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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Tommy McClennan

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features delta blues singer and guitarist Tommy McClennan. Enjoy!

^{Tommy McClennan - It's Hard To Be Lonesome}

"The genocide in Gaza is an unequivocal message sent from the industrialized nations of the north, which spent billions to sustain Israel’s mass slaughter, to a global population that subsists on a few dollars a day:

We don’t care about humanitarian law. We don’t care about human rights. Your lives mean nothing to us. We will use any tool, including genocide, to protect our monopoly on wealth and power."

-- Chris Hedges

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News and Opinion

Israel Could Solve Its PR Problem By Simply Ceasing To Be Evil

Israel’s +972 Magazine reports that the Israeli military establishment has launched a training program designed to “influence public consciousness” around the world, with courses aimed at training hundreds of operatives per year in strategies for “actively disrupting or manipulating the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of target audiences.”

Citing a leaked Defense Ministry tender, +972 reports that lecturers in the program are required to hold “doctorates and/or professorships in the fields of influence, consciousness, security and terrorism, mass communication, [or] digital and network communication,” as well as “at least four years of professional experience in the fields of influence [or] influence intelligence in various security organizations.”

“Some of the courses — including those on influence operations, influence intelligence, and online activism — will be in English for ‘foreign partners,’ whose identities are not specified,” +972 reports. “For these participants, the Defense Ministry built a dedicated syllabus that includes study of ‘the American approach,’ meaning U.S. perspectives and cultural norms, and conducting influence campaigns in the international arena.”

This revelation comes as Israel quintuples its annual propaganda budget to three-quarters of a billion dollars. So going forward you can expect to be blasted in the face with a whole lot more pro-Israel perception management while you’re minding your own fucking business trying to live your life.

Revealed: Israel’s curriculum for ‘influencing public consciousness’

A leaked Defense Ministry tender lays out the army’s training program for manipulating public opinion in Israel and abroad.@ha_makom https://t.co/5C1yc8quJj

— +972 Magazine (@972mag) June 4, 2026

It’s such a trip how Zionists just take it as a given that the only way to improve public perception of Israel is to ramp up efforts to manipulate the thoughts people think about it. They never give serious attention to the possibility that Israel would have a lot more public approval if it stopped fucking murdering innocent civilians all the time and fucking torturing people and raping captives with trained rape dogs. Israel can’t possibly be wrong; only our thoughts about Israel can be wrong.

At an American Jewish Committee event on Tuesday, Santa Clara University’s Maya Ackerman argued that generative AI presents an exciting new opportunity for imposing pro-Israel narratives on public consciousness, because AI companies can be lobbied directly to push pro-Israel narratives since their leaders can control what information people see.

Here’s a transcript of what she said:

“The really cool thing about AI is that while it can become a great ally for our enemies if we act early, it could be exactly the opportunity that we need after missing the boat with social media. AI is now becoming the dominant source of information — the main source of information. People trust AI more than anything else. They trust AI more than social media. They turn to chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini instead of using Google. And young people use these bots instead of Google in very, very very large numbers. So this is becoming the main source of information.

“And so when I say this, I still find Jewish people being discouraged, they say ‘Oh, but Wikipedia is already so antisemitic and social media is so antisemitic — why bother? The AI just learns from all of this data.’ So, you know, whatever, not much we can do.

“But that’s not true, because over the past two years the AI companies have been moving towards alignment. So instead of algorithms sort of honestly representing what’s in the data, we’re finding that these chatbots and the text to image models are increasingly showing us exactly what the companies want us to see.

“Okay, so it’s becoming intentional. Which means that instead of trying to control the whole world and trying to somehow manage what’s happening in this big blob called Wikipedia and social media, we can go directly to the companies with clear technical and advocacy solutions. For the first time, there is a path to correcting the digital world.”

So to be clear, Ackerman is arguing that AI chatbots are useful because instead of “honestly representing what’s in the data” they are saying whatever their owners tell them to say, which means the owners of AI companies can simply be pressured to make the chatbots say pro-Israel things. She is saying this gives “Jewish people” (her words, not mine) an opportunity for “correcting the digital world” (her words, not mine) in a way that is more efficient than “trying to control the whole world” (her words, not mine).

