The Evening Blues - 6-19-26
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Chicago blues guitarist Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson. Enjoy!
Luther Guitar Junior Johnson – Bad Boy
"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought."
-- George Orwell
News and Opinion
Hasbara is so gross because it’s just Zionists throwing walls of language at you to convince you you’re not seeing what you’re seeing.
You see raw video footage of the most horrifying thing imaginable in Gaza, and then you see them in the replies going “This is actually fine and normal because words words words words words words words.”
You see a news report about Israel doing something astonishingly evil in Lebanon, and there they are underneath it going “There’s actually a lot more to the story because words words words words words words words.”
You see some far right Israeli minister spouting nakedly genocidal rhetoric, and they’re swarming all over it saying “Well this isn’t actually what it looks like because words words words words words words words.”
You see every major human rights group on earth saying Israel is guilty of genocide and apartheid, and they’re running around frantically telling you it’s a giant conspiracy to frame Israel and the truth is that words words words words words words words.
You see more and more mainstream news institutions reporting on the mountains of evidence of widespread rape and torture in Israeli prisons, and they saturate the airwaves claiming it’s an antisemitic blood libel because words words words words words words words.
The idea is to just pound your intellect with a firehose of verbiage until your inner sensemaker has been shredded and you’re too confused to form a coherent picture of what’s actually going on. It’s a disgusting, abusive, and profoundly unethical thing to do to people.
But the good news is it’s not working anymore. Language is immensely powerful, but its power has its limits. Israel’s behavior has become so transparently unacceptable that no amount of word magic can manipulate people into seeing anything other than what’s happening in front of their face.
Seyed M. Marandi & Larry Johnson: BREAKING: Iran SHUTS DOWN Geneva Talks Over MoU Implementation
Donald Trump’s Iran deal met with anger, relief and incredulity
Pakistan’s prime minister has hailed the “peaceful resolution” of the conflict between the US and Iran, while congratulating the leadership of both countries for signing an agreement that he claimed would immediately reopen of the strait of Hormuz. But amid the celebrations from Shehbaz Sharif – who has served as mediator for the deal – the release of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that gets the ball rolling on the next 60 days of negotiations between Iran and the US, has proven more divisive, eliciting a mixture of outrage, bewilderment, and relief.
In France, the leaders of the G7 countries welcomed the deal, calling it a “historic opportunity to prevent Iran from acquiring any nuclear weapon.” European leaders have largely been sidelined from the negotiations, but expressed relief that the strait of Hormuz would reopen, allowing the flow of oil to resume. Emmanuel Macron said it would put a stop to a “situation of great instability that had terrible consequences for our economies”.
In Israel, however, the agreement has been greeted with less optimism. Mark Regev, a former senior adviser to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, questioned how seriously Iran would approach negotiations over its nuclear program, now that America has removed the economic and military “pressure”. Under the terms of the MOU, Iran will reopen the strait of Hormuz, and in return receive waivers for US sanctions on crude oil exports, petroleum products and associated banking services. They will then enter into negotiations over the fate of their nuclear program and stock of highly enriched uranium.
“The straits are open and the Iranians can start exporting their oil, and therefore they get money coming in, you’ve taken away the economic pressure,” said Regev, adding “maybe Trump will get a great deal … but at the moment I don’t see that. I see America having given Iran’s regime a return to life.” Regev’s views were reflected across Israel. Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s opposition, said on Tuesday, “Netanyahu promised us a historic victory – and we got a crisis with the Americans, Hormuz open to the Iranians, money for the Revolutionary Guards, ballistic missiles aimed at Israel, and Israel waiting in the corridor like a scolded child.”
Trump, who has previously enjoyed high approval among Israelis, is facing widespread criticism in local media. David Horovitz, the founding editor of the Times of Israel, wrote on Wednesday that the US-Israel war on Iran was lost due to “US presidential weakness”, among other issues. “It will come back to bite America. It leaves Israel more vulnerable than before the war began, with a new US-Iran ceasefire agreement that aims to deny Israel the freedom to protect and defend itself,” he wrote.
Israel ignores MOU - Max on the Iran "deal"
Iran announces plans to bring in maritime fees for strait of Hormuz
Iran has announced plans to introduce a system of maritime fees in the strait of Hormuz in two months, after the 60-day period of negotiation that has been triggered by the signing of the memorandum of understanding. Tehran, claiming a historic victory over the US, said the strait was under its control and a European plan for a naval mission to escort ships though the strait would not be welcome. The US on Thursday lifted its blockade of Iran, and oil tankers began freely moving through the critical channel.
