

In February, President Trump said it was 32,000. By April he had inflated that number to 45,000, and then later climbed it up to 60,000.

Last month I saw The Australian’s Cameron Stewart swelling the number to 80,000.

In February there was a viral tweet by a propaganda account called The Persian Jewess asserting that “90,000 protesters have been killed to date,” while right wing influencer Nicholas Lissack said it was actually 100,000.

The other day someone commented on a post of mine telling me “Iran killed over 40k protesters standing up for freedom,” and when I dismissed that claim another empire apologist came in and adjusted the number to 30,000.

pic.twitter.com/K0kNiJYbKs

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) April 14, 2026

The reason they can’t settle on a number is because it’s all made up.

Nobody denies that thousands of people were killed in the January unrest; the Iranian government itself has stated that 3,117 people were killed in the violent clashes, including large numbers of security forces. Given that the US Treasury Secretary has repeatedly admitted that the US deliberately fomented the unrest in Iran, and given that Trump has admitted to sending weapons into the country with the goal of arming the protesters, and given that Trump’s previous secretary of state has suggested that Mossad was intimately involved in the so-called “peaceful protests”, it was inevitable that people were going to be killed.

But the war propagandists couldn’t be content with a few thousand deaths. They needed something more spectacular. Something sensational. So they started circulating thinly-sourced reports by shady individuals claiming the body count was much higher than acknowledged, and then further inflating the numbers in those reports.

One of multiple fires at an industrial complex in Iran used to store corpses.

According to sources, the Regime is now covering up its crimes against humanity by burning the bodies of murdered protesters.

90,000 protesters have been killed to date.

pic.twitter.com/Z5pkdd0Caa

— The Persian Jewess (@persianjewess) February 6, 2026

And when they did this it made it clear that they’ve been lying about the whole thing, because anyone can see the numbers going all over the place depending on who happens to be speaking and what kind of mood they happen to be in. They made a classic blunder in fiction writing, as explained in a viral post that was doing the rounds on Tumblr a few months ago:

“speculative fiction writers i am going to give you a really urgent piece of advice: don’t say numbers. don’t give your readers any numbers. how heavy is the sword? lots. how old is that city? plenty. how big is the fort? massive. how fast is the spaceship? not very, it’s secondhand.

“the minute you say a number your readers can check your math and you cannot do math better than your most autistic critic. i guarantee. don’t let your readers do any math. when did something happen? awhile ago. how many bullets can that gun fire? trick question, it shoots lasers, and it shoots em HARD.

“you are lying to people for fun. if you let them do math at you the lie collapses and it’s no fun anymore.”

If you’re going to write fiction, it’s important not to disrupt the illusion and snap the reader out of the imaginary world you are creating for them. The narrative about tens of thousands of dead Iranian protesters is fiction, and everyone’s waking up to the lies.

Is There a Way out of the Iran War? (w/ John Mearsheimer) | The Chris Hedges Report

US spending on ‘reckless’ Iran war could have saved 87m lives, says UN

The $2bn (£1.5bn) a week that Donald Trump was spending on his reckless war in Iran could have funded saving more than 87 million lives, the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency, Tom Fletcher, said on Monday. He also warned the normalisation of violent language, such as threatening to bomb Iran back to the stone ages, was very dangerous since it encourages every “wannabe autocrat” to use similar threats and tactics, including the destruction of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Fletcher, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator and head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is wrestling with a humanitarian aid funding crisis he described as cataclysmic, amounting to a 50% cut in his budget. This is driven not just by the US but also by international cuts to overseas aid driven by a mix of ideology and demands from defence budgets.

He said the war in Iran was having a ripple effect across the globe and predicted that, with food and fuel inflation reaching close to 20%, “we will feel the impact for years in sub-Saharan Africa and east Africa pushing way more people into poverty”. Fletcher said: “For every day of this conflict, $2bn is being spent. My entire target for a hyper-prioritised plan to save 87 million lives is $23bn. We could have funded that in less than a fortnight of this reckless war. Now, of course, we cannot.” Fletcher’s budget is about $10bn short of his target of $23bn.

