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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Little Brother Montgomery

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues and boogie woogie piano player Eurreal "Little Brother" Montgomery. Enjoy!

^{Little Brother Montgomery - No Special Rider Blues}

“Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on.”

-- Oracle CEO Zionist billionaire oligarch Larry Ellison

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News and Opinion

The Gaza Ethnic Cleansing Agenda Continues To Roll Forward

As both US and Israeli leaders openly contemplate attacking Iran again, it’s easy for the world to miss the fact that the genocidal alliance has also dramatically reinvigorated its ethnic cleansing agendas in Gaza.

The Adelson-owned pro-Netanyahu outlet Israel Hayom reports that in the coming weeks the so-called “Board of Peace” overseeing life in the Gaza Strip is planning to relocate Palestinians to “humanitarian shelters” that are not under Hamas control.

Israel Hayom reports that an area near the destroyed city of Rafah is the first location where such camps will be set up. This is noteworthy because one year ago defense minister Israel Katz stated that there was a plan to construct a “humanitarian city” on the ruins of Rafah, where “the emigration plan” for the Palestinians would then be implemented, adding that Benjamin Netanyahu was working on finding foreign nations to accept the population of Gaza.

It’s hard to ignore the similarities. Both accounts even state that the plan is to police the displaced Palestinians using an international force. The 2026 Israel Hayom report states that the camps will be overseen by “multinational forces under the Board of Peace’s management”, and Israel Katz stated in 2025 that Israel is seeking international partners to manage the zone.

Israeli Plan to Herd Palestinians Into Controlled “Shelters” to Begin “Within A Matter of Weeks”

Israel is preparing to channel Palestinians into fenced “humanitarian shelters” in areas outside Hamas’s control, policed by a foreign force, while its military deepens its… https://t.co/rUv8HREx1F

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) July 1, 2026

So to be clear, in July of last year Israeli officials were publicly stating that they were going to build a “humanitarian city” on the ruins of Rafah to house the Palestinians under international supervision while working to relocate them from their homeland to other countries, and in July of this year we learn that we will soon see Palestinians in Gaza relocated to “humanitarian shelters” near Rafah overseen by international forces.

So it sounds like the same plan. If it is, then it’s a plan for ethnic cleansing.

Israel has already expanded its control over Gaza from 53 percent to 70 percent of the Strip, concentrating the survivors of the genocide into a mere 30 percent of the Palestinian territory. And now, according to Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen, the plan is to expand control to 100 percent.

Israel National News quotes Cohen as saying during a recent radio interview that “our control of the territory will only continue to expand until we reach 100%,” adding, “two months ago we controlled 53% of the Strip, about a month ago around 60%, and today we’re approaching 70% of the Strip’s area.”

Israeli Minister Vows Israel Will Control 100% of Gaza
The IDF currently occupies around 70% of Gaza, as it has taken more territory in violation of the US-backed ceasefire deal#Gaza #Israel #Palestinians https://t.co/6XF9tDeSdG

— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) July 1, 2026

This comes amid other reports we discussed recently which strongly indicate that the Trumpanyahu administration is renewing its push to remove all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The other day we learned from the Israeli press that Israel’s national security agencies had been instructed to rebrand the ethnic cleansing plan as a “plan for free movement” in order to mitigate international resistance to the agenda. A few days before that, we learned that Israel’s new national security chief had convened a meeting with officials from the IDF and Shin Bet to discuss the plan to displace the Palestinians of Gaza to other countries.

Again, Israel’s mass atrocities in Gaza have always been about ethnic cleansing from the very beginning. Within days of Israel’s assault on Gaza in October 2023, Israel’s Intelligence Ministry was circulating a plan for the entire population of Gaza to be moved to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, and an Israeli think tank had drawn up a strategy for the “relocation and final settlement of the entire Gaza population.”

The goal has always been to remove the Palestinians from Gaza so their territory can be taken from them. This was never anything other than a blatant Israeli land grab. They’ve been framing it as a “war” so that after they seize and colonize Gaza they can say “the Arabs fought a war and lost, they deserved to lose territory” like they always do, but it was never actually a war.

Calling the Gaza genocide a “war” is like seeing a man beating up a toddler and calling it a “fight”. It’s one of the world’s most sophisticated military forces raining explosives on an area packed full of children with the backing of the most powerful empire that has ever existed, opposed only by a few thousand guys running around in sandals with homemade rockets and ancient Kalashnikovs.

That’s not a war. It’s an ethnic cleansing operation. That’s all this has ever been.