Tehran’s warning came as the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had said Israel “will maintain the security zone in south Lebanon as long as our security needs require it”, referring to the more than 600 sq km of Lebanese territory occupied by Israeli troops along the border. On Iran, Netanyahu stated that Israel would continue to “adhere to the supreme objective” of not allowing Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.
Iran insists the deal referring to territorial integrity of Lebanon requires a full Israeli withdrawal, making Donald Trump accountable for Israel’s withdrawal. Trump said on Thursday afternoon that the US expected “a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel”.
“We encourage everyone in the Middle East Region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations to beautifully unfold,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Meanwhile, Israeli drone attacks and artillery shelling continued on Thursday morning. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a series of attacks against Israeli forces in the Kfar Tebnit-Ali al-Taher area in recent days.
The terms of Trump’s deal have drawn a stringing response from many Israeli politicians and its media. An op-ed in the Times of Israel, declaring the US-Israel war on Iran was lost due to “US presidential weakness”, typified the mood.
Neocons FUMING on Iran: "We Had Them ON THE ROPES"
JD Vance tells Iran deal critics in Israel: Trump is your only ally left in the world
US vice-president JD Vance has lashed out at Israeli critics of the Iran deal, saying Donald Trump is Israel’s only ally left in the world, in a sharp rebuke that referenced the billions in defence aid the country receives from America. Vance was defending the deal reached this week to end the war with Iran that critics in the US and Israel have slammed for failing to curb Iran’s missile program and providing no clear path to dismantling its nuclear facilities, while constraining Israel in its war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Vance, asked at a White House news briefing about a report that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fuming over the agreement, said he had not heard such comments from Netanyahu but criticised members of the Israeli leader’s cabinet, who he said have attacked the deal and personally attacked Trump. “My message to them would be twofold. No 1: Donald J Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time,” Vance told reporters. “If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.“
He said he would also remind those cabinet members that two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected Israel “have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars”. The US provides Israel with roughly $4bn in military assistance a year, but the two countries are negotiating a new aid agreement. “The problem for Israel is not Donald J Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in,” Vance said.
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a linchpin in Netanyahu’s governing coalition, has harshly rebuked the US-Iran deal and insisted Israeli troops would remain in Lebanon. Vance criticised Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich in a New York Times interview released earlier on Thursday. “What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have,” Vance said.
Prof. John Mearsheimer : Israel Undermining US/Iran Deal
‘Would You Rather Go Back to War?’ Critics Ask Democrats Fuming Over Trump’s Iran Deal
Supporters of a diplomatic resolution to the illegal war that US President Donald Trump launched against Iran earlier this year are pushing back against Democratic critics of the interim peace agreement signed on Wednesday, warning it is politically and morally foolish to attack efforts to end a conflict that has killed thousands and plunged the global economy into chaos.
“Would you rather go back to war?” Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy and a former adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), asked Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), one of several Democrats joining war-hawk Republicans in openly decrying the new memorandum of understanding (MOU).
In a series of social media posts on Wednesday, Blumenthal pointed to “bipartisan condemnation” of what he called “a disgraceful deal” and “unconditional surrender” on the part of the US. The senator added that “anything like this deal will be dead on arrival in the Senate” and declared, “It must be approved here to have enforceable effect.”
Other prominent Democrats offered similar critiques. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said it is “hard to imagine a more thorough capitulation,” while Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) called the deal a “dangerous giveaway” to “this enemy,” referring to Iran.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, warned Thursday that such criticisms of the interim peace deal imply that “a war should not be brought to an end until it has produced better terms—even when the war itself is failing.”
“Taken seriously, that logic leads to a dangerous conclusion: that a failed war must continue until the battlefield fortunes somehow improve and a more favorable outcome becomes attainable. Perhaps that day will come. Perhaps it never will. In the meantime, the costs—in lives, treasure, regional stability, and strategic credibility—are treated as secondary considerations,” Parsi wrote. “This is how endless wars are born.”
Parsi expressed disappointment at the rhetoric of some Democrats “because it echoes the same bad-faith tactics Republicans deployed” against the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump ripped up in 2018, setting the stage for war.
