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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Alfred "Blues King" Harris

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features somewhat obscure blues harmonica player Alfred "Blues King" Harris. Enjoy!

^{''Blues King'' Harris - Blues King Mango}

“There is a higher law than the law of government. That's the law of conscience."

-- Stokely Carmichael

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News and Opinion

Under The Western Empire You Get Punished For Having A Conscience

The UK has sentenced four anti-genocide activists to years in prison on terrorism charges, and the US is working to deport a prominent foreign policy analyst for criticizing the war in Iran.

Four members of the group Palestine Action were sentenced to a combined total of 25 years in prison on Friday for breaking into a UK weapons factory owned by Israeli company Elbit Systems in 2024 and damaging some of the genocide machinery contained therein. The judge refused to allow the activists to explain to the jury why they did what they did, and also refused to notify the jury that the defendants could receive terrorism sentences if convicted.

The BBC reports that this is believed to be the first time anyone has received a terrorism sentence for property damage. Amnesty International has slammed the sentencing as “completely disproportionate” to the crime.

UK Palestine Action Activists Hit With ‘Completely Disproportionate’ Terrorism Sentences for Israeli Weapons Sabotage

​Amnesty UK said the defendants "were sentenced as terrorists because prosecutors want to make an example of them." https://t.co/eOsqI0oR7z

— Common Dreams (@commondreams) June 12, 2026

The UK has previously made headlines with its ridiculous classification of Palestine Action as a terrorist group, leading to mass arrests of activists who hold signs saying “I support Palestine Action”.

Meanwhile in the United States, the Trump administration is reportedly targeting foreign policy analyst Trita Parsi for his criticism of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

According to Zionist outlet The Free Press
, the US State Department has launched an investigation into the possibility of revoking the green card status held by Parsi, an Iran-born Swedish citizen. Free Press quotes an unnamed State Department official as saying “Anyone who seeks to undermine the U.S., we’re taking a hard look at,” which would include “people who support adversaries of ours and whose work furthers their agenda and undermines our security.”

This is a significant expansion of the Trump administration’s efforts to stomp out domestic foreign policy dissent. Previously the State Department was only working to deport unknown university students like Mahmoud Khalil for their opposition to the Gaza holocaust, while Parsi is a professional commentator who is regularly seen on CNN. It’s an escalation in much the same way the UK has moved to banning the visas of mainstream pundits like Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker for voicing criticisms of Israel.

Report: State Dept. Opens Probe of Iranian-Born Trita Parsi, Critic of Trump’s War https://t.co/U5yH2kPTgo

— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) June 12, 2026

It’s a war on the human conscience. Sentencing anti-genocide activists as terrorists. Working to deport mainstream foreign policy experts for criticizing an American war. They’re actually punishing people for not acting like sociopaths.

It’s the same war on the conscience that saw the empire persecute Julian Assange, crush pro-Palestine demonstrations on university campuses, investigate peace activists for bringing aid to Cuba, and dramatically ramp up the suppression of free speech to silence criticism of Israel.

In a healthy society, a person of conscience would thrive while a sociopath would be shunned and marginalized. In western society it’s the exact opposite: people of conscience are sent to prison, and sociopaths are made president of the United States.

That’s what you get when you live under an empire established on and driven by sociopathic values. The agenda to dominate and control the entire human population is evil, because it can only be accomplished through nonstop war, militarism, propaganda, deception, and tyranny.

That’s why the truth-tellers are branded traitors, the anti-genocide demonstrators are branded anti-semites, and the peace activists are branded terrorists. We live in a backward dystopia with backward values, so the good are beaten down while the wicked rule the world.

Larry Johnson & Mohammad Marandi: BREAKING: US and Iran Reach Deal

Peace deal between US and Iran, with strait of Hormuz to reopen

A peace deal between the US and Iran has been reached following nearly four months of fighting in the region, Donald Trump and senior Iranian officials have said. Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed the agreement in televised comments in the early hours of Monday, saying it puts an “immediate end” to the countries’ war, and that it included Lebanon.

The precise terms of the deal were not immediately known, however, in a statement posted to Truth Social Sunday evening, the US president announced the opening of the strait of Hormuz as well as the removal of the US naval blockade. “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!”, said Trump in the celebratory post.

He later clarified that the opening of the strait would be contingent upon the signing of the deal on Friday – which mediator Pakistan said would take place in Geneva – “for purposes of mine removal” However, Iran’s Mehr state news reported that the memorandum of understanding agreed with the US calls for the reopening of the strait within 30 days under “Iranian arrangements”.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, announced the agreement on Sunday afternoon, with both sides declaring “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”. The agreement was struck despite ⁠an Israeli strike on Lebanon on Sunday that drew criticism from both Iran and US President Donald Trump.