"COUP": Netanyahu REJECTS HIGH COURT In Israeli CRISIS

Calls for killing of Trump at funeral of Iran supreme leader Ali Khamenei

Beside the coffin of the assassinated former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at a packed prayer hall in Tehran on Sunday there were calls for the killing of Donald Trump. Iran is staging a week of mass funeral processions ⁠for Khamenei, who was killed along with other members of his family on the first day of the US and Israeli war on 28 February. The funeral was delayed because of the war.

The funeral prayers for the former supreme leader and four other family members created a political spectacle at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla that melded grief with calls for revenge. Holding Iranian flags and pictures of their martyred leader, and waving red flags symbolising vengeance the crowds were vastly larger and more militant than on Saturday, the first day of this elaborately conceived funeral designed to impress on the world that Iran has social resilience and determination to preserve its independence.

“From now on the shroud is our garment. I swear by your blood; Trump’s murder is our responsibility,” Mohammad Rasouli, a poet, said at a poetry recitation immediately before the prayer reading at the farewell ceremony. He asked: “Why is the most bastard man in the world still alive? The world is no longer a good place for Trump. Why should we not kill the man who killed our imam? It would be a disgrace if we did not.” His scripted and authorised remark led to a mixed reaction, but most cheered enthusiastically.

Khalil Shirgholami, Iran’s ambassador to Armenia, said on “You can kill people, but you can’t kill ideals. You killed Ayatollah Khamenei, but in reality you broke a bottle of perfume, the fragrance of which has now spread everywhere. You will never understand this because you have no civilisation, no history, no honour.”

Going to Khameini's funeral with Prof. Marandi

Israel Reportedly Plotted to Assassinate Top Iranian Negotiators to Derail Peace Talks With US

Trump administration officials reportedly believed that the Israeli government intended to assassinate Iran’s top negotiators—including the country’s foreign minister—during peace talks with the US in an effort to sabotage diplomatic progress.

The New York Times reported Thursday that “American concerns about the targeting of two particular Iranian officials—Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Parliament—spiked during delicate ceasefire negotiations that began in April.” In response, the US “went so far as to ask other countries in the region to warn Iran about the possibility Israel could target the two officials,” according to the Times, which cited unnamed current and former American officials.

The US and Israel have killed dozens of top Iranian officials since launching their illegal joint war in late February. But the allied countries reportedly removed Araghchi and Ghalibaf from their target list in late March, opening the possibility of high-level negotiations to end the war.

But Israel remained bent on targeting the negotiators, according to the Times, whose reporting was later corroborated by The Washington Post.

The Times detailed one dramatic incident in April, when Ghalibaf was planning to travel to Pakistan’s capital to meet with US Vice President JD Vance:

Pakistani fighter jets escorted the Iranian airplanes carrying a delegation of more than 70 Iranians from the border of Iran to Islamabad and back again when the session was over.

But on the way back to Tehran, an Israeli security threat emerged.

Iran’s security forces notified the plane carrying Mr. Ghalibaf back to Tehran that they had picked up intelligence that Israel planned to attack the plane and that two Israeli fighter jets had entered Iran’s airspace from its western border near Iraq, the two officials said.

Mahdi Mohammadi, a senior adviser for Mr. Ghalibaf, who accompanied him to Islamabad, confirmed this account on his social media page. The plane made an emergency landing in the city of Mashhad, Iran’s closest airport to the Pakistani border, and the Iranian delegation traveled some eight hours by land back to Tehran, Mr. Mohammadi and the two officials said.

The Post reported that “cracks emerged” between the US and Israeli approaches to the war following Israel’s assassination of top Iranian national security official Ali Larijani in March.

“They’ve wiped out everybody,” Trump told reporters in late March, suggesting Israel’s assassination campaign was making it difficult to find potential negotiating partners.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote in response to the new reporting that “Israel is a state that, on paper, is a US partner, but in reality is so extreme in its obsession to undermine US diplomacy that it even tries to assassinate those the US engages with in crucial negotiations.”

“I can’t recall a government as terrified of peace as the one running Israel,” Parsi added.

At present, the Israeli government—led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—is endangering tenuous US-Iran peace talks with its continued occupation of and assault on Lebanon, which Iran has highlighted as a key factor in the negotiations.

Visiting occupied southern Lebanon earlier this week, Netanyahu declared to Israeli troops that “our insistence is that we will not leave... until the threat is removed.”

Parsi wrote earlier this week that “beyond his long-standing desire to use American force to subjugate Iran to Israeli domination and achieve a regional balance favorable to Israel,” Netanyahu “now also has stark political and personal reasons to restart the war” with Iran.