“To be sure, Trump has invited some of this treatment. He spent years attacking Obama’s agreement with a barrage of misleading arguments and exaggerated claims,” Parsi noted. “But that does not make it wise for Democrats to return the favor. Trump currently owns this failed war, but if the Democrats help torpedo the MOU and war resumes, then they will co-own the next war. Trump’s disaster will become theirs as well.”
Many Democrats appear to understand that risk and are welcoming diplomatic progress—while also condemning the illegal war and its consequences for the US and the world.
“Matters of war and peace must rise above partisan politics,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). “Democrats must not replicate Republicans’ irresponsible opposition to the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear agreement, which placed real constraints on Iran’s nuclear program before President Trump foolishly tore it up, setting the stage for this disastrous war.”
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), in a Thursday morning appearance on Fox News, said the emerging deal between the US and Iran “is not as good as the JCPOA was,” while also expressing support for efforts to end the war.
Ro Khanna on Maria Bartiromo's show makes the case for why Trump's deal with Iran is far inferior to the JCPOA (Note that Bartiromo acknowledges he's making "important points, and good ones") pic.twitter.com/n1nm3LyBcd
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 18, 2026
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) wrote in a social media post on Thursday that “any move toward diplomacy and away from violence is welcome news,” calling Trump’s Iran war “reckless” and “illegal.”
“This war should be a lesson. The push for military adventurism and regime change by neocon war hawks was, unsurprisingly, an unmitigated disaster,” said McGovern. “After three months of death and destruction, the rest of us are now left paying the price. His war proved only one thing: that diplomacy was the answer all along.”
Amb. Chas Freeman: Israel’s Agenda Suffers MAJOR Collapse
Trump’s ‘Department of War’ may soon become official
The Department of Defense will soon officially become the Department of War, if Republicans get their way. Key committees in the House and Senate have approved the name change, and Donald Trump is eager to sign it into law. The rebranding is candid and ominous, offering a future of heightened zeal for killing, maiming and destroying. Christened in 1949, the Department of Defense unified the military branches with the Pentagon as their headquarters. Since then, presidents have routinely promoted each new war as vital for the defense of the United States and its values, a pretense that has pervaded mainstream media and political discourse.
Belief in that pretense has now hit bottom, with US public support for this year’s war on Iran extraordinarily low from the outset. But Trump, defense secretary Pete Hegseth and their underlings are doing what they can to inculcate the idea that US warfare is not just superbly laudable but also inevitable. The unabashed fervor for catastrophic violence is fueling the momentum to replace “defense” with “war” department. A switch to Department of War would undermine some of the deceptive marketing that has been central to the Department of Defense brand. Along the way, the new name could make it more difficult to perpetuate the assumption that US military actions spring from admirable motives.
Politicians and journalists drag the public down a misleading rabbit hole when they habitually refer to “defense spending” and a “defense budget”. Even antiwar activists do the same as they advocate for cutting the “defense” budget and thus – given the positive connotations of the word – undercut their position from the outset. Of course, we can’t blame the sloppy and manipulative uses of the word “defense” for the illusions that drive public support for US foreign policy. But as George Orwell pointed out: “The slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.”
Trump BLASTS Bibi Over Lebanon Attacks
Gas prices fall below $4 on average after Trump’s signing of Iran deal to end war
The average price of US gasoline fell to just under $4 a gallon on Thursday for the first time since March, following the announcement of a preliminary agreement between the US and Iran to end the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz. The development has provided some relief to drivers who have seen soaring costs amid Washington’s war with Iran. But filling up still remains more expensive than it was before the conflict began.
According to the motor club AAA, the current national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline stands at $3.999, marking the first time in months that prices have been that low. The decline aligns with easing crude oil costs overall, with some optimism surrounding the initial agreement between the US and Iran.
Still, American drivers are collectively paying roughly $1 more per gallon than they were before the US joined Israel to attack Iran in February. Gas prices are also about 25% higher than they were a year ago, which has put strain on many household budgets across the country.
Gas isn’t the only thing that has become more expensive over the course of the war. Higher gasoline prices have also contributed to rising airline fares, while consumer goods such as groceries, and shoes have also gone up in cost amid global supply chain disruptions. Even if oil and other core necessities – such as fertilizer – begin flowing from the Middle East again, experts warn that the sticker shock is likely to outlast the fighting.