It’s just surreal how people like me are always going to great lengths to draw clear distinctions and avoid coming across as antisemitic in our criticisms of Israel, and then Jewish Zionists go to these events all “Yes we Jews need to be actively manipulating western institutions in order to deceive everyone and control society.”

The other day at a Jerusalem Post conference, World Jewish Congress president Ron Lauder argued that Jewish billionaires should be using their wealth “to attack our enemies”, and advocated for Israeli intelligence agencies Mossad and Shin Bet to track and “counterattack” Israel’s critics online in the “fight” against anti-Israel sentiment.

The Mossad should be sicced on Israel's enemies in the PR war, World Jewish Congress President Ron Lauder tells the Jerusalem Post conference in New York City.

This sounds completely illegal. pic.twitter.com/xKD2zcnIE1

— Chris Menahan (@infolibnews) June 1, 2026

Speaking at a book launch event in Jerusalem last month, British columnist and broadcaster Melanie Phillips argued that “the Jewish community” should use “psychological warfare” and “psyops” to promote the interests of Israel.

If I wanted people to stop hating my favorite country for committing war crimes and genocide, I personally would simply encourage that country to stop committing war crimes and genocide.

I would not try to solve the problem by waging psyops and information warfare.

I would not try to solve the problem by lobbying governments to ban criticism of my favorite country.

I would not try to solve the problem by claiming that anyone who criticizes my favorite country is a Nazi.

I would not try to solve the problem with a dramatic increase to my favorite country’s propaganda budget.

I would not try to solve the problem by swarming the internet with paid trolls who argue in support of my favorite country.

The Jewish community needs to use "psychological warfare" and "psyops" to get people to support Israel, Zionist activist Melanie Phillips tells a Jewish gathering at the Begin Center in Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/Wb1blELBFQ

— Chris Menahan (@infolibnews) May 21, 2026

I would not try to solve the problem by buying up news outlets and social media platforms in order to force them to amplify information that is supportive of my favorite country.

I feel like doing these things would only make people hate my favorite country more. I think people would get sick of my favorite country’s supporters constantly trying to manipulate their minds and assaulting their right to free expression.

I would only do these things if I wanted people to hate my favorite country. Like if my favorite country was premised on the idea that everyone already hates its inhabitants, so the only way to stay safe is to remain in a constant state of military combat and mass-scale manipulation. Then I suppose it would make sense to do the things I just described.

But come to think of it, if my favorite country was founded on the premise of nonstop warfare and manipulation and the assumption that it must necessarily always be despised throughout the world, at some point I suspect I’d find myself wondering why my favorite country is my favorite country at all. And I’d begin wondering if perhaps it was a mistake to establish such a country in the first place.

Alastair Crooke : Ceasefire for All or Ceasefire for No One

Heh, according to The Guardian, it was Iran's response to one of Israel's countless ceasefire violations that "shattered" the "fragile" ceasefire.

Iran launches missiles at Israel in response to strikes on Beirut

Iran launched missiles at Israel on Sunday in response to Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, shattering a fragile ceasefire and marking the most serious escalation since April, after 100 days of war. A senior Iranian official has promised a “decisive and painful” response to Israel’s airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and, a few hours later, sirens sounded across northern Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had so far intercepted all the Iranian ballistic missiles, as US president Donald Trump called Israeli prime minister Bejamin Netanyahu urging him “not to strike back”, adding he was “not happy about it” and that it would “not help” negotiations with Tehran. In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, Trump also said Netanyahu would have no choice but to accept whatever deal the US negotiates with Iran because Trump “calls the shots”.

After the Israeli attack in the Dahieh district of Beirut, Ebrahim Rezaei, the spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s foreign policy and national security committee, wrote on X - “We will give a decisive and painful response to the Zionist regime’s attack on the suburbs … Watch the sky of the occupied territories tonight.” The speaker of Iran’s parliament and top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said US bases and assets in the region had become “legitimate targets” after the Israeli strike.