Trump had previously suggested the US could sign an agreement with Iran on Sunday, but as the evening came in the Middle East, there was no sign of a breakthrough. Instead, Iranian officials threatened a military response to the Israeli attack on Beirut, which destroyed a building in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs, killing three and injuring six. Trump earlier told the Axios news site that the Israeli strike had “delayed the signing by a few hours” and said he had told the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, he had “no fucking judgment”.

GOD WILL CURSE TRUMP': Israelis MELT DOWN Over Iran Deal

‘Evidently Hoping to Sabotage’ US-Iran Deal, Israel Bombs Beirut

The Israeli military bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday just as Iranian and US officials voiced optimism that a diplomatic agreement is in reach, prompting accusations that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to derail the negotiations.

Israel’s strikes reportedly targeted a five-story apartment building, killing at least three people, according to Lebanese authorities. Netanyahu said the bombing was a response to Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel.

The latest bombing of Beirut came hours after US President Donald Trump said he expected a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to be signed as early as Sunday, potentially setting the stage for negotiations to end the illegal war Trump started in late February. Iranian officials have pushed back on the US president’s claim that the MOU will be signed Sunday, but Iran’s foreign minister said Friday that an agreement had “never been closer.”

The Associated Press reported Sunday that Israel’s new strikes on Beirut “threatened to hamper negotiations over a deal, which in its current form is a deep disappointment to Israel’s government.”

“The last time Israel struck the Beirut suburbs a week ago, it set off the most serious escalation of fighting between Iran and Israel since the tenuous ceasefire took hold April 7,” AP added.

Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, wrote on social media that “as a US-Iranian deal seems like it might be closer, Israel predictably bombs the Beirut suburbs, evidently hoping to sabotage the deal.”

“Why does Trump put up with this and continue to arm and fund such obstructionism?” Roth asked.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator and speaker of parliament, said Israel’s strikes indicate that the US “either does not have the will or the ability to fulfill its obligations.”

“You cannot gain concessions by giving [Israel] a green light,” he added. “The good cop, bad cop routine has become old. If you do not have the will or the ability to fulfill your commitments, then there is no basis for talking about continuing down this path.”

As the US & Iran reportedly near a deal that includes ending the war in Lebanon, Israel is attacking Beirut again.

Either Trump can't restrain Netanyahu, or the deal is already being violated before it's signed.

Either way, it undermines the deal's value for Iran. pic.twitter.com/v08c21i7wa

— Sina Toossi (@SinaToossi) June 14, 2026

While the MOU that’s reportedly under consideration has not been released in full, its broad outlines have been reported in media outlets and divulged by Iranian and US officials in recent days. Reuters reported Sunday that “a final draft of the memorandum of understanding with the US covered a range of issues, from Tehran’s nuclear work to reopening the Strait of Hormuz and US waivers on oil sanctions, with a final deal to be discussed in the 60 days following agreement by the two sides.”

Under the MOU, Iran would immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the US would end its illegal blockade of Iranian ports, according to Reuters. The US would also agree to waive oil sanctions on Iran and release $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets, while Iran would agree to “maintain the current status of its nuclear program, refraining from further uranium enrichment ⁠and expansion of nuclear facilities.”

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said in a television interview on Friday that the MOU’s proposed 60-day ceasefire extension would include Lebanon.

Axios reported that Netanyahu has “found himself in the dark” as US-Iran negotiations have progressed in recent days, “calling allies close to the Trump administration to try and gather information.”

Following Sunday’s strike on Beirut, Trump told Axios’ Barak Ravid that Netanyahu “has no fucking judgment.”

“I passed this message on to him—that I am very unhappy with the attack in Beirut,” said Trump, whose administration has approved billions of dollars worth of weapons sales to the Israeli government.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, warned that “Israel will do more sabotage unless Trump imposes a cost on Israel.”

“Netanyahu knows exactly what he is doing and is judging that an attack on Beirut—rather than southern Lebanon—is exactly what’s needed to derail the pending US-Iran deal,” Parsi argued.

Jeffrey Sachs: US-Iran Deal Reached - Peace or Tactical Pause?

Anger among Iranian hardliners at terms of deal agreed with US

Iranian hardliners have mounted a rearguard rejection of a deal with the US as as they say it does not guarantee sanctions relief, compensation or control of the strait of Hormuz. “The fact that they say we won and America has retreated is a blatant lie,” said the Iranian MP Kamran Ghazanfari. Meysam Nili, the managing director of Rajanews and brother-in-law of the hardline former president Ebrahim Raisi, called the deal on the table a catastrophic capitulation. He urged Iranians not to sit quietly.