“The [US and Iran’s memorandum of understanding] has come at a steep political cost for Netanyahu,” wrote Parsi. “His prospects for reelection in October are weaker than they have been in months. Once seen as the Israeli leader uniquely capable of delivering President Trump, he now confronts the prospect that both the war and the ensuing diplomacy will leave Israel in a strategically weaker position—undermining the very case he has made for his leadership.”

“And of course,” Parsi added, “if he loses the elections, he will likely spend the next few years in jail, as he will lose his immunity as prime minister and face trial over corruption charges.”

‘Gave them a week off’: Trump says US paused operations for Khamenei funeral

Speaking at Mount Rushmore during celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States, Trump praised US military power and declared that Iran was seeking a political settlement after months of conflict.

Trump also claimed Washington had allowed Tehran time to conduct funeral ceremonies for Khamenei.

We gave them a week off for a funeral because we're nice," he said.

Trump Threatens to Destroy Iran Again / Patrick Henningsen in Tehran

Iran’s Ghalibaf Says Implementing US-Iran MoU ‘Difficult But Possible’

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that implementing the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding was “difficult but possible” as he continues to favor diplomacy with the US despite recent strikes and high tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Ghalibaf made the comments during a meeting with senior Hamas official Mohammed Darwish on the sidelines of the ceremonies being held in Iran for the funeral of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by the US and Israel on February 28, the first day of the joint US-Israeli attacks on the country.

“We have no peace with the United States, and we will not recognize Israel,’ Ghalibaf told Darwish, according to Iran’s PressTV. The Iranian parliament speaker said Iran would continue to assist what it calls the “resistance front” in the region “if needed with missiles, and if political pressure is required, pressure through negotiations.”

Honest Government Ad | Palantir

Israeli Army Chief Threatens ‘Swift Offensive’ From Castle to Conquer Lebanon

Israeli strikes continue in southern Lebanon, albeit it at a somewhat slower pace over the past week. Two more Lebanese were killed and four wounded in the past 24 hours, according to Health Ministry officials, who put the total war toll at 4,304 people killed and 12,203 wounded since Israel’s invasion in early March.

Media reports are suggesting that the lower toll means the latest ceasefire is more or less “holding,” though Israeli officials are talking up the possibility of ditching it outright and launching an even bigger offensive out of already occupied Lebanese soil.

Israeli Army Chief Eyal Zamir spoke from Beaufort Castle, an occupied Crusader-era castle in Nabatieh Governorate, presented the castle as “dominating” the surrounding area, which he suggested was teeming with Hezbollah infrastructure.

Zamir said that Israel could quickly transition to a “swift offensive” out of the castle to seize more Lebanese territory and to destroy the infrastructure he purports to still be extant in Nabatieh, which Israel has been heavily attacking for months now.

Russia Biggest Ever Missile Strike Hammers Kiev AD Total Fail; Will Upgrade SMO To Actual War; NATO

Lithuania To Lift Ban on Nuclear Weapons: President

Lithuania intends to lift its ban on the deployment of nuclear weapons, the country’s president has said, as more NATO countries seek to host US nuclear bombs amid soaring tensions with Russia over the war in Ukraine.

“We would like to be the integral part of this nuclear deterrence,” said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, according to AFP. “A few days ago, I initiated a constitutional amendment to remove the existing restriction on the possible deployment of nuclear weapons in Lithuania.”

The amendment needs to be approved by Lithuania’s parliament, which Nauseda expects, as he said there is “practically unanimous” support among lawmakers for repealing the ban outlined in Article 137 of Lithuania’s Constitution.

The announcement came a few weeks after Finland, NATO’s newest member, repealed its ban on hosting nuclear weapons.

Florida Republican says deporting Haitians with TPS would be ‘huge mistake’

Carlos Giménez, a Republican congressman from Florida, broke with the Trump administration on Sunday, calling on the White House to reconsider its push to eliminate temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian migrants. Returning some 350,000 Haitians to their chaotic, dangerous homeland following the US supreme court’s ruling that the Trump administration can cut off temporary legal protections, would be a grave error, Giménez said.

“Haiti is a failed state, and I think that deporting Haitians that are under TPS right now, back to Haiti, would be a huge mistake,” he told CBS News. Giménez also called for the re-instatement of TPS status to Venezuelans after the record-breaking twin earthquakes that struck north-central Venezuela on 24 June. Temporary protected status, Giménez said, “is meant to safeguard those who are either fleeing countries that are failed states and are at risk of going back to them or countries that really can’t handle them right now, as is the case with Venezuela that has suffered a natural disaster”.