“They are neither committed to a ceasefire nor believe in dialogue, and through the naval blockade and violation of agreements regarding Lebanon they showed that they only understand the language of power,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said: “This operation is not a passing event, but rather the beginning of a full week of continuous strikes.” In a statement it added: “Waves of missiles and drones will continue to be launched around the clock for the next seven days until the enemy is deterred and ceases its crimes. Any targeting of Iranian territory will be met with a devastating and overwhelming response beyond all expectation.”

The war is back on and isn't going to end any time soon

‘Classic Deterrence Contest’: Iran Fires Missiles at Israel Over Attack on Lebanon

After Israeli forces attacked a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Iran delivered its promised retaliation late Sunday, firing missiles at Israel for the first time since a ceasefire agreement took effect in April and prompting US President Donald Trump to renew his push for a negotiated end to a conflict he helped inflame.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed their Sunday strikes were in response to rocket fire from the Lebanese group Hezbollah—though Israel has been widely accused of trying to sabotage peace talks. Iran retaliated with at least 20 missiles from four different bases, which the Israeli military said it intercepted.

The barrage of missiles was a response to “the widespread killing and displacement of the oppressed people of the Tyre and Nabatieh regions” in southern Lebanon, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement. “Tonight’s operation was a warning, and if the aggressions are repeated, the responses will be broader and will encompass all American-Zionist targets in the region.”

Following the Iranian missile attack, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir declared that “the IDF will strike the enemy with force the moment the green light is given.”

Whether that permission is granted remains to be seen. Trump—who tore up the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with the Iranian government during his first term and then, this past February, partnered with Netanyahu to launch an illegal assault on Iran, despite his “no new wars” promise—signaled to multiple journalists on Sunday that he was still pushing for a negotiated agreement.

Fox News’ Trey Yingst said on air that during a phone call, Trump told him that he was “not happy about” the IDF’s strikes allegedly targeting Hezbollah, and Iran’s retaliation “certainly” won’t help negotiations.

According to Yingst, Trump’s message to Iran is, “You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough, get back to the table and make a deal.”

Trump also told Axios’ Barak Ravid that he planned to send Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a similar message: “I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike, and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one.”

The Times of Israel reported that after a call with Trump, Netanyahu was “holding a discussion with top security officials.”

Summarizing Sunday’s events on social media, Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, noted that “last week, we got reports that Trump yelled at Netanyahu to back off plans to attack Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahieh after Iran warned that such a strike could trigger Iranian attacks on northern Israel. Today, Israel struck Dahieh anyway, killing civilians. This looks like a test: probing Iran’s red lines and willingness to enforce them amid fluid deterrence dynamics.”

“Israel’s strike on Beirut put Iran in a difficult position,” Toossi explained after Iran’s response. “After publicly warning that such an attack would trigger retaliation, failing to respond would have undermined the credibility of that threat and likely invited further US/Israeli escalation. Iran’s missile attack on northern Israel should be viewed in that context.”

“What we’re witnessing is a classic deterrence contest, with each side trying to establish which actions will trigger retaliation and impose costs sufficient to deter their repetition,” he wrote. “The key question now is whether a deterrence equilibrium emerges around the Beirut-northern Israel equation, or whether both sides continue probing each other’s thresholds and credibility, whether through more Israeli attacks in Lebanon/Beirut, direct Israeli strikes on Iran, or both, pushing this already fragile ‘ceasefire’ toward total collapse.”

Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, highlighted in a blog post that “this is the first time Iran has struck Israel after Israel struck another country’s territory (that is, not Iran). This means that the battle lines have been moved. Iran’s deterrence had already been restored in the sense that Israel knew that any strike on it would be responded to. But now, Iran has proven that it will also respond to Israeli strikes on Lebanon.”

“From a US perspective, supporting Israel at this point recommits the US to its decades-long policy of seeking to sustain a balance in the region that allows for near-complete Israeli dominance,” he asserted. “That policy has been extremely costly to US interests, has destabilized the region, and enabled the Israelis to get increasingly aggressive and reckless (since they face no consequences for it).”

Parsi added that “however problematic it has been, it will become far more challenging and destabilizing going forward since sustaining Israel’s dominance will necessitate continued war with Iran. This clearly contradicts US interests. If US interests were at the center of US policy, getting out of the Middle East and its regional rivalries would be a no-brainer.”