Faced with the onslaught, Iranian officials led by Mehdi Mohammadi, an adviser to the head of the negotiating team, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, mounted a detailed rebuttal in an audio message insisting the deal would end the war, including Israel’s offensive in Lebanon, and that Tehran has not been required to make any new commitments on its nuclear programme, leaving the means of disposal of its highly enriched uranium – including down-blending inside Iran – to future discussions lasting 60 days.

Mohammadi also said that by referring to “Iranian arrangements”, the text would allow Iran and Oman to charge fees for passage through the strait of Hormuz, and would even prevent Israeli commercial ships using the waterway. The US had fought hard to have the phrase “Iranian arrangements” excluded, he claimed, and in the second phase of the deal had agreed to lift primary sanctions for the first time. His explanation is sharply at odds with the critics on points of fact and interpretation, which he said was because they were working from outdated drafts.

On the nuclear programme, Mohammadi said the only statement in the text was that Iran would not build or purchase nuclear weapons, which he said was “what we have been saying for years”. He said the proposed deal was better for Iran than the 2015 nuclear pact agreed under Barack Obama that lifted sanctions in return for limits on its nuclear activities, because Tehran had shown it could control the strait of Hormuz. “This time, it is not like we will shut down the nuclear programme and wait for them to lift the sanctions,” he said. “There is no such wishful thinking. The strait is in our hands, we can close it any time we want at an hour.”

He acknowledged that the text on the release of half of Iran’s frozen money held abroad, roughly $12bn (£9bn), had not been finalised. “We know that America will not give us money,” he said. “The Arab countries have pledged this money and are forced to give it, because we are above them and they have seen our power in the region and have tasted our power. One of the implications of this agreement is that the Arab countries have been forced to accept Iran’s sovereignty and superiority and participate in making concessions.”

Larry Johnson: Israel’s Sabotage Backfires – Trump’s Last Move ENDS Israel's Agenda

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Netanyahu vs. Trump

‘Sounds a Lot Like a Nuclear Threat’: Trump Floats ‘Ultimate Alternative’ If Iran Talks Collapse

President Donald Trump claimed Saturday that the US and Iran are on track to sign a diplomatic agreement this weekend, but added that “we have the ultimate alternative” if the process doesn’t “work out.”

“The ‘ultimate alternative’ sounds a lot like a nuclear threat,” Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, wrote in response to the president’s Truth Social post. “Not the first time Trump has hinted at it.”

The agreement Trump referenced is believed to be “memorandum of understanding” that’s expected be fleshed out in “technical talks” that could begin next week, according to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is mediating the negotiations.

“We are closer to a peace deal than ever before,” Sharif wrote on social media, echoing Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said on Friday that “the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has never been closer.”

“Pending its finalization, the media should refrain from entering speculation about its content,” Araghchi added. “In line with our responsible and transparent approach, all details will be shared with the public in due course.”

On Saturday, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry cast doubt on the timeline put forth by Trump and Sharif.

“We will have to wait and see about the exact date of the signing of the memorandum of understanding, although it will not be tomorrow,” said Esmaeil Baqaei, as reported by Iranian state media. “The possibility of this happening in the coming days cannot be ruled out. However, due to the hesitation of the other side, we must be cautious in making any comments about this process.”

In his Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump declared that the Strait of Hormuz will be “OPEN TO ALL” immediately after the deal is signed—a condition that Iran has not confirmed.

“We look forward to working with Iran, and the entire Middle East, long into the future,” Trump added. “Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly. If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!”

Trump has repeatedly issued genocidal threats against Iran since launching the illegal war in late February, openly declaring his intention to target Iran’s civilian infrastructure and wipe out its “whole civilization.” Experts say such threats, even if they aren’t acted on, constitute war crimes under international law.

This could simply be the US playing good cop, bad cop

Growing risk that thousands buried in Gaza’s rubble may never be identified, says Red Cross

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said the risk that the thousands of Palestinians buried beneath Gaza’s rubble may never be identified is increasing by the day, as recovery efforts remain slow and many victims have yet to be retrieved, the Guardian can reveal.

“There is no doubt that these bodies could soon become difficult to identify,” said Pat Griffiths, the ICRC spokesperson in Jerusalem. “The longer it takes for human remains to be recovered, the more difficult it can be to identify them. The longer the deceased lie beneath the rubble, the more likely they will be in advanced stages of decomposition – even skeletonised – when eventually recovered.” He added: “Forensic experts lose access to circumstantial evidence that can be used to corroborate their identity.”

Since the fragile US-brokered ceasefire took hold in October, Palestinians have started digging through an estimated 61m tonnes of debris, about 20 times the combined amount generated by conflicts worldwide since 2008. Beneath the rubble, at least 10,000 people are thought to be buried, according to health officials in Gaza. Some experts believe the number could be as high as 14,000.