Giménez, whose family fled Cuba when he was seven, represents part of Miami-Dade county, home to some 110,000 residents of Haitian ancestry. Giménez’s comments align with those of Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, whose state is home to a thriving Haitian community in the town of Springfield that Donald Trump and JD Vance spread false claims about during their 2024 election campaign to justify their anti-immigration agenda.

DeWine called on the Trump administration last week to reconsider pushing for the elimination of temporary protected status for Haitian migrants. “Look at how it’s going to impact states like Ohio. In Ohio, the Haitians are working primarily in manufacturing, they’re also working in the food area.”

“It’s Haitians who, many times, are taking care of your mom or your dad who has Alzheimer’s, taking care of family members who might be in a nursing home,” the governor told CNN. “And to say we’re going to pull all those people out, it’s just not in our own self-interest.”

Trump wants to be ‘THE LAST PRESIDENT’ - Maggie Haberman

Hundreds of masked white nationalists march in Washington on Fourth of July

Hundreds of masked men carrying banners, including the Confederate flag, marched through Washington DC on the Fourth of July, the 250th anniversary of the US’s inception. The group appeared to be led by Thomas Rousseau, founder of the neo-fascist, white supremacist organization Patriot Front. Members of the group wore white masks and gathered in front of DC’s Union Station. They later marched towards Capitol Hill, WTOP reported.

Members chanted “Life, liberty, victory!” and “Reclaim America!” during the Saturday demonstration, according to video posted on social media. Images published by Reuters also showed masked members riding the DC Metro as other riders looked on warily.

The white supremacist group’s gathering attracted some counterprotesters. In one video, a man with a bullhorn shouted at Patriot Front members: “Every single one of you justifies the fucking right to abortion.”

In a comment shared with Politico on Saturday’s march, DC’s Metropolitan police department said it was “tracking first amendment activities that occurred this morning in the Eastern Market neighborhood”, adding: “MPD recognizes the rights of individuals to peacefully express their views and remains committed to maintaining public safety and security for DC residents and visitors.”

Members of Patriot Front were last seen marching during the Memorial Day weekend at the Virginia Beach oceanfront, local affiliate 13News Now reported. Patriot Front was founded in 2017 following the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The neo-fascist hate group has gained visibility over the years as those connected to white supremacy organizations have been widely embraced by the Trump administration.

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AIPAC DESPERATE $30 MILLION Push After Pro-Israel Dem DROPOUT

Michigan Democrat Mallory McMorrow ends bid for US Senate

Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan Democrat, has dropped out of a contentious US Senate primary campaign, setting up a straight fight between the party’s progressive and establishment wings – represented by Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official, and Haley Stevens, a congresswoman.

McMorrow’s retreat marks the end of a center-left bid to hold the seat being vacated this year by the Democrat Gary Peters. The three-way primary contest was a close one earlier in the campaign, but polls indicated that McMorrow’s support had plunged in recent weeks, as El-Sayed raced past her and Stevens to emerge as the frontrunner for the party’s nomination.

“I may be suspending this campaign, but I am not leaving the fight,” McMorrow said in a video statement announcing her decision to drop out. “When regular people get in the fight, things can change,” she added. With McMorrow’s exit, the August Democratic primary now evolves into what is becoming a familiar pattern of an establishment candidate facing an opponent from the left.

El-Sayed, a supporter of Medicare for all who would be the first Muslim US senator, has drawn high-profile backing from leaders of the American left, including Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed him last week.

Stevens, a moderate Democrat, has the support of Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, and Super Pacs have spent more than $16m on her campaign, including pro-Israel groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) outraged by El-Sayed’s refusal to say that nation has a right to exist as a Jewish state. “Israel exists,” he told CNN last week. “The question is whether or not we want a politics where our money is sent over to Israel to do genocide and apartheid, instead of investing in our own kids.”

Trump clearly defining the effects of voter suppression bills. https://t.co/vKOytLxdm0

— Melanie D'Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) July 4, 2026

Is Tucker Willing To Do What the DSA Won't? (w/ Glenn Greenwald)

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Bipartisan bill fails to protect US consumers from datacenters’ true costs, critics warn

The bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act, designed to shield individuals from soaring electricity prices amid the datacenter boom, would fail to meaningfully protect the public from the centers’ true costs, consumer advocates warn. The bill, backed by some in big tech such as Microsoft, moved through a House subcommittee in mid-June, and a vote in full committee scheduled for 1 July was delayed. Its measures are largely voluntary, meaning the state utility commissions that set electric rates can ignore the law altogether.