“There is a difference between statecraft and ‘real-estatecraft’,” he said. “Most of the guys I am working with [in the Trump administration] are people with a real estate background. It is a different approach to the world. For statecraft people, the handshake comes at the end of the process after you do all of the work. Real estatecraft do the handshake first, ‘Do I trust this person?’ and then, ‘Let’s go do the agreement’ … it places much more emphasis on the personal relationships, asking, ‘Is this a person I can work with?’ They are less interested in institutions, so walking in with a UN flag does not help you.”

He added: “The statecraft people, we love certainty, stability and process – look at what we have designed in terms of protocol, maps and flags. We love that order. For the Trump administration, they think disorder is more effective. The unpredictability, the knocking your opponent and your friend off-guard, they think they get more results. We will see."

The Iran War at the Crossroads: Diplomacy or Escalation? An Interview With Hassan Ahmadian

Max Blumenthal: Israel’s Defeat Begins: Zionist Power Structure FALLING APART in the US

JD Vance to lead US delegation in Pakistan if Iran agrees to talks

JD Vance is expected to fly to Islamabad at the head of a US diplomatic delegation on Tuesday if Iran agrees to further talks in the Pakistani capital as the deadline for the current ceasefire looms. The US vice-president will travel with Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law – though Iran’s president warned there remained a “deep historical mistrust” of the US.

Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was concerned about “unconstructive and contradictory signals from American officials” and concluded they amounted to an effort to seek the country’s surrender. “Iranians do not submit to force,” he said. However, one senior Iranian official told the Reuters news agency that Tehran was “positively reviewing” its participation, amid reports that its delegation would again be headed by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf if Vance attends.

Ghalibaf said later that Iran would not accept negotiations with the US while under threat, adding in the post on X early on Tuesday that “we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield”. He also accused Trump of seeking to “turn this negotiating table – in his own imagination – into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering.”

Tehran called for an end to the US blockade of the strait of Hormuz, while Trump repeated a demand that Iran should never be allowed to build a nuclear weapon and even said he would be willing to meet Iranian leaders himself.

Trump said he now considers the two-week ceasefire with Iran ends “Wednesday evening Washington time”, extending the pause for an extra 24 hours to allow the critical meeting in Islamabad to take place. In an interview with Bloomberg, he added it was “highly unlikely that I’d extend it” further and indicating bombing could restart shortly after – though in the same conversation the president also insisted that “I’m not going to be rushed into making a bad deal. We’ve got all the time in the world.”

Prof. John Mearsheimer : America Is Losing Israel’s War — Here’s Why

Iran’s 10-Point Plan Is Still a Workable Basis for Negotiations

The US government under Donald Trump has twice used disingenuous negotiations with Iran to provide cover for attacking it, in June 2025 and again before launching the current war in February. Now it is trying to do so for a third time.

On April 8, the US and Iran began a two week ceasefire, after Trump accepted a 10-point peace plan drawn up by Iran as “a workable basis on which to negotiate.” But Vice President Vance and US negotiators rejected Iran’s plan out of hand at talks in Pakistan on April 11, and instead demanded that Iran must give up its right as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (or NPT) to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. The talks ended with no agreement.

As the end of the ceasefire on April 22 drew near, Trump claimed that Iran had agreed to US demands on enriched uranium and other matters. But Iran announced to the world on April 18 that it had not agreed to any of the terms Trump claimed, and that his lies and threats provided no basis for further negotiations. Iran then responded to US and Israeli ceasefire violations by once again closing the Strait of Hormuz to all vessels linked to hostile countries.

In other words, Iran called Trump’s bluff, holding the US to the terms of the two-week ceasefire. But Trump didn’t give up on his false claims, and instead insisted that Iran had agreed to another round of talks in Pakistan on April 21st, which Iran immediately denied.

As the April 22 deadline approaches with no agreement, many analysts now expect the end of the ceasefire to be followed, within hours or days, by a US escalation of the war and a proportionate military response from Iran, with no clear off-ramp from further escalation.

But this could be averted by a belated but genuine US reappraisal of its position, based on Iran’s ten point proposal that Trump accepted as “a workable basis on which to negotiate.”