Rescue teams have so far been forced to rely on rudimentary tools – shovels, pickaxes, wheelbarrows, rakes and hoes – as well as their bare hands. Repeated requests for Israel to allow the entry of excavators and other heavy machinery, which would significantly speed up recovery efforts, have gone unanswered.

Identifying the bodies is not just a question of restoring dignity to the dead; it is also necessary for the health of the living. Psychologists describe the unresolved grief of relatives of the unidentified dead as an “ambiguous loss” that can generate or contribute to depression, trauma and identity confusion, a situational disorder widespread in Gaza.

Britain has gone fascist.

UK Palestine Action Activists Hit With ‘Completely Disproportionate’ Terrorism Sentences for Israeli Weapons Sabotage

In a decision that Amnesty International described as “completely disproportionate,” four demonstrators with the outlawed group Palestine Action were sentenced as terrorists in the UK on Friday after being convicted for causing damage at an Israeli weapons factory in 2024 to protest the genocide in Gaza.

Supporters of the so-called “Filton 4” were filmed crying and embracing outside Woolwich Crown Court in London as the judge, Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson, handed down sentences ranging from four years and eight months to seven years and eight months to the four young defendants.

Charlotte Head, 30; Leona Kamio, 30; and Fatema Rajwani, 21, were convicted of criminal damage last month after a break-in at a factory in Bristol owned by the Israeli company Elbit Systems, where they smashed up over a dozen drones and other military equipment, causing around £1.2 million, or $1.6 million, of damage.

A fourth defendant, 23-year-old Samuel Corner, was also convicted for the damage, as well as grievous bodily harm without intent for striking a policewoman on the scene with a sledgehammer, fracturing her spine.

Four Palestine Action Activists Sentenced as ‘Terrorists’ in UK Legal First

Four activists who raided an Elbit Systems arms factory near Bristol in 2024 were sentenced as “terrorists” Friday at Woolwich Crown Court, in what supporters said is the first time UK protesters… pic.twitter.com/gC4MvAXfz4

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) June 12, 2026

In what has been described as a legal first for Britain, Johnson sentenced the four defendants as terrorists, although three had only been convicted of property damage. He did so under the Sentencing Act of 2020, which allows nonterrorism crimes to be treated as terrorism if they meet certain criteria.

Elbit’s drones have been documented in use during attacks on civilians, including the April 2024 strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy that killed seven aid workers.

Last month, 22-year-old Zoe Rogers, another activist who took part in the Elbit raid but was acquitted, said she believed that because of their sabotage of the drones, “innocent lives were saved” in Gaza.

However, Johnson did not allow the defendants to explain the reason for their actions as part of the trial, nor were jurors informed that the defendants could later receive sentences for terrorism.

Because the protesters had caused “serious damage to property” for the purpose of “advancing a political or ideological cause,” Johnson determined that the protesters could be sentenced as terrorists using the broad definition from the Terrorism Act 2000.

The terrorism designation means that defendants will have to serve a minimum of two-thirds of their sentences in prison and will be required to register as terrorists with the police for the next 15 years.

Attorneys for the defendants said they were not informed that their clients were at risk of being sentenced for terrorism and accused the prosecution of submitting key evidence, including a report on the cost of damage to the factory, “at the 59th minute of the eleventh hour,” giving them little time to form a rebuttal.

The defendants’ attorneys described the precedent that someone could be sentenced for terrorism after being convicted of a nonviolent offense as unprecedented and dangerous to speech.

“It’s wrong for someone to be sentenced for a more serious offense of which they have not been convicted,” said Corner’s attorney, Tom Wainwright, who noted that similar measures could have been used to sentence earlier protest movements, like the suffragettes or other anti-war demonstrators who sabotaged military equipment, for terrorism simply because their actions had a political motivation.

Head’s attorney, Rajiv Menon, described the attempt to sentence his client as unprecedented, and warned that it was “an invitation to chilling, creeping authoritarianism that undermines the very fabric of our society.”

After their conviction, Wainwright hailed the protesters as people of conscience: “[The drones] may have been involved in taking the lives of men, women, and children in Gaza. That is why they acted. That’s something that—in a sane world—would be commended.”

In a post to social media following news of the conviction, Amnesty UK condemned the use of terrorism powers in this case.

“It is completely disproportionate to punish protesters for criminal damage as if they were terrorists, a sentence which stays with you for life,” the human rights group said.

More than 70 people were arrested for supporting the proscribed group Palestine Action outside Woolwich Crown Court.

The arrests happened as four members of Palestine Action were sentenced over a separate incident. pic.twitter.com/kRkXEjbPFm

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 12, 2026

The sentencing comes amid a broader crackdown in the UK against pro-Palestine speech and protest that has ramped up even under a Labour government, which has sought to label even peaceful demonstrations as terrorism.

