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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: James Cotton

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues harmonica player James Cotton. Enjoy!

^{James Cotton - Here I Am Knocking At Your Door}

"In the older view the goddess Universe was alive, herself organically the Earth, the horizon, and the heavens. Now she is dead, and the universe is not an organism, but a building, with gods at rest in it in luxury: not as personifications of the energies in their manners of operation, but as luxury tenants, requiring service. And Man, accordingly, is not as a child born to flower in the knowledge of his own eternal portion but as a robot fashioned to serve."

-- Joseph Campbell

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News and Opinion

Senator Says: Screw The Ukrainians

Senator Ruben Gallego took to Twitter on Monday to proclaim, “Ukraine can win. Thats why I back them. It’s a Russian talking point that Ukraine can’t win, cause Russia big blah,blah. If Ukraine kills enough Russians they will quit.”

When a commenter told him to join the International Legion and go fight the Russians himself, Gallego replied, “No that’s the beauty of this, we can pay the Ukrainians to kill the Russians.”

But Ukraine can win. Thats why I back them. It’s a Russian talking point that Ukraine can’t win, cause Russia big blah,blah. If Ukraine kills enough Russians they will quit.

— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) November 9, 2026

@Switch82Vet No that’s the beauty of this, we can pay the Ukrainians to kill the Russians.

— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) November 9, 2026

@RubenGallego @Switch82Vet Disgusting. https://t.co/qH4X6dyDtf

— Helene (@Decoherent_) November 10, 2026

Propagandists claim it’s Russian propaganda to say those who support the war in Ukraine want to “fight to the last Ukrainian,” but that really is their position. Ukrainians keep telling pollsters that they want a negotiated end to the war while western proxy warriors chomp on cheesy carb snacks and tweet from their sofas about how great it is to throw Ukrainian bodies into the meat grinder.

Col. Larry Wilkerson & Larry Johnson: Mossad Chief Rushes to Washington Over New Iran Strikes

Trump says no deal needed on Iran war and orders Vance to focus on domestic issues

Donald Trump has said that the US is no longer seeking a deal to end the war with Iran and ordered JD Vance, who had spearheaded recent efforts to restart negotiations with Iran, to focus on domestic politics instead. In a post to his social media site on Thursday, Trump said he was redirecting the vice-president to focus his “complete and total attention on the Massive Corruption and Crime taking place in Democrat run Cities and States throughout the U.S”.

Vance had reportedly been talking to intermediaries in Iran and Qatar about restarting negotiations to end the war, which began in February when the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran. Iran responded by closing access to the strait of Hormuz, which led to a steep increase for the cost of fuel around the globe.

But on Thursday Trump appeared to shut down the negotiations, redirecting Vance to focus on domestic issues and downplaying the need for a final deal. “We don’t need a deal with Iran,” Trump wrote. “Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!”

The announcement effectively normalises a stalemate with Iran. The US has maintained a blockade on Iranian ports and mostly reopened the strait of Hormuz to marine traffic, including crude oil shipments. But the US has not carried out massive strikes against Iran for several months, and Iran has not launched barrages of ballistic missiles against US bases and allies in the region. Trump last week also downplayed the possibility of new strikes on Iran and said that the war was “effectively over”.

Iran's More Than Ready for a Permanent State of War /Chas Freeman

Iraq, Turkiye, Pakistan defy US pressure, refuse to seal borders with Iran

US efforts to pressure Iran’s neighboring states to close their land borders had failed, stalling Washington’s campaign to cripple the Iranian economy, the New York Times (NYT) reported on 11 November.

According to three Iraqi officials and a US official cited by the US daily, Washington has spent weeks urging Turkiye, Iraq, and Pakistan to close their border crossings with Iran.

The US military has since launched Task Force Iron Gate, a Central Command (CENTCOM) unit tasked with blocking weapons, sanctioned goods, and illicit revenue from crossing Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea, thereby escalating Washington’s economic war on Tehran.