If the United States government really wants an exit strategy from this self-imposed, ever-escalating war, it should take a fresh look at Iran’s ten point peace plan, and seriously consider how it can engage with this framework to turn over a new leaf in its relations with Iran and the region.

These are the ten points, as reported by Gulf News:

A guarantee that Iran will not be attacked again

A permanent end to the war, not just a ceasefire

An end to Israeli strikes in Lebanon and against Iranian allies

The lifting of all US sanctions on Iran

Iran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz

Introduction of a $2 million fee per ship transiting Hormuz

Revenue from shipping fees to be shared with Oman

Funds to be used for reconstruction of war-damaged infrastructure

Establishment of safe passage protocols through Hormuz

A broader framework to end regional hostilities

Since the United States has failed to use the two-week ceasefire to negotiate on this “workable basis,” it will be up to Iran to decide whether to agree to extend the ceasefire so that the US and Iran can finally start real negotiations.

This would require the US to begin acting in good faith, an inherently tall order, to convince Iran that it would not just use an extension of the ceasefire to prepare an even more deadly and catastrophic attack. It should immediately lift its naval blockade of Iran, stop transporting more armed forces into the region, and do whatever it takes to end Israel’s ceasefire violations in Lebanon and Palestine, including by halting the transfer of weapons that Israel uses to violate those ceasefires, as US law requires.

Without such confidence-building measures, it is hard to see why Iran would agree to an extension of the ceasefire. As Professor Mostafa Khoshcheshm in Tehran explained to Al Jazeera, Trump’s lies convinced Tehran it would not find “a trustworthy partner for any kind of deal,” and, as long as the US acts this way, “Iran will continue the war.”

“Iran believes it has the upper hand and that this must be established in any future confrontation,” he said, noting that millions of people are still taking to the streets in Iran every night to call for continued resistance.

Maybe the most vital of Iran’s ten points is the first one listed above: a guarantee that Iran will not be attacked again, either by the United States or Israel. Trump’s war crimes, his undermining of US credibility and his connivance at Israel’s ceasefire violations make such a guarantee elusive, although it is only what international law requires of all countries, that they resolve their disputes peacefully and refrain from threatening or using military force against each other.

What form of guarantee could Iran possibly accept from a country that systematically violates treaties and agreements? Engaging in good faith negotiations over the rest of Iran’s 10-point agenda, especially the lifting of US sanctions, while also moving to restore diplomatic relations, might be good first steps.

The reversal in US policy that it would take to resolve this crisis would not be unprecedented. Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan all forced US forces to withdraw from their countries. But those were much longer wars, involving many years of US occupation that went on until popular resistance movements made continued occupation untenable.

How long must the US war on Iran go on, and how badly must the US be defeated, before it will agree to a permanent peace? This crisis can be as long or as short, and as bloody or bloodless, as US leaders choose, and as the American people will tolerate.

The lifting of illegal US sanctions against Iran (#4 on the list) would be a vital part of any solution to this crisis. This would surely be good for both countries, and the United States would be less likely to attack Iran again if the US and Iran have reestablished mutually profitable trade relations.

Ending Israel’s attacks on Iran’s allies (#3), and a broader framework to end regional hostilities (#10) are both steps that most Americans would support. The failure of the US-Israeli war on Iran could be the desperately needed catalyst for the US to transform a US-Israeli military alliance that is committing genocide in Palestine and aggression throughout the region into a new and different relationship bounded by the rules of international law.

A US military withdrawal from its bases around the Persian Gulf could prevent the countries that host them from again becoming targets in US-Israeli wars on Iran, so it is interesting that Iran doesn’t mention them in its ten points. Perhaps Iran sees the value of these US bases as vulnerable targets in this and future wars as outweighing any threat they might pose, but that would be one more reason for the United States to withdraw from them before they cost more American lives.

The other five items in the ten-point agenda are all related to the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is within Iran’s and Oman’s territorial waters, although charging ships to pass through it is unprecedented and legally questionable. It is really the US and Israel that should pay reparations to Iran for the death and destruction they have wreaked, not the owners of international merchant ships. But if the US will not agree to pay reparations, Iran’s tollbooths may be a compromise that all sides can live with in order to reopen the strait, as Iran itself calls for in item # 5.