Arab Center Washington DC fellow Assal Rad said on social media Sunday that “Trump wants a deal, Iran wants a deal, the region wants a deal, Americans want a deal, basically everyone wants to bring an end to wars, except Israel. That’s why they keep attacking. Israel will not stop, it must be stopped.”

Iran Attacks Israel After Israel Attacks Beirut

Israel sent troops to 'Azerbaijan, UAE, Iraq and Somaliland' during Iran war

Israel deployed special forces to Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Somaliland during its war with Iran, according to a CNN report published on Friday.

Citing four sources familiar with the matter, CNN said Mossad agents and elite Israeli military units, including an airborne rescue unit of the Israel Air Force, were sent to southern Azerbaijan, near the Iranian border and around 100km from the city of Tabriz at its closest point.

The personnel reportedly carried out drone operations and intelligence-gathering missions. One of the operations launched from Azerbaijani territory was said to be the killing of Rahman Moghaddam, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) special intelligence operations division, on 4 March, according to one source cited by CNN.

Drones struck Nakhchivan International Airport and a nearby village in Azerbaijan the following day. Baku blamed Iran for the attack, an allegation Tehran denied.

According to the report, some of the facilities were established with the knowledge of host authorities, while others may not have been.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Is Trump Losing It?

Pentagon: Israel Ramps Up Spying on Top US Officials

The Department of War has raised the counterintelligence threat posed by Israel to its top level. The sources said that Tel Aviv wanted intelligence on Washington’s plans for the war against Iran.

The New York Times and NBC News report speaking with multiple sources who said that the Defense Intelligence Agency raised the threat posed by Israel to the “critical level.” The Times reports that the targets of Israeli intelligence include President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.

Witkoff, along with Trump’s son-in-law, is leading the negotiations with Iran. Officials told the Times that Tel Aviv is seeking insight into Trump’s decision-making on the war against Iran.

Israel has attempted to undermine negotiations with Iran to prolong the conflict. After the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in April that was intended to extend to Lebanon, Israel ramped up its war against its northern neighbor. Israel’s attacks on Lebanon resulted in Iran refusing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Lawrence Wilkerson: Israel Bet Everything on War With Iran-and Lost

Israeli Military Kills Palestinian Baby and Wounds Parents in West Bank

Gunfire from at least one Israeli soldier killed a 7-month-old Palestinian boy and injured his parents, who were traveling in their vehicle in the occupied West Bank on Friday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The Palestinian National Authority’s WAFA reported that Sam Fahd Abu Haikal lived in Bethlehem with his mother and father, Fahd Abdul Aziz Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University. The family—which also included the baby’s grandmother and 11-year-old sibling—intended to visit Hebron when they were struck by at least one bullet that left both parents with “moderate injuries” and ultimately killed the infant, who “succumbed on Friday evening to critical wounds.”

As Reuters detailed:

The baby’s grandmother said the family was driving near Checkpoint 17 when they saw Israeli military ⁠vehicles and soldiers in the distance and stopped the car. She said shots were then fired toward them, which they initially believed were warning shots.

“One bullet struck my grandson, traversed his face and crossed his head, striking his mother’s cheek where it lodged,” she said, adding that the bullet had also grazed the father’s finger, and that the mother was in hospital.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces told CBS News that soldiers “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and responded by firing single shots, which injured three Palestinians who were evacuated for medical treatment. The spokesperson added that an initial inquiry “found that those injured were uninvolved civilians,” and that the IDF “expresses deep sorrow for any harm caused to uninvolved individuals.”

An Israeli soldier has shot and killed a seven-month-old Palestinian boy and wounded his parents after opening fire on his family’s vehicle near Hebron.

The Israeli military says it's investigating the killing of Sam Fahd Abu Haikal and sends its condolences. pic.twitter.com/O5X1OitSNK

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 6, 2026

Fahd Abdul Aziz Abu Haikal told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that “the soldier was about 10 meters away from me. He saw me, he saw my wife, and the children. The car windows were not dark, it was daylight, and everything was clear. You can’t say he didn’t see that it was a family.”