Several of Iran’s neighbors have warned that cutting off trade routes vital to businesses and communities on both sides of the frontier could provoke “civil insurrection,” according to the US official.

He added that the pressure has stirred growing anger toward Washington among its allies and partners in the region.

USS Bush in CRISIS: Iran Fires TEN Missiles, US & Israel Move to War | Larry Johnson

IRGC Says It Targeted US Radar in Bahrain After US Strike on Sirik

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said early Friday that its forces struck a US early-warning radar in Bahrain, an attack that came as retaliation for US strikes on a telecommunications tower in Sirik, southern Iran.

Iranian media reported on Thursday that an “enemy strike” hit Sirik, a county in Iran’s Hormozgan province along the Strait of Hormuz. So far, there have been no public comments from US officials about the attack, but the US has been launching strikes against Iran in recent weeks, mainly targeting Qeshm Island.

Iran reportedly struck navigation systems on the Omani island of Didamar in the Strait of ​Hormuz on Tuesday, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) continues to attack commercial ships.

Laith Marouf: Saudi Forces COLLAPSING: Ansarullah’s Swift Push to Aden

As Top Dems Waver, Van Hollen and Khanna Work to Axe Funds for Trump’s Iran War

As leading Democrats express hesitation about using an upcoming fight over government funding to cut off money for President Donald Trump’s illegal Iran war, Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Ro Khanna are pushing their party to act boldly against a conflict that spurred massive backlash against the GOP at the ballot box last week.

The Washington Sun reported Wednesday that Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Khanna’s (D-Calif.) call for Democrats to withhold their support for any government funding package unless it excludes money for the Iran war is “hitting resistance from senior members of the party.” The outlet cited several top Democrats, including Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, and other lawmakers who have voiced skepticism about potentially sparking a government shutdown over war funding just weeks after the midterms.

But Van Hollen, who is considering a run for Senate majority leader in the upcoming Congress, has countered that any blame for a shutdown would fall on Trump and his Republican Party.

“If the president wants to tell the country that he’s prepared to shut down the United States government in order to conduct an illegal and senseless war in Iran, that will be his choice,” said Van Hollen.

Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy and a former adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), echoed Van Hollen, writing to Democrats: “You wouldn’t be shutting down the government. You’d be offering a bill that funds the government but prohibits any funds for the war.”

“If Republicans oppose that,” Duss added, “they would be choosing to continue the war and shut down the government.”

Trump launched the war on Iran without congressional authorization in late February and has funded the conflict with existing Pentagon appropriations. The Pentagon has put the Iran war’s price tag at $47 billion—an estimate that outside experts say is a dramatic undercount.

The White House has called on Congress to approve a supplemental funding package that includes tens of billions of dollars for the war, which Trump administration officials previously said would be over in a matter of weeks.

Van Hollen told The Washington Sun last week that he is “not planning to vote for anything that provides any funding to fuel the war in Iran.”

“I think this is a really important moment for Democratic leadership,” said Van Hollen. “Are the Democrats, including the Democratic leadership, going to listen to the verdict of the American people and vote to end this war?”

Erik Sperling, executive director of the advocacy group Just Foreign Policy, said Wednesday that “if every Democrat was talking like Chris Van Hollen, we’d be just weeks away from ending this war.”
“Instead, too many AIPAC-backed Dems are acting powerless to stop one of the most unpopular wars and lame-duck presidents in history,” Sperling added.

Current government funding is set to expire on December 11.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who is vying to become House speaker in the upcoming Congress, would not commit to supporting efforts to cut off Iran war money in the upcoming government funding package and said the details are in the hands of Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democratic appropriators.

DeLauro said in a statement to Politico last week that “Democrats will absolutely not fund Trump’s war of choice with Iran that has increased costs on American families and made us less safe.” But The Washington Sun reported on Wednesday that neither DeLauro nor Murray “would commit to demanding Iran war restrictions as a condition of supporting a December funding extension, with Murray saying Democrats are examining their options.”