There is a simple way to avoid one of the most destructive elements in recent failed negotiations with Iran, and that would be to remove Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner from the US negotiating team. Discussing prior negotiations, a diplomat from one of the Gulf countries told The Guardian, “We regarded Witkoff and Kushner as Israeli assets that dragged a president into a war he wants to get out of.”

Given Witkoff and Kushner’s foreign loyalties, Trump’s lies and corruption, Rubio’s subservience to Israel, and Hegseth’s bloodlust, the United States can surely find more professional officials to represent it in these difficult negotiations, which have only been made more difficult by the flood of threats, lies and deception from the US side.But since the United States has not really tried to make peace wit Iran since abandoning the JCPOA in 2018, a new team of qualified, experienced US diplomats charged with turning over a new leaf in US-Iran relations could start with a clean slate, and they would have the support of the whole world behind their efforts to resolve this global crisis.

CPT. Matt Hoh : Israel’s Next Move Could Change Everything

Pakistan Army Chief Tells Trump US Blockade Is Obstacle to Peace Talks With Iran

Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshall Asim Munir, has told President Trump by phone that the US blockade on Iranian ports is a major obstacle to resuming talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad, Reuters reported on Monday.

A Pakistani security source told the outlet that Trump told Munir he would consider his advice, but so far, there’s no sign the US intends to ease the blockade, which dramatically escalated on Sunday as US forces in the Gulf of Oman attacked and seized an Iranian cargo ship.

The current ceasefire between the US and Iran is due to expire on Wednesday, April 22, unless a deal is reached or the deadline is extended. Trump has also been threatening major attacks on Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran doesn’t capitulate to US demands, saying on Sunday that he was ready to “blow up” the “whole country.”

Marwa Osman | The Middle East Is About To Explode

What’s Behind the Ceasefire in Lebanon? | Rania Khalek

Israeli army to launch criminal investigation after soldier strikes Jesus statue in Lebanon

The Israeli military is conducting a criminal investigation after a soldier was photographed striking a Catholic statue of Jesus with a sledgehammer in southern Lebanon. Israel’s military officials said they had determined that an image circulating on social media showing the incident was authentic. The image appears to show an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of a crucified Jesus that had fallen off a cross.

The Catholic sculpture is located in Debl, a Christian village in south Lebanon near the border with Israel, the local municipality said. Officials could not say whether it had been damaged.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned the defacing of the religious symbol and said that he was “stunned and saddened” when he found out about it. He added that “harsh disciplinary action” would be taken against the individual responsible. The Israeli military said it was working with people in the village to “restore the statue in its place”.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said the soldier in the photo had been identified but was not being named publicly.

Israeli soldiers have damaged other mosques and historical religious sites as part of their invasion of south Lebanon, but Israeli officials made no statements about the destruction of these places of worship. Male soldiers have also filmed themselves rummaging through underwear drawers in houses in south Lebanon whose occupants were displaced and wearing the intimate clothing of women while mocking them.

Carney says Canada’s strong economic ties to US are ‘weakness’ to be corrected

Canada’s strong economic ties to the United States were once a strength but are now a weakness that must be corrected, the country’s prime minister has warned. In a 10-minute video address, Mark Carney spoke about his government’s efforts to strengthen the Canadian economy by attracting new investments and signing trade deals with other countries.

“The world is more dangerous and divided,” Carney said. “The US has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression. Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become weaknesses. Weaknesses that we must correct.”

Carney said tariffs imposed by Donald Trump had affected workers in the auto and steel industries. He added that businesses were holding back investments “restrained by the pall of uncertainty that’s hanging over all of us”.

Carney said he planned to give Canadians regular updates on his government’s efforts to diversify away from the US. “Security can’t be achieved by ignoring the obvious or downplaying the very real threats that we Canadians face,” he said. “I promise you I will never sugarcoat our challenges.”