“Product prices across the United States are projected to keep climbing for the rest of 2026,” Patrick Penfield, a professor of supply chain practice at Syracuse University, told the Associated Press on Thursday. Penfield pointed to depleted inventories and ongoing supply chain consequences spanning from the war. He noted that farmers, for example, already had to pay higher costs for fertilizer and other supplies in the spring, which will “ripple through to increased food prices by autumn”. And at the gas pump, he noted that limited refinery capacity in the US “remains a significant bottleneck” towards bringing down prices.
While the stock market booms for the rich, cost of living is soaring for everyone else
Since 2020, the stock market has more than doubled. Americans who own substantial financial assets are reveling in economic success. For everyone else, the economy feels very different. This summer, the average family will spend nearly $800 just to keep their home cool, almost 40% more than in 2020 and up 10.5% since last summer. Americans now carry more than $1.2tn in credit card debt. Nearly 60% say they are living paycheck to paycheck. One in six households is behind on its utility bills. Every year, utilities disconnect electric service more than 13m times. Nearly 40% of lower-income households struggle to pay their energy bills.
Yet if you listen to the Trump administration, the economy is booming because of rising stock prices. The problem is that record stock prices and record corporate profits tell us a great deal about how wealthy Americans are doing and very little about ordinary families. For millions of Americans, the economy isn’t measured by the S&P 500; it’s measured at the gas pump, in the grocery store and when the monthly electric bill arrives.
At the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, we’re used to helping low-income families struggling to keep the lights on and the heat and air conditioning running. What worries me today is how many middle-class families are facing the same pressures. Families who thought they were doing everything right. Families who are now draining savings accounts, carrying larger credit card balances and putting off major purchases just to stay afloat.
For them, a $100 increase in monthly expenses is not an inconvenience. It can mean the difference between paying every bill and falling further behind. Recent events have only made matters worse. Moody’s estimates that the oil market disruption of the last three months has cost the average family $450. That’s real money. It means less money for groceries, less money for healthcare and less money for the electric bill. For a household already living paycheck to paycheck, it can be the difference between staying current on bills and falling behind.
And the outlook is getting worse, not better. The conflict with Iran continues to threaten global oil supplies, pushing up the price of gasoline. Data centers are placing growing demands on the electric grid in regions where electricity costs are already rising. Healthcare costs continue to increase. Higher energy prices are working their way through the entire economy. In other words, many of the costs families are struggling with today are likely to increase tomorrow. What is most frustrating is that Washington seems more focused on celebrating asset prices than addressing affordability.
President of Wisconsin’s largest mosque released from ICE custody
A federal judge has ordered the release of the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, after finding that immigration officials probably detained him in retaliation against his public advocacy for Palestinian rights, suppressing his first amendment rights in the process. The US district judge James Patrick Hanlon’s order on Thursday marked a sharp rebuke against Trump officials, including the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who had tried to paint Salah Sarsour as a national security threat.
“Salah Sarsour, who has lived in this country for more than three decades and served as a core pillar in his community without any issues, should never have been detained in the first place,” his legal team wrote in a statement. “While we continue to fight these baseless claims in court, today is about celebrating a family being reunited. It is also a sober reminder that, if the government can target Mr Sarsour, everyone’s free speech rights are at risk.”
Sarsour describes himself as a stateless Palestinian, according to the order. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says that he is a Jordanian citizen. He has lived in the United States for more than three decades, becoming a legal permanent resident in 1998. Immigration officials approved Sarsour’s citizenship application decades ago, though he did not naturalize. Sarsour has garnered public attention as a champion for Palestinian rights, and serves as a board member of an advocacy group called American Muslims for Palestine.
Hanlon’s order says that homeland security officials and Rubio probably trampled on Sarsour’s first amendment right to free speech and appeared to have arrested him in retaliation for his Palestinian rights advocacy. The order cited a New York Times story and the website for the Heritage Foundation, the conservative thinktank that dreamed up Project 2025,
The Heritage Foundation presented the White House with the idea to present prominent foreign-born Muslims and Palestinian rights leaders as terrorists in order to sue them, deport them or pressure employers to fire them, the order says, citing reporting from the Times and Heritage’s own website. Sarsour was probably among the targets of that campaign, the order says.