The father added that “this case must not be closed without an investigation and without accountability. At least I don’t intend to give up.”

Yesterday, 7-month-old Sam Abu Haikal was in the backseat of his parents’ car, driving home from his grandmother’s house.

Israeli forces opened fire on the vehicle in Hebron and killed him.

A baby murdered before he could even learn what life was. pic.twitter.com/xyGxPIqnLa

— Ramy Abdu (@RamAbdu) June 6, 2026

The baby’s death sparked a fresh wave of criticism against the IDF, which is widely accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in the wake of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip has killed over 72,000 people.

Since October 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have also ramped up attacks in the illegally occupied West Bank, killing over 1,000 Palestinians, including at least 240 children, according to the United Nations.

In a Saturday statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, condemned the baby’s killing as well as a deadly Israeli attack on a wedding in Gaza.

“The murder of a 7-month-old baby by Israeli forces in the illegally occupied West Bank and an Israeli massacre at a wedding in Gaza are horrific crimes that should shock the conscience of every person,” CAIR said. “No military force that repeatedly kills children, medical workers, journalists, and civilians—using American taxpayer-supplied weapons—should continue to enjoy impunity or the support of our own government.”

“We call on our government and the international community to stop enabling these atrocities,” the group said, “and to take concrete action to protect Palestinian civilians, end the occupation, and uphold international law.”

ISRAEL’s LONG BATTLE w/HEZBOLLAH IN LEBANON

UK readies sanctions against Israel to deter proposed illegal West Bank settlement

The UK Foreign Office and a group of western countries are due to announce a package of sanctions against Israel this week designed to deter companies from becoming involved in a proposed West Bank settlement that would split the territory in two and render the concept of a two-state solution near impossible.

Nine countries including France, the UK and Australia have warned that settlement violence must stop and no company should be involved in what is known as the E1 development.

Tenders were opened this month for the development of more than 3,000 homes between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim. The development would split the West Bank between north and south, and so in effect make a contiguous Palestinian West Bank impossible.

It comes as 137 Labour MPs – including the former health secretary Wes Streeting, who said this week he felt he was “hitting up against a brick wall” when he tried to raise concerns about Gaza in government – sent a letter to the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, urging her to take “urgent, concrete action to counter the escalation of violations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in particular by ending trade with illegal Israeli settlements”.

Last week, the UN committee on the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people condemned an order signed by the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, to start displacing the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank, saying it would “heighten the risk of forced transfer of the civilian population” and calling such a move illegal and a war crime.

“Israel Wants Their Land” - Dr. Marandi on Genocide in Lebanon

Trump reportedly considers buying Chagos Islands from Mauritius

Donald Trump is reportedly weighing a plan to buy the Chagos Islands from Mauritius amid stalled plans from the UK to cede sovereignty of the territory, the Telegraph first reported.

Under the reported proposal, the Trump administration would sidestep UK officials and purchase the island, securing control of the US-UK Diego Garcia military base. The island, however, would first have to be made sovereign, allowing the US to negotiate its purchase with Mauritius directly, the Telegraph reported. Previous legislation to hand the islands to Mauritius were shelved in April after the US removed its support of the deal.

Purchasing the islands is one of several proposals being considered by the US, the Telegraph reported. The latest plan was put forth by US treasury secretary Scott Bessent and brought to Trump, though it allegedly is not a leading option. Some officials in the Trump administration were concerned about giving the island to Mauritius, an ally of China, opening up the possibility of espionage, the Telegraph reported.

A delegation of Chagos refugees visiting the UK last week said the issue had been “hijacked within the halls” of UK politics. The six-person contingent from the Chagos Refugees Group expressed their full support for the UK to conclude an agreement on the future of the islands. “The most important is our rights,” Louis Olivier Bancoult, the delegation leader, said on Friday. “There is not a real will for the British government to find a solution for our people. We need to find a way,” he added. “We’re still suffering and our position is clear, we have the right to live in our birthplace.”

Discussions for the US to potentially purchase the Chagos Islands come amid the US-Israel war with Iran that has been ongoing since the end of February. The Diego Garcia base, located in the central Indian Ocean, is about 2,360 miles (3,800km) from Iran and includes an airbase that can handle US long-range missiles.