Carney’s comments came days after securing a majority government following special election wins and as the opposition Conservatives push him to deliver a US trade deal, which was among his promises in last year’s election. A review of the current version of the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, the US and Mexico is scheduled for July.

Federal agents detain wife of another US army member: ‘ICE is out of control’

A US army sergeant with 27 years of military service – including deployment to Afghanistan – has said that federal immigration agents recently arrested his wife during an appointment at an immigration office in El Paso, Texas. In an interview with CBS News published Monday, Sgt First Class Jose Serrano said that Deisy Rivera Ortega, a Salvadoran and his wife, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers under the command of the Trump administration despite receiving legal protection in 2019 that bars her from being deported to El Salvador. Rivera Ortega, who wed Serrano in 2022, has been in the US since 2016, he said.

“I don’t really understand why, because she followed the rules of immigration by the T since day one,” Serrano, 51, told CBS News of her detention.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, told CBS News that Rivera Ortega came into the US illegally. Serrano reportedly said he was informed that Rivera Ortega could be removed to a different country, such as Mexico. Serrano said that Rivera Ortega has no ties to Mexico. “We don’t know nobody in Mexico,” he told CBS. He also told the network she had an active work permit before her arrest at an immigration law office appointment on 14 April.

Rivera Ortega’s reported case is the latest of several instances that contradict the Trump administration’s initial claims that its immigration crackdown would prioritize deporting dangerous criminals. As it has sought to increase deportation numbers, the campaign has affected a growing number of military service members’ relatives – often without consideration for the veterans’ records of having defended the US.

Caught in the Crackdown: Cases Against Arrested Anti-ICE Protesters Keep Falling Apart

Emails show Amazon colluding with other firms to raise prices, California authorities allege

Emails released on Monday by California’s attorney general show Amazon allegedly colluding with other companies to raise the prices of pet treats, khaki pants, eyedrops and other products sold online. According to a newly unsealed court filing released by attorney general Rob Bonta, Amazon employees have repeatedly worked with vendors using its platform to push retail vendors including Walmart and Chewyto set higher prices collectively.

In one case, according to Bonta’s office, Amazon raised prices on a set of dog treats and worked with a pet treat manufacturer to convince Chewy, the pet supplies retailer, to follow its increases, effectively protecting its market share while sticking consumers with higher prices. Amazon emailed the manufacturer a list of products with price increases, instructing the vendor: “As you noted, Chewy should be aware of this update and follow suit accordingly.”

Two days later, in an internal message, the manufacturer confirmed that the price raise had gone up on both sites, Bonta’s office alleges. The prices “that went up on Amazon immediately went up on Chewy :)”, an employee of the manufacturer wrote, according to a court exhibit.

In another case, Amazon sent links to Levi’s, the apparel giant, showing Dockers khaki pants being sold by Walmart, describing them as “styles of concern”. The big box chain was selling them for less, according to Bonta’s office. The next day, state officials allege, Levi’s reported to Amazon that it talked to Walmart and that the big box chain had “partnered with us” to raise the khakis price up to “$29.99 immediately”. The next day, state officials allege, Levi’s reported to Amazon that it talked to Walmart and that the big box chain had “partnered with us” to raise the khakis price up to “$29.99 immediately”.

“The evidence uncovered today is clear as day: Amazon is working to make your life more unaffordable,” Bonta said in a statement. “The company is price fixing, colluding with vendors and other retailers to raise costs for Americans beyond what the market requires – beyond what is fair.”

Kash Patel sues the Atlantic over article alleging excessive drinking

Kash Patel has followed through on a threat to sue the Atlantic and the author of a story the magazine published that included allegations of “excessive drinking” as well as “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences” while in charge of the FBI. The FBI director filed a defamation lawsuit in US district court for the District of Columbia that seeks $250m in damages.

Patel’s legal team accused the magazine and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick of publishing “a sweeping, malicious and defamatory hit piece” on 17 April. “Defendants are of course free to criticize the leadership of the FBI, but they crossed the legal line by publishing an article replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office,” the complaint reads. “Indeed, Fitzpatrick could not get a single person to go on the record in defense of these outrageous allegations, instead relying entirely on anonymous sources she knew to be both highly partisan with an ax to grind and also not in a position to know the facts.”