Report Details ‘Human Rights Crisis’ Wrought by Trump ICE Surge in Minnesota
Human Rights Watch on Thursday published a scathing report detailing how President Donald Trump “caused a human rights crisis” in Minnesota by ordering the deadly federal invasion of the Twin Cities in service of the administration’s mass deportation agenda.
HRW called Operation Metro Surge, launched by Trump last December, “an unprecedented deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents and officers to the state of Minnesota,” including members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“The Trump administration claimed that Operation Metro Surge was designed to keep Americans safe and often stated that it was targeting noncitizens with violent criminal histories,” the report states. “But the operation itself caused significant harm, and nearly two out of three immigrants arrested by ICE during Operation Metro Surge had no prior US criminal history whatsoever.”
At least three people have been killed in connection with the operation. ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renée Good, a 37-year-old US citizen, in Minneapolis on January 7. A week later, 36-year-old Nicaraguan detainee Victor Manuel Díaz, who was arrested during the operation, became the third person to die at the notorious East Montana concentration camp in Texas. On January 24, CBP officer Raymundo Gutierrez and Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa shot and killed nurse Alex Pretti, 37, also in Minneapolis.
“Federal agents shot a third Minneapolis resident and pulled guns on dozens more,” the report continues. “Agents also violently smashed car windows without justification, physically threw people to the ground who were not resisting arrest, and deployed chemical irritants and flash-bang grenades on dozens of occasions, sometimes at close range and without warning, resulting in injuries, including to journalists.”
Furthermore, federal agents “unlawfully arrested and detained hundreds; engaged in racial profiling, harassment, and surveillance; and terrorized Minnesotans, chilling their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and impacting their rights to education and health, among others,” HRW said, adding that “residents faced further abuses when they collectively acted to protest, prevent, and stop these violations of their rights.”
The HRW report calls for an immediate end to abusive federal enforcement operations in Minnesota; independent investigations into alleged unlawful killings, racial profiling, arbitrary arrests, excessive force, and other rights violations; and full accountability for officials responsible.
“The federal government sent hordes of masked, armed agents to grab people off the street, whisk them away in shackles, and abuse those who sought to bear witness,” Reagan Williams, HRW’s crisis and conflict researcher, said in a statement. “Minnesotans mobilized to protest, to document abuse, and to provide critical aid to one another. National-level action is needed to ensure accountability, end ongoing abuses, remedy the harm, and prevent another crisis of this scale.”
“Operation Metro Surge put the violent and abusive practices of these agencies on full display,” Williams added. “We have clear proof of how they operate when impunity prevails, and we need to urgently chart a new way forward through accountability and structural reforms that put an end to these abuses.”
Trump administration quietly shifts $352m in federal funds for White House ballroom
Donald Trump’s administration has quietly redirected $352m in federal funds designated for the Secret Service toward the president’s controversial White House ballroom project, despite repeated promises by Trump that the construction would be financed by private donations The funds were drawn from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s signature tax legislation passed last summer on Republican-only votes. The law stipulates the money may only be spent on Secret Service personnel, training facilities, technology and related costs, not construction.
About $340.8m of the funding was placed into an account labeled “Procurement, Construction, and Improvements” on 12 June, according to the office of management and budget (OMB) database. Another account labeled “Operations and Support” was also approved the same day, adding another $10.75m to the budget.
The move came after Congress explicitly refused to provide $1bn in funds for the “East Wing Modernization Project”, the Trump administration’s official name for a 90,000-sq-ft ballroom being built on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing. The administration argued the funds were needed for legitimate security upgrades, pointing to recent threats against Trump, including an alleged plot to attack Sunday’s UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House south lawn.
“The East Wing Modernization Project is inextricably tied to the security of the president, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said. “President Trump and generous American patriots are funding the ballroom to the tune of approximately $400m, which will be a secure and appropriate venue for presidents for generations to come.” Those disrupted attacks, Ingle said, “proves exactly why” the project is needed for events at the White House, which include “drone-proof structures and drone ports among other critical security enhancements”.
Senior legislators were unconvinced. “That’s a big problem,” Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina who is retiring at the end of the year, told Notus. “That sounds like a different way to fund the East Wing project. On its face it doesn’t sound right.” The row is the latest chapter in a widening controversy over who is actually paying for the project. When the ballroom was announced in July 2025 at an estimated cost of $200m, Trump described it as “a private thing”, before the East Wing was destroyed in October.