FBI fires several analysts tied to disputed ‘Catholic ideology’ memo

Several FBI analysts tied to the creation of a 2023 memo warning of a potential threat from Catholic “violent extremists” were fired on Friday, according to their lawyer, the latest wave of terminations under the leadership of its director Kash Patel. The fired employees included four intelligence analysts and a supervisory analyst. The FBI declined to comment.

The January 2023 intelligence product produced by analysts in the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia, field office emerged as a political flashpoint after it was issued, with Republicans in Congress repeatedly citing it as part of their broader contention that the FBI during Joe Biden’s presidency was targeting conservatives. Then FBI director Chris Wray repeatedly denied that charge and the bureau has said the document was quickly retracted and an internal review was launched. Merrick Garland, the attorney general under Biden, has said he was “appalled” by the memo.

Earlier justice department investigations into the memo challenged the analytical tradecraft but did not find intentional misconduct by the analysts involved.

An internal FBI review described in a 2023 letter to Congress and based on interviews with 26 people “found that all individuals involved in the creation, review and approval of the product failed to adhere to analytic tradecraft standards and failed to recognize that the product, as drafted, equated the subjects’ interest in their self-described form of religion with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (RMVE) ideology without sufficient evidence or articulable support”.

The failure to adhere to standards, including on proper domestic terrorism terminology, “created the appearance that the FBI conducts investigative activity based on religious affiliation,” the letter said. “One of the FBI’s most fundamental principles is that investigative activity may not be based solely on the exercise of rights guaranteed by the first amendment” of the constitution, which includes the free exercise of religion.

Scott Pelley says Bari Weiss wanted 60 Minutes to say Renee Good was ‘driving toward officer’

Fired CBS 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley has accused editorial management at his old network of interfering with a broadcast segment looking at an immigration officer’s killing of Minneapolis protester Renee Good in January. The veteran broadcaster, who was recently dismissed from the show, said CBS News’s editor-in-chief Bari Weiss had sent an email to his supervisor requesting changes be made soon before the airing of the segment in question.

In an interview with the New York Times published on Sunday, the 68-year-old Pelley accused Weiss of injecting “falsehoods and bias” into programming. Pelley told the outlet: “Two of the things in the email include, ‘Can we make the protesters look more violent?’ Now, I’m paraphrasing. I don’t have the quote, but that’s what was communicated to me. And the other thing, Renee Good’s car. You need to describe her as driving toward the officer.”

Pelley maintained that was the direction contained in the email even though video of Good’s shooting did not support such a conclusion. A CBS News spokesperson told the Times in response to Pelley’s statements that Weiss had made four points in an email exchange on the segment that had “no political motivation and were proposed solely to make the piece as strong, fair, and accurate as possible”.

“Not everything she raised made it into the final piece,” the statement added.

Delaney Hall hunger strikes are a hallmark of resistance in detention

For more than two weeks, at least 300 detainees at the Delaney Hall immigration detention center have been on a hunger and labor strike. They describe “horrible” conditions at the Newark, New Jersey, facility: spoiled food, inadequate medical care and poor living conditions. Others have alleged physical abuse by guards, including being beaten and pepper-sprayed by a riot squad, causing some detainees to be rushed to the hospital. They’re calling for a meeting with the New Jersey governor, Mikie Sherrill, to urge the immediate release of all detainees from the privately operated 1,000-bed center. As of now, the Department of Homeland Security has partly restored family visitation at the center and released pregnant detainees.

To raise the alarm, protests have persisted outside Delaney, and violent clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement officials have escalated. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have wielded batons and used pepper spray and stun guns against protesters, journalists and a US senator. Federal authorities arrested demonstrators on allegations of assaulting law enforcement officers, and Sherrill deployed the New Jersey state police to the protests, leading to the arrests of more than 60 people in a single night. Meanwhile, ICE officers abruptly transferred Martin Soto, a detainee held in solitary confinement for being a suspected strike leader.