Patel’s lawyers accused the Atlantic of acting with actual malice – the legal standard for winning a defamation lawsuit against a public individual – because they had denied the claims that were to be published in the story. Patel’s representatives have also argued that the Atlantic did not give them enough time to respond.

“We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend the Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit,” a spokesperson for the Atlantic said.

Trump labor secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigns amid misconduct investigation

Donald Trump’s labor secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is stepping down, the administration announced on Monday, after a series of misconduct allegations including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking on the job. “Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector,” Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, wrote on social media. “She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives.”

Chavez-DeRemer is the third cabinet member – all women – to depart during the president’s second term, following homeland security secretary Kristi Noem and attorney general Pam Bondi. She wrote on the X social media platform: “It has been an honor and a privilege to serve in this historic Administration and work for the greatest President of my lifetime.” But Chavez-DeRemer’s exit comes after she became entangled in a string of political and personal controversies. The labor secretary and her close aides are currently under investigation by the department’s inspector general over allegations of professional misconduct.

These include claims that Chavez-DeRemer had an affair with a member of her security detail, kept a “stash” of alcohol in her office and used government resources for personal travel, while her aides allegedly sought to channel grants towards politically connected figures, the New York Times reported in March.

The inspector general is also reviewing material showing Chavez-DeRemer and her top aides and family members routinely sent personal messages and requests to young staff members, another Times report said last week. Chavez-DeRemer’s husband and father exchanged text messages with young female staff members, according to the newspaper. The scandals did not end there. The secretary’s husband, Shawn DeRemer, an anesthesiologist, was barred from the department’s headquarters after allegations by at least two female staff members that he had sexually assaulted them. The women told department officials that Shawn DeRemer had touched them inappropriately at the department’s building on Constitution Avenue in Washington.

His lawyer rejected the claims, suggesting they form part of an effort to force his wife from office. Police and prosecutors declined to pursue charges. But the inspector general’s investigation was believed to be nearing its conclusion and at least four department officials had been forced from their jobs as it progressed.

Cory Booker BLAMES Voters! Chuck Schumer Is An AGENT!

Climate groups sue US government over approval of new BP project in Gulf of Mexico

Environmental groups have sued the Trump administration over its approval of BP’s huge new ultra-deep oil drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico, 16 years to the day since the company’s Deepwater Horizon disaster caused the worst oil spill in US history. In March, the administration approved a plan by BP to drill for oil at even greater depths than the Deepwater Horizon project, which resulted in an explosion that killed 11 people and gushed more than 3m barrels of oil into the ocean, a leak that took 87 days to stem.

The oil coated shorelines across five states and caused severe damage to wildlife such as fish, whales and sea turtles, as well as coastline ecosystems and fishing communities.

The British company’s new $5bn project, known as Kaskida, will be located around 250 miles off the coast of Louisiana and will plunge drilling equipment 6,000ft deep into the Gulf’s water. Drills will then extend much further down into the seabed itself, in all reaching down about 6 miles – deeper than the height of Mount Everest. BP forecasts this drilling will extract around 80,000 barrels of oil a day from six wells once production starts in 2029, drawing upon a deposit that holds 10bn barrels of oil in total.

On Monday, the 16th anniversary of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, a coalition of five green groups filed a lawsuit aimed at reversing the approval of Kaskida by Trump’s interior department, claiming the drilling poses a catastrophic risk to the environment and local communities. “The Trump administration has teed up the entire Gulf region for a Deepwater Horizon sequel with its approval of BP’s extremely risky ultra-deepwater drilling project,” said Brettny Hardy, senior attorney at Earthjustice, one of the groups.

“The green lighting of BP’s project sets a dangerously low bar for oil-and-gas companies that want to drill in our public waters. We’ll see the Trump administration in court over its unlawful and insulting approval of Kaskida.” The lawsuit alleges BP has failed to provide legally required information related to the project and the company has been unable to demonstrate it can safely drill at such extreme depths, where “loss of well control” incidents, which occurred in Deepwater Horizon, become more likely. BP has also not shown it has the containment capabilities to prevent a much larger oil spill, of around 4.5m barrels of oil, to spread across the Gulf, the lawsuit alleges.