The legislative package also includes benefits for big tech that would speed datacenter construction, prioritize the centers’ connection to the electric grid and open new loopholes that would allow companies to claim they are paying for their own power, said Jim Walsh, policy director with Food and Water Watch, which opposes the package. Ultimately, the bill largely addresses the needs of datacenters and utilities, but not ratepayers, Walsh said. “They’re taking care of utilities and taking care of datacenters and the bill is posing as a consumer protection measure when in reality it will increase costs on consumers across the board,” Walsh said.

Regions with higher numbers of datacenters have seen electricity costs spike by 267% over the past five years. About 200 new datacenters have sprung up over the last three years to house infrastructure for artificial intelligence. Dozens more have been proposed across the US over the last year, and the centers can consume as much power as the largest US cities. But beyond driving up residential electric costs, the centers often use high volumes of water, pollute, strain local infrastructure and inflict other costs on the public. The Ratepayer Protection Act does not consider those cumulative costs, and instead only addresses “a very narrow piece of utility costs”, Walsh said.

The bill fundamentally takes the wrong approach to consumer protection, advocates also allege. The bill’s sponsors assume rapid AI datacenter growth, when legislators should be pausing datacenter development to ensure that consumers are protected, said Camden Weber, an energy policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. That group and Food and Water Watch have pushed for a moratorium on new AI datacenter projects, a measure also proposed by some members of Congress. “Congress is treating datacenter buildout like it’s inevitable, when lawmakers actually have the power to slow it down and prioritize protecting our communities, air, water and wallets,” she said.

‘They ate the shrimp, they even ate the crab’: Thai fishers count the cost of a voracious invader

Native to west Africa, blackchin tilapia were first reported to be spreading in Thailand in 2011, in Samut Songkhram, south of the capital Bangkok. Since then, it has proved unstoppable, upending the livelihoods of shrimp farmers and coastal fishers in the province. It has spread further across central and southern areas, infiltrating at least 19 provinces, according to reports – from the canals of Bangkok to the coastal waters of the tourism hotspot Pattaya. It’s feared the fish could travel further, crossing Thailand’s borders.

The invasion in Samut Songkhram was so severe that local fisher Wallop Khunjaen was forced to abandon shrimp farming altogether. In the space of two months, blackchin tilapia ate nearly all of the million baby shrimp in his pond. “They ate everything. They ate the shrimp, they even ate the crab,” says Wallop. Native fish have become less common locally, and he has stopped seeing some species, such as fiddler crab.

Thai authorities have increased control measures over recent years: releasing Asian sea bass as a potential predator; developing blackchin tilapia that will produce sterile offspring; and paying people to fish for it. Thousands of tonnes have been removed, according to officials. Blackchin tilapia reproduces rapidly and juvenile fish have a high survival rate, allowing it to quickly reassert itself after control measures are taken. It is also an adaptable fish, and can thrive in either brackish or freshwater conditions.

Fish invasions have become a growing global threat, often linked to aquaculture or the aquarium trade. The source of the invasion in Thailand is disputed. Fishers have filed a lawsuit against the agribusiness giant Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc, accusing it of introducing the fish. It legally imported 2,000 blackchin tilapia for breeding research in 2010, but says all imported fish were destroyed and rejects the claims. In a statement the company said its facility operated “under a closed-system protocol” and pointed to research, funded by its parent conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group, which concluded the invasion was not the result of a “single introduction”.

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Also of Interest

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

Chris Hedges: Requiem for America on the 4th of July

War On Iran: – Good Guy/Bad Guy Story Of USraeli Assassination Attempt Makes Little Sense

Monsters Playing Victims: Danny Danon’s Twisted War on the Truth

Jailed Gaza hospital chief in life-threatening condition, rights group says

Gaza protests against two Democrats spark outcry and debate on tactics

The Surveillance Society Is Here Courtesy Of Private Enterprise

Michael Hudson: How US Slave Interests Stifled US Monetary and Banking Policy Until 1913

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A Little Night Music

Little Brother Montgomery - Hesitation Blues

Little Brother Montgomery - Farish Street Jive

Little Brother Montgomery - Prisoner Bound Blues

Little Brother Montgomery - Crescent City Blues

Little Brother Montgomery - Vicksburg Blues

Little Brother Montgomery - Doctor, Write Me A Prescription for the Blues

Little Brother Montgomery - Good Grinding

Little Brother Montgomery - Something Keeps Worrying Me

Little Brother Montgomery - That’s Why I Keep Drinkin’

Little Brother Montgomery - Riverside Boogie

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