Soto’s story, and that of the hundreds of detainees on strike, fits into a long history of immigrant incarceration – and how detainees resisted – said Jessica Ordaz, a historian and professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and the author of The Shadow of El Centro: A History of Migrant Incarceration and Solidarity. Strikes have been reported at other facilities across the country, including in New Mexico and California, where detainees are protesting over water quality, mold and a lack of medical care. “The conditions we are seeing today have been present for generations,” said Ordaz. “And there have always been protests from inside, but it’s the same narrative and the system of immigration control hasn’t been curtailed.”

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I'm running as an independent revolutionary socialist because we desperately need a working-class FIGHTER in Congress.

My main opponent, Democrat Adam Smith, just introduced a bill to fund OVER A TRILLION NEW DOLLARS for imperialist war. Concretely, that's a trillion more…

— Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) June 3, 2026

rest of text:

dollars for the billionaires to profit from killing thousands of more people in the Middle East.

The bill also includes a Section 224, entitled “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.”

If this goes through, it will fuse the U.S. and Israeli militaries such that Israel weapons funding would not even need any separate votes in Congress. Smith has introduced this bill in the context of the holocaust of the 21st century in Gaza and of the brutal wars on Lebanon and Iran.

Of course, Congressional votes are far from a guarantee against war for the simple reason that the Democratic and Republican parties are both warmongering representatives of U.S. capitalism. It was not long ago that 173 House Democrats, including 56 members of the so-called Congressional Progressive Caucus, voted for over $26B for the genocide in Gaza and to ban United Nations food assistance from Gaza.

Nonetheless, we should recognize that even at this stage, this bill presents a serious danger to working people in America, in the Middle East, and internationally.

The bill is horrific in ever sense. A trillion more dollars for war means more deaths of ordinary people and more profits for the global super-wealthy. On top of that, fusing the U.S. and Israeli military budgets would lead to far less transparency when already there is exceedingly little at present.

Even if this particular bill fails, there are at least THREE other similar bills in the pipeline. The capitalist class and both its parties are ruthlessly determined to do this.

Why?

Because they can see that American mass consciousness has dramatically shifted against Israel in particular, and against imperialist war in general. The Democrats and Republicans want to quickly get this done so so they can try to better hide their genocidal actions going forward.

I am using my campaign to fight against genocidal Democratic Congressman Adam Smith.

I am the only candidate in this race who is calling for an end to all military aid to the Israeli state, an end to all weapons and tech for genocide and imperialist war, and to stop data centers and AI-related mass layoffs.

I am the only candidate in this race fighting for free healthcare for all funded by taxing the rich and a living-wage jobs guarantee. I am the only candidate in this race with a track record of defeating the billionaires and multimillionaires and winning historic victories for working people.

Join our campaign at http://kshamasawant.org. Volunteer and donate.

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About half of California waterways contaminated with Pfas, pesticide analysis finds

Around half of California waterways tested by regulators are contaminated with pesticides considered Pfas, “forever chemicals”, a new analysis of state and federal records shows, highlighting a risk in the substances’ wide use that is only beginning to come into focus. The pesticides are linked to a range of health problems, including cancer, and the review is the first to systematically check for the dangerous substances in streams and rivers, which include drinking water sources.

More than half of sediment samples also showed some levels of the pesticides, which are increasingly applied to California and the nation’s food crops. The review of California department of pesticide regulation and United States geological survey data was released this week, just days before a proposal to eventually ban Pfas pesticides failed to make it through the state assembly. However, pieces of the legislation, including a moratorium on approvals of the new pesticides, passed.

The findings are “alarming but not surprising”, said Varun Subramaniam, one of the report’s co-authors with the Environmental Working Group (EWG) non-profit. “It’s concerning that we’re finding these levels of Pfas pesticide … but they were applied at really high rates on produce, so it makes sense that they’re in the streams and sediment,” he said.

California farms applied an average of 2.5m lb of Pfas per year on cropland from 2018 to 2023, a review of state records last year revealed. Recent regulatory testing found the pesticide residues on 37% of all produce. But about 90% of peaches, plums and nectarines contained Pfas, while 80% of strawberries and grapes showed them. Public health advocates have said the pesticides almost certainly pollute nearby water sources, and the new analysis confirmed their theory. Regulators only tested streams from 10 counties, and found the highest concentrations in agricultural areas, including Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties.