Following another case in which Palestine Action protesters vandalized military equipment—this time on a UK Royal Air Force base—the government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer in 2025 used the same terrorism law cited by Johnson to label the group as proscribed, effectively making it illegal to belong to it or publicly support it.

Police have arrested numerous peaceful protesters for no other crime than holding signs that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

Amnesty said in May that more than 3,300 people had been arrested across the UK since the proscription took effect and that more than 1,200 protesters had been charged with terrorism-related offenses.

Eight other Palestine Action activists, including four others who have been accused of involvement with the Elbit break-in, went on a lengthy hunger strike this past winter to protest their confinement in prison for more than a year without trial, during which time they alleged that they were denied needed medical care and had their communication with the outside world censored.

Amnesty said the Filton 4 “were sentenced as terrorists because prosecutors want to make an example of them.”

On Friday, as hundreds rallied outside the court against the terrorism sentence, more than 100 peaceful protesters were also arrested for allegedly supporting Palestine Action.

Video of one of the arrests, published by Channel 4 News, shows police officers lifting an elderly woman by her arms and legs and dragging her away from a larger group of people holding signs.

“You’re under arrest under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act,” one officer is heard saying.

The U.S. government is proceding from a guns and butter economy to a guns and guns economy.

While Slashing Food Aid and Healthcare, GOP Advances Trillion-Dollar Military Budget

Republicans in both houses of Congress voted Thursday to advance President Donald Trump’s request for record-high US military funding for 2027, prompting rebuke from Democrats and consumer advocates who decried the GOP’s deep cuts to social safety net programs amid an ongoing affordability crisis.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 18-9 to advance the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2027. Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee advanced the Fiscal Year 2027 Defense Appropriations Bill during a closed-door markup. The House bill provides $1.072 trillion for the Pentagon and other military-related activities, a $234 billion increase from this year’s enacted level.

The Trump administration’s broader national security proposal requests nearly $1.5 trillion in total defense-related spending for 2027, which includes $350 billion in supplemental funding for munitions production, shipbuilding, missile defense, drones, artificial intelligence, and other long-term military programs. Trump wants Congress to use the budget reconciliation process to secure the additional funding. However, GOP lawmakers are wary to do so for a third time; just this week, Republicans used reconciliation to pass $70 billion in new funding for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

“This year, the majority has written a Defense Appropriations Act that provides the department with over a trillion dollars—an unprecedented sum. But this level of defense spending comes at the cost of cuts to domestic investments like education and workforce training, as well as international diplomacy,” Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) said in a statement.

“President Trump said, ‘Jump,’ and Republicans in Congress said, ‘How high?’ Meanwhile, Republicans are proposing nearly $13 billion in cuts to domestic programs that provide relief for working families struggling to stay afloat as costs keep rising,” the congresswoman added. “The American people are begging for relief from high prices, but the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are deaf to their pleas.”

In addition to increasing the national debt by an estimated $6.9 trillion over the next decade, Trump is seeking over $70 billion in proposed domestic cuts, including the elimination of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, sharp cuts in student aid, ending the Job Corps, slashing medical research and public health programs and Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance, reducing mental health and substance abuse programs, and halving Environmental Protection Agency funding.

These and other proposed reductions follow the enactment of the biggest cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program in the programs’ histories under the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by Trump last July. The OBBBA cuts were made to help fund trillions of dollars in tax reductions that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.

Robert Weisman, co-president of the consumer advocacy watchdog Public Citizen, noted significant opposition to Trump’s proposed $234 billion increase in Pentagon spending for 2027.

“There is a rising tide of Democratic and Republican opposition to Trump’s illegal Iran war and massive proposed increases to the Pentagon budget,” Weissman said Thursday, pointing to the “dozens” of lawmakers who voted against the additional spending during committee sessions, and the “bipartisan majority of the House” that “voted in support of the war powers resolution that directs Trump to end his war on Iran.”

“Trump has repeatedly stated that he doesn’t care about childcare, inflation, or addressing the needs of the American people,” Weissman continued. “Instead, he is seeking an overall $600 billion annual increase in Pentagon spending that would raise the total Pentagon budget to over $1.5 trillion.”

“The American people are demanding Congress block Trump’s attempts to increase the Pentagon budget,” he said. “This means voting against his National Defense Authorization Act, rejecting any Iran war supplemental funding bill, and blocking his proposed third reconciliation bill.”

“The money that Trump wants to burn on war should instead be spent on the needs of the American people, including restoring funding for healthcare, food, housing, and climate action,” Weissman added.

White House PANICS Over Epstein Coverup Tapes LEAK

Ex-CIA Ray McGovern: Israel Should PANIC About Pentagon Leaks

Judge Orders Trump Admin to Swear $1.8 Billion Slush Fund ‘Is Not Happening’

A federal judge may have dealt the final blow to President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “weaponization fund” on Friday, indefinitely blocking it and ordering his administration to state unequivocally that it’s no longer happening.