Real Fight With Oligarchy Begins as Billionaires Tax Qualifies for Ballot in California
Advocates of a plan to tax California billionaires were celebrating Thursday following confirmation from California Secretary of State Shirley Weber that the proposal had gathered enough signatures to appear as a ballot initiative this November.
Weber revealed late Wednesday that proponents of the California Billionaire Tax Act had gathered more than the 875,000 signatures needed, reaching the benchmark ahead of June 25 deadline.
The proposed tax, which has drawn opposition from Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and support from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), will hit the state’s billionaires with a one-time 5% wealth tax that proponents say will be used to fund local hospitals, food aid, and public education.
Proponents of the tax have called it necessary to make up for budget shortfalls created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the 2025 Republican budget law that slashed spending on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Trump administration reverses decision to scrap ocean monitoring system
The Donald Trump administration has reversed its decision to dismantle a $368m deep-sea observation system following an outcry from lawmakers and ocean experts. On Thursday, the National Science Foundation announced that it would halt plans to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative, stating: “effective immediately, [it] will not proceed with further removal or descoping of equipment from the remaining arrays and will continue operations including planned maintenance”.
The agency added that it “appreciates the concerns raised by the range of stakeholders that have informed us they rely on data” from the OOI. The NSF also said it would “issue a Dear Colleague Letter to collect input from stakeholders and convene an expert panel to assess observational needs, evaluate available data sources, consider responses … and help the agency identify a sustainable path for NSF’s ocean observing systems”.
The OOI comprises more than 900 instruments that collect data on ocean health, including current patterns, climate variability and marine biodiversity. Its observation arrays are located off the coasts of North Carolina, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, as well as in the Irminger Sea, a marginal sea between Greenland and Iceland. The NSF’s announcement follows widespread backlash from scientists and ocean experts who depend on the OOI’s data for research, including estimates of ocean heating rates amid the climate crisis. Experts warned that losing the system could undermine forecasts and early-warning systems for storms and other severe weather events.
The reversal also came a day after the Senate passed a bipartisan bill introduced by the Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley and Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski that sought to halt what they described as the “reckless dismantling” of the OOI. According to the bill, no federal funds may be used to decommission the OOI until the NSF “conducts a thorough review and assessment of the network with robust stakeholder engagement”.
Lake Tahoe residents ‘horrified’ by plans to spray cancer-linked glyphosate in public lands
Katherine Levy remembers a childhood deeply rooted in the natural offerings of Lake Tahoe – water-skiing in the summer and working as ski instructor on the surrounding snow-covered mountains during winter months. She recently moved back to live out her retirement along the lake’s north shore. But she doesn’t like what she has found upon her return: a US government plan to spray multiple types of herbicides, including the cancer-linked glyphosate weedkiller – within national forest property that abuts the community’s cherished lake. “I was horrified to find out what has been going on,” Levy said.
Levy is among a number of Lake Tahoe-area residents and officials who are fighting to block or alter the US Forest Service project, which is aimed at restoration of areas damaged by the 2021 Caldor fire. The wildfire burned through more than 200,000 acres, including land in and around the Lake Tahoe basin. The Forest Service manages more than 156,000 acres (63,000 hectares) of national forest land within that basin.
The agency’s restoration plan states that the use of glyphosate and other herbicides is needed to help clear areas of shrubs, brush and other vegetation before new tree plantings and to manage vegetation that might interfere with the growth of the trees after planting. The herbicides would not be sprayed from the air, but from backpack sprayers to try to minimize damage to “non-target” native plants, and the Forest Service has said it will work to reduce the risk of the pesticides getting into streams and other water bodies. Locals remain concerned and a town hall meeting was held on 11 June to strategize on how to fight the Forest Service plan. Some residents have called for action on social media, including in posts on Facebook groups such as Lake Tahoe Locals and Keep Tahoe Blue.
There are similar fights over forestry pesticide use playing out across the US, but the Lake Tahoe issue has drawn the attention of leaders with the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement, who have been lobbying the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban or severely restrict glyphosate use.
‘Mega-consumers’ of food and energy cost environment $5.7tn a year
The environmental damage bill racked up by the highest-consuming 10% of the world’s population has reached up to $5.7tn a year – larger than the economy of every country except the US and China, a study has found. Mega-consumers in this group are concentrated in the global north, accounting for more than half the population of the US and 40-45% of people in the EU.