Previous research showed the highest applications of Pfa pesticides in Fresno and Kern counties, but water pollution data was not collected in those regions. The results are “almost certainly an undercount” because of the limited scope, Subramaniam said.

Scientists warn Trump plan to axe US ocean monitoring system will leave world ‘flying blind’

The Trump administration’s plan to dismantle an ocean observation system vital to understanding the climate crisis and marine ecosystems would “severely degrade” the accuracy of weather predictions and El Niño forecasts, with economic consequences for the US, European and American scientists have warned. Decommissioning the US system, which plays a major part in a global ocean observation network, would lead to a massive increase in error in the annual estimates of ocean heating rates, according to research published last month.

As a result, the forecasts and early warning systems for storms, tropical cyclones and El Niño would degrade, “sometimes dangerously so”, according to Sabrina Speich, an expert in global ocean monitoring at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris and chair of the ocean expert panel of the Global Climate Observing System.

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), run by the US National Science Foundation, is a vast network of seafloor systems, underwater gliders and moored surface platforms that feeds data to researchers, policymakers, educators and mariners worldwide. The initiative, which covers both US coastlines and extends into the North Atlantic and Southern Ocean, has been used to study marine heatwaves, harmful algal blooms, subduction zone earthquakes, ocean acidification and fisheries variability.

Dismantling it would remove a major component of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), a network of robotic floats, moored buoys and research vessels experts describe as the “eyes and ears” of the ocean. The warning systems based on the data, “save lives”, experts say.

Prescient research published in Nature Climate Change last month showed how data losses in GOOS, a UN-coordinated framework for ocean data for weather and climate collected by several countries, could degrade the ocean heat estimates that underpin weather prediction, El Niño forecasting and fisheries management. Losing US observations would be worse than randomly losing 80% of all ocean data worldwide, it found. US-funded platforms span every ocean basin, plugging critical gaps that no other nation currently fills.

Second flesh-eating screwworm infection reported in cattle in Texas

A second case of the flesh-eating screwworm fly has been confirmed in Texas by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), days after an initial case in a one-year-old calf set off an aggressive response to stop the spread of the parasite in the dominant cattle-producing state. Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, said on Friday that state officials were working with the federal government to slow the spread of the fly and the infestations caused by larvae that feed on the living flesh of warm-blooded animals and humans.

Officials are dispersing millions of sterile screwworm flies in the vicinity of where the twin infections were found about five miles apart in Zavala county, south-west of San Antonio. Those sterile male flies would prevent wild female flies from reproducing. The infections of the new world screwworm (NWS) are the first detected in the US since the 1960s.

“This is the first detection of NWS in Texas since northward progression from Central America was observed in 2023,” the commission said in a news release, adding that an infested zone has been established in the area. The commission also said that animal movement restrictions were in effect to prevent further spread of the pest. According to the USDA, the US food supply is safe, and it noted that NWS do not infest meat, fruits, vegetables or other food sources. NWS are parasitic larvae or maggots of the NWS fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax). They cause a painful condition called NWS myiasis. When the fly’s eggs hatch, larvae burrow through living flesh, killing their host if left untreated.

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Also of Interest

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

Chris Hedges: Tyranny or Revolution

Only 12% of Americans Believe the Iran War Has Benefited the Nation

Fusing the US Military and the IDF

Israel Asks For A Guaranteed Share Of U.S. Weapon Purchases

Rights Group Sounds Alarm After Israel Sends Gaza’s Dr. Abu Safiya to Solitary Confinement

Establishment Attacks On Platner Are Classic Woke Attacks On The Populist Left

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A Little Night Music

Tommy McClennan - Cross Cut Saw Blues

Tommy McClennan – Deep Blue Sea Blues

Tommy McClennan & Robert Petway - Boogie Woogie Woman

Tommy McClennan – Whiskey Head Woman

Tommy McClennan - I'm A Guitar King

Tommy McLennan - Des'e My Blues

Tommy McClennan - Baby, Don't You Want to Go

Tommy McClennan - I Love My Baby

Tommy McLennan - New 'Shake 'Em On Down'

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