In the face of bipartisan backlash, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had publicly backed off plans to use the money earlier this month, and a court temporarily blocked the transfer of the money to what opponents had dubbed a “slush fund” for Trump’s supporters, including January 6 rioters who claim to be victims of government “weaponization” by the Biden administration.

But The Atlantic reported on Thursday that even as the US Department of Justice (DOJ) publicly swears that the payouts are dead, administration officials have been reassuring Trump’s cronies behind the scenes that they’ll get their checks and that the administration simply needs to wait for the legal blowback to die down or find an alternative way to award them the money, which was set to follow a DOJ-brokered settlement between Trump and his own Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

That may prove more difficult after Friday, however, when US District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema issued a preliminary injunction indefinitely extending her previous two-week pause on the fund.

She described the arrangement, to have taxpayer funds disbursed without court rulings to “an extremely small group” that many Americans feel engaged in “unacceptable” conduct, as “problematic.”

The DOJ had attempted to have the case against the fund dismissed, arguing that it was now a moot point, since Blanche had publicly declared it dead. But Brinkema said, “The [government’s] mootness argument, in my view, doesn’t go anywhere.”

While the DOJ stated that the fund has “not been set up and is now not going forward,” Brinkema noted that Blanche had declined to state that under oath, while Trump has publicly continued to champion the fund even as his administration has backed away from it.

During the hearing in the Eastern District of Virginia, Brinkema pressed DOJ lawyer Andrew Block on why, if the fund was truly defunct, the administration had not formally rescinded the order setting it up. He said he didn’t know.

The judge gave Blanche, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr., and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose department would have overseen the fund, one week to sign a “clear, unambiguous” declaration stating under penalty of perjury that the fund is dead, and wrote in the order that they must affirm that it “will not proceed in any manner, or under any name.”

She said in order for the lawsuit to be thrown out, the government needed to put it in writing because “we don’t have the kind of absolute certainty that this fund wouldn’t rear its head.”

‘Abolish ICE,’ Summer Lee Says After Haitian Immigrant Daphy Michel’s Death Ruled a Homicide

Congresswoman Summer Lee renewed her call to abolish US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday after the Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner ruled the death of Daphy Michel, a Haitian immigrant who died after being released from ICE custody, a homicide.

“Michel died on March 2, four days after departing the Washington County Correctional Facility, where she spent six months awaiting a preliminary hearing on misdemeanor charges of terroristic threats and harassment, which were ultimately dismissed,” Pittsburgh’s Public Source reported in April. “She was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which fitted her with an ankle bracelet and released her under the agency’s Alternatives to Detention Program.”

The 31-year-old Charleroi resident then “spent around 24 hours across the last two days of her life in sub-freezing weather in a bus shelter on the South Shore,” according to the the outlet, which cited visual records released by Pittsburgh Regional Transit.

The medical examiner’s office said in a Friday statement that she died of hypothermia, and “the opinion of the forensic pathologist in this case is that Ms. Michel was a vulnerable adult, suffering from untreated severe mental health issues, and a significant language barrier when she was released from federal custody.”

“Based on all available information during the investigation, the pathologist ruled Ms. Michel’s death a homicide,” the office said. The finding means “the death was caused by the actions of another individual,” but is “not to be interpreted as a declaration of criminal guilt.”

Emma Federkeil, a spokesperson for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the office hasn’t yet seen a copy of the report and opinion.

“As such,” she Federkeil, “we must obtain a copy of the official report and opinion and any and all records relied on by the report, in order to determine the basis for the finding of homicide as the manner of death which requires a finding the death occurred ‘at the hand of another.’”

“As we gather the necessary investigation documentation and reports,” she added, “we cannot comment further.”

ICE is part of the US Department of Homeland Security. In response to the newspaper’s request for comment, DHS acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis reiterated the text of a March statement and added that “all illegal aliens who are processed have access to phones to call family, friends, and attorneys.”

Regardless of any criminal charges, Joseph Murphy, an attorney who has represented Michel’s family since her death, told Public Source that he expects a civil lawsuit in the weeks ahead.

Lee (D-Pa.), who has joined other progressives in calling for an end to ICE throughout President Donald Trump’s deadly crackdowns on immigrants across the United States, stressed in a Friday statement that “Daphy Michel was a human being. She happened to be born on the other side of a border, but she was no less worthy of care, safety, and dignity. That should not have been a death sentence. Daphy’s death was preventable and is the result of a violent system that cages people, surveils them, abandons them, dehumanizes them in life, and smears them in death to escape accountability.”