Cocaine pollution in rivers and lakes may disrupt behaviour of salmon

Traces of cocaine that pollute rivers and lakes may accumulate in the brains of salmon and disrupt their behaviour, according to researchers who warn of unknown consequences for fish populations. Juvenile Atlantic salmon that were artificially exposed to the drug and its main breakdown product swam further and dispersed more widely across a lake, suggesting the substances can affect where the fish go, what they eat and how vulnerable they are to predators.

What impact the pollutants have when they enter watercourses from sewage works is unclear, but the fish may pay a price if they burn more energy, or face greater risks from predators if they have to forage for more food to keep their energy up, scientists say. “Largely, we don’t know the consequences, but I expect there to be trade-offs,” said Dr Jack Brand at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “They may end up in worse condition or have to offset it by foraging a lot more, meaning they spend more time out in the open.”

Scientists have said before that pollution from common drugs poses “a major and escalating risk to biodiversity” and have called on pharmaceutical companies to make greener medicines that breakdown in the environment. Concerns over the contaminants have been fuelled by reports of trout “addicted” to methamphetamine and perch losing their fear of predators because of antidepressant medications.

In 2019, tests on freshwater shrimp in rivers in Suffolk found traces of dozens of different drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, antidepressants, anxiolytics for anxiety and antipsychotics, but the researchers did not draw any conclusions about their potential to cause harm.

Existing wastewater treatment efficiently removes many illicit drugs, including cocaine and benzoylecgonine, but a main source in waterways is raw sewage that can come from storm overflows and misconnects in household plumbing.

Trump Admin Aims to "Break the Forest Service," Nearly 200 Million Acres at Stake

Trump signs memos to boost US fossil-fuel production for ‘defense readiness’

Donald Trump on Monday released a series of memos that doubled down on his support of increased domestic fossil fuel production for purported “defense readiness”. Trump’s memos, which cited the president’s 20 January 2025 executive order declaring a national energy emergency, said US-based oil, coal, and natural gas production must expand “to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability”.

“It emphasized that our Nation’s current inadequate and intermittent energy supply leaves us vulnerable to hostile foreign actors and poses an imminent and growing threat to the United States’ prosperity and national security,” one of Trump’s memoranda said of his executive order. “Consistent with that declaration, I find that ensuring resilient domestic petroleum production, refining, and logistics capacity is central to United States defense readiness,” he also said.

“Petroleum fuels the Nation’s Armed Forces, industrial base, and crucial infrastructure. Without immediate Federal action, United States defense capabilities will remain vulnerable to disruption.” Trump directed the energy secretary to implement his determination about fossil fuels and defense, such as by “making necessary purchases, commitments, and financial instruments to enable these projects”.

Trump’s memos invoked the Defense Production Act, a cold-war era legislation that gives the president power to protect US defense efforts by “expanding and expediting the supply of materials and services from the domestic industrial base,” according to Fema.

Also of Interest

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

Did Gen. Caine Defy A Presidential Order Saturday Night and Deny Trump the Nuclear Codes?

War On Iran: – All Signs Point To Escalation

Iran War: Talks Kiboshed, U.S. Seizes Iranian Tanker, Leaks Confirm Mad King Claims

DAYS 49-51: Talks to Begin After US Seizes Iranian Ship

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A Little Night Music

Juke Boy Bonner - It's A Shame, Shame, Shame

Juke Boy Bonner – I'm Going Up, I'm Going Down

Juke Boy Bonner – Carried To The Cleaners & Hung Out To Dry

Juke Boy Bonner - Nowhere To Run

Juke Boy Bonner - Blues River Rising

Juke Boy Bonner - Look Out Lightning

Juke Boy Bonner - Grandmas Will Dog You Around

Juke Boy Bonner – Jumpin' With Juke Boy

Ted Hawley & Weldon Bonner – Trying To Keep It Together

Juke Boy Bonner - I Live Where The Action Is