The damage tally, which one researcher described as “bonkers”, also exceeds global funding gaps for tackling the climate and biodiversity crises, highlighting how economic priorities remain skewed towards running down the Earth’s life-support systems. The most destructive forms of consumption were linked to two main areas: food – particularly red meat, a primary driver of deforestation – and energy, including flights and heating and cooling homes, which typically rely on burning of fossil fuels, such as gas, oil and coal.
The $5.7tn figure, published in a paper by researchers at University of Oxford and University of Leiden, was calculated by using estimates of the monetary impacts of climate disruption, biodiversity loss, nutrient pollution and freshwater use. The study found that the average annual environmental damage bill for someone in the global top 10% ranged from $2,300 to $7,500. This figure rose to $19,000-$63,000 for those in the US. High-consuming households in emerging economies are catching up. The average environmental damage bill for the top 10% in China has overtaken that of the top 10% in Germany, the report says.
Biodiversity loss accounted for the largest share of the global damage bill, making up 47-56% of the total. The climate emergency was responsible for a further 36-45%. The authors said the findings strengthened the case for addressing the biodiversity and climate crises together, rather than treating them as separate policy challenges.
The paper, published on Thursday in Communications Sustainability, cautions that the true environmental cost by this group is likely to be even higher. The calculations cover only four of nine planetary boundaries and reflect direct consumption alone, excluding the likely greater impacts of investments.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some of which defied fair-use abstraction.
Jonathan Cook: Fealty to Israel
This isn't about a few 'bad apples.' Israel is annexing the West Bank
Patients die in Gaza waiting for medical evacuations Israel keeps blocking
Internal Debate Rages in Tehran Over Deal with Trump
Black Rain Falls on Moscow After Ukrainian Drone Attack Hits Oil Refinery
US Govt Plans to Crush Anti-AI ‘Extremism’
‘It’s Like Hell’: 60 Lawsuits Detail Alleged Medical Neglect at ICE Detention Center
Mangione lawyers abandon psychiatric defense over health CEO’s killing
Supreme court sides with Texas marijuana user who wants to legally own a gun
Showdown in the desert: the small town fending off a new California gold rush
A Little Night Music
Luther Guitar Junior Johnson – Somebody Have Mercy
Luther 'Guitar Jr ' Johnson – You Don't Have To Go
Luther 'Guitar Jr.' Johnson - Walkin' The Dog
Luther Guitar Junior Johnson – Big Leg Woman
Luther Guitar Junior Johnson – I Need Some Air
Luther Guitar Junior Johnson – Got To Have Money
Luther 'Guitar Jr ' Johnson – C As In Chester / If Blues Were Whiskey
Luther Guitar Jr Johnson - Miss the Train (Mystery Train)
Luther Guitar Junior Johnson – Doin' The Sugar Too (alternate take)
Luther 'Guitar Jr ' Johnson – Rynborn Boogie
Luther Guitar Junior Johnson & The Magic Rockers
Comments
The numbers here are staggering
.
Dealing mostly with sand and concrete, in China they
are using billions to describe tonnage and urbanization.
Thanks for the EB's joe. Enjoy the weekend.
Edit - correct referenced video. Guess the clip board wasn't clean.
Zionism is a social disease
evening qms...
heh, everything's bigger in ... china? i guess china is the new texas.
have a great weekend!
Hi Q
That was enlightening.
Just recently, I wanted to buy some crushed shells to top up my pathway. It’s not available anymore in NZ because there is a moratorium on dredging up the sand along the coastlines and riverbeds. It sounds like a good decision.
Check out this
innovative manufacture of sand.
https://kayasand.com/news/groundbreaking-concrete-pour-a-new-zealand-fir...
This is indicative of the benefits of being a Trump supporter.
Meanwhile Algae also has its own supporters.
evening humphrey...
well, perhaps trump is just turning the reflecting pool into an energy source since algae can be processed into a sort of fuel. that orange man is really thinking ahead.
Seems like a good idea if you ask me,
hmmmm...
in baltimore there's some space near the holocaust memorial. seems a fitting place.
Will the release of the Epstein Files be the next step to apply
pressure on Trump?
The rest of the tweet:
heh...
um, netanyahu was the prime minister that brought about america's humiliation with the acquiescence of presidunce trump.