“She deserved care, shelter, language access, and medical support. ICE and every agency that failed her must answer for this,” Lee continued. “And now, as more people die in and around ICE custody, their answer is not transparency, accountability, or care, but to stop reporting the deaths of recently released detainees altogether. We may never know how many more stories like Daphy’s have been hidden by a system built to disappear people. Rather than pour billions more into the agency that murdered her, we must abolish ICE and build systems rooted in equity and basic human dignity.”

As Trump has pursued his mass deportation agenda since returning to office last year, at least dozens of people have died in ICE custody or shortly after being released. Earlier this month, ICE announced that it was rescinding a 2021 Biden administration policy requiring a report to Congress and an investigation any time a detainee died within 30 days of their release.

Following that announcement, the Republican-controlled Congress sent a bill with nearly $70 billion in new DHS funding to Trump’s desk. The legislation, which the president signed on Wednesday, includes $38 billion for ICE and $26 billion for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“House Republicans handed ICE and CBP billions more while families struggle to afford rent, groceries, childcare, and healthcare,” Lee said on social media after the chamber’s vote. “Congress shouldn’t be writing blank checks for cruelty while everyday people are being crushed by rising costs.”

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Nearly 100 Billionaires Are Funding Susan Collins’ Reelection Bid

A new analysis of campaign finance data shows that nearly 100 billionaires and their spouses have contributed to Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ reelection bid so far, funneling nearly $10 million to the incumbent’s campaign committee and PACs supporting her effort to fend off progressive challenger Graham Platner.

The Maine Monitor on Thursday published a list of billionaires who have donated to Collins and Platner, who has called his Republican opponent a “corrupt” protector and beneficiary of an oligarchic political system. The outlet noted that Collins’ billionaire donation total “stands in stark contrast with the fundraising of her opponent… whose campaign has mostly attracted smaller amounts of funds but from many more people.”

Platner’s reelection bid has received donations from billionaires George Soros, Pat Stryker, Jon Stryker, Christy Walton, and Jennifer Pritzker. Those contributions represent “a fraction of 1% of his total haul,” The Maine Monitor noted. The Democratic candidate’s campaign said Thursday that “grassroots donors chipping in $200 or less have given Graham Platner $9.6 million.”

The Maine Monitor observed that “the majority of the billionaire donations to Collins this cycle are from billionaires who made their money in alternative investments, including hedge funds and private equity.”

In 2017, Collins voted for legislation that delivered massive tax breaks to large corporations and American billionaires, whose collective wealth surged to $8.1 trillion last year. ProPublica reported that private equity became Collins’ “most reliable source of donations” after she withdrew an amendment to the 2017 legislation that would have targeted one of the industry’s beloved tax breaks.

On top of billionaire funding, Collins’ campaign has benefited from massive ad spending by dark-money groups such as One Nation. The group, which is aligned with Sen. Mitch McConnell, has spent more than $19 million on advertising for Collins so far.

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A Georgia datacenter threatens local rivers. Residents are joining a national push to stop it

A post-church downpour didn’t deter hundreds of people from showing up at Morgan’s Market on a recent Sunday afternoon to sign a petition aimed at giving people in rural Coweta county, Georgia, the chance to vote on a datacenter known as Project Sail and prohibit other datacenters and cryptocurrency mining operations from moving forward. It was one of about a dozen petition-signing events held in the area in a push that launched several weeks ago. As of Friday, organizers said they had collected about 6,500 signatures; the goal is about 14,000. Located less than an hour south-west of Atlanta, Coweta county has about 160,000 residents. Two-thirds of the county voted for Trump.

If the petition campaign is successful, Coweta county could become only the third county in Georgia history to stage what’s known as a referendum, allowing residents to challenge a county policy or decision – in this case, the county commission’s ordinance allowing Project Sail, a more-than-800-acre datacenter. It is part of a growing groundswell of grass-roots citizens’ actions against often gigantic datacenters, whose rapid growth across the US, powered by the demand for AI, have raised a host of environmental and other concerns. The move in Coweta county comes just after Monterey Park, California, became the first US city to pass a referendum against datacenters earlier this month. It also comes as recent polling suggests seven in 10 people in the US would oppose a datacenter being built near their homes.

The referendum comes after residents of Georgia’s Sapelo Island – home to a community of descendants of enslaved west Africans – successfully staged a countywide vote in January, defeating a proposal to allow larger houses on the island. Before that, a referendum on the Atlanta police training center known as Cop City failed, after the city tied up the effort in courts.

The ability to stage a referendum in Georgia comes from provisions in the state’s constitution. First, a certain percentage of a county’s registered voters must sign a petition indicating they want to vote on a policy passed by elected representatives. The percentage varies based on the county’s population. Once the threshold of confirmed signatures is reached and a referendum is authorized, it’s a tool that shows “people don’t have to acquiesce to elected leaders – particularly when they don’t have people’s interests at heart”, said Quentin Savwoir, director of programs and strategy at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center.

Amoc collapse could change Europe’s climate 10x faster than expected.

Imagine we detect a large asteroid heading straight for Earth. We are able to intervene and prevent disaster, but instead we cut the funding needed to track it. A few million dollars, it was argued, was too expensive to have a chance to save society. While this scenario isn’t real, the metaphor is alarmingly accurate. In Europe, we spend €1bn to monitor space for asteroids, even if the actual risk of a civilisation-ending asteroid strike is close to zero.

But governments don’t commit to spend a fraction of that amount to adequately monitor a threat that is more imminent, more likely, and located here on Earth: a major change in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc). The Amoc is a vast system of ocean current that moves heat from the south to north in the Atlantic Ocean, thereby playing a crucial role in regulating global climate upon which modern civilisation is built – from agriculture, through infrastructure to health, prosperity and culture. Changes in Amoc can impact food security, coastal flooding, storms, energy demand, migration, infrastructure planning, etc.

Under current climate change, the Amoc is projected to weaken enough to radically change the weather and cause sea level rise in Europe. However, there is little consensus on when and how fast this will occur. Projections of the future Amoc vary between climate models, and while scientists continue to improve the ability of models to represent the real ocean, progress is hampered by insufficient understanding of the physics of the Amoc.

Systematic monitoring of the Amoc began only two decades ago when a handful of visionary researchers in different countries patched together individual nationally funded research projects within the competitive science domain. Yet, these measurements are now a benchmark for climate models and have critically improved our understanding of the Amoc. The extreme vulnerability of funding for Amoc observing has been confirmed by a recent assessment that showed how funding issues have already reduced Amoc observing capabilities. Several Amoc monitoring initiatives are at a risk of being defunded and could be discontinued at any moment. While we can’t go back in time to do more observations, we can improve our observation strategy for the future.

Instead, the Trump administration has proposed budget cuts to Nasa, NOAA and NSF – agencies that together provide about 50% of the total Amoc monitoring budget. Last week the US announced the descoping of the Ocean Observing Initiative which was part of a programme observing the Amoc. In short: monitoring, understanding and forecasting the Amoc is at risk. Without sustained Amoc observations, we cannot know what lies ahead. An Amoc collapse may be imminent, a century away, or, if we act boldly to limit climate change, it might be averted altogether.

Dangerous hormone-disrupting chemicals found in US breast milk samples

Breast milk samples from mothers in Seattle contain alarming levels of dangerous hormone-disrupting chemicals, including BPA, BPS, melamine, cyanuric acid, and triclosan, new peer-reviewed research has found. The chemicals present a serious risk to infants because they likely interfere with hormones that are critical to newborns’ proper development, and have been found to be harmful at very low levels of exposure. About 92% of 50 samples were contaminated with at least one of the anti-microbials or plasticizers for which researchers checked.

The same milk samples had previously been found to contain potentially dangerous levels of PFAS “forever chemicals” and flame retardants, which are also endocrine disruptors. The cocktail of endocrine-disrupting chemicals is “concerning for a number of reasons”, said Ryan Babadi, a lead author of the peer-reviewed study, and senior scientist with the Toxic Free Future nonprofit.

“This pertains to the most vulnerable group when it comes to health effects – infants and children – who are undergoing rapid stages of development that are orchestrated by the endocrine system,” Babadi said. Previous research has shown the individual chemicals in mothers, but the new study is among the first to detect melamine, along with multiple other classes of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, in breast milk.

Babadi emphasized that breastfeeding remains the healthiest choice for infants when possible, because it is the most nutritious and generally the safest option. Many of the same chemicals are also found in formulas. However, Babadi added that the study’s results underscore a “widespread, systemic problem” because chemical companies are so widely using the compounds, and regulators are failing to rein in their use.

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Also of Interest

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

Chris Hedges: The Fight to Save America

Trita Parsi: So they tried to deport me…

Detained Gaza doctor Hussam Abu Safia shows signs of torture, family says

Israel’s Designs on Gaza

One Gaza Flotilla Boat Made it to Gaza — in Pieces

How Western Media Normalizes Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing in Lebanon

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A Little Night Music

Alfred Blues King Harris - Sufficient Clothes

Alfred ' The Blues King ' Harris - I Need You Pretty Baby For My Own

Alfred ' The Blues King ' Harris - Gold Digger

Alfred ''Blues King'' Harris - Miss Darling

Alfred ''Blues King'' Harris - My Life Blues

Alfred ' The Blues King ' Harris - Sundown Boogie Blues

Alfred ''Blues King'' Harris - Miss Ida (Alternate Take)

Alfred ''Blues King'' Harris - Blues and Trouble

Alfred ''Blues King'' Harris - Great Lakes Boogie

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