Sen. Patty Murray, ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, tells me Democrats will “explore every option” to end the Iran war, but wouldn’t commit to opposing Schumer should he refuse to block any government funding bill with dollars for it.

Murray has the power to stop war funding in the CR.

— Julian Andreone (@JulianAndreone) November 10, 2026

In a social media post earlier this week, Khanna—a possible 2028 presidential candidate—argued that the midterm results were “a cry for help by Americans who are in pain.” A tracker maintained by Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs estimates that the Iran war has cost US consumers over $157 billion in extra gasoline and diesel costs.

“Democrats must stop the war in Iran to bring down the cost of gas, food, and diesel,” Khanna wrote. “We can do this by insisting on no funding for Iran combat activities in the continuing resolution.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has joined Van Hollen and Khanna in demanding specific provisions in any government funding bill to ensure that no more money goes toward continuing the Iran war.

“I think we should come up with a funding bill that does things like replenishes munitions... all the stuff that we need to do as a nation, but say, ‘The war is illegal, until you get [congressional] authorization,’” Kaine told Jewish Insider earlier this week. “I think we should put in a provision that says, ‘No funding for a war in Iran unless you get an authorization from Congress.’”

Jews Are Turning On Israel - With Huge Consequences - w/. Peter Beinart

Israeli airstrike on Nasser hospital in Gaza kills surgeon and five others

An Israeli airstrike on Nasser hospital in southern Gaza killed six people, including a surgeon and a disabled man, and wounded 28 others, according to the hospital director. The Israeli military carried out the attack on the hospital, in Khan Younis, early on Thursday saying in a statement it had struck a Hamas commander and other fighters there, without providing evidence.

The strike destroyed part of the surgery department, and caused extensive damage to several floors. Services were suspended in four departments: radiology, laboratories, surgical operations and inpatient surgical wards, according to Dr Ahmed al-Fara, hospital director.

The ceiling of one of the wards had caved in, while debris-covered beds lay next to medical instruments twisted from the force of the blast. In other rooms, piles of rubble and shattered concrete cluttered the floor and a hole was left in the floor, where the bomb penetrated the building.

Dr Ayman Abu Ubaid, a surgical specialist at Nasser medical complex, who was wounded in the attack, said: “The bombing caused thick smoke to fill the rooms and fires to break out, amid the groans of wounded and people’s screams. There were many casualties and blood everywhere … Most of us sustained injuries to our limbs, as well as shrapnel wounds in different parts of our bodies.” Ubaid said the strike came at about 12.30am, without warning. “The patients in the department were all surgical patients waiting to undergo operations. The bombing happened at a time when they should have been asleep,” he said.

Nasser hospital is one of the last functioning healthcare facilities in Gaza, after Israeli bombing made most of the strip’s facilities unusable. Last year Israel also struck the hospital, killing five journalists in a double-tap strike on a location often used by reporters for filming. In all, the hospital has been attacked seven times since the war on Gaza began.

INTEL Roundtable - Weekly Wrap - 13-NOV

Russia Says Ukraine Deal Depends On Europe Security Treaty; US Shocked; Kushner Rushes To Putin; EU

Putin takes hard line in US talks as Ukraine says Starlink disrupted again

Vladimir Putin warned US negotiators that Russia would target any foreign troops deployed to Ukraine, in a series of hardline remarks that came as the Ukrainian military faced renewed disruptions to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service. During the talks at the Kremlin with the US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on Thursday, the Russian president refused to soften his territorial demands, insisting on full control over four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed.

He also ruled out accepting the deployment of foreign peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, describing such a move as a “continuation of war”. Putin’s comments appeared to severely dampen hopes that a peace deal could be within reach, after Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there was a “window of opportunity” to reach an agreement before the end of 2026.

Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity, including the recent talks in Abu Dhabi, the Kremlin appears to have succeeded in reframing negotiations over the war in Ukraine as part of a broader discussion about European security.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy accused Musk’s Starlink satellite service of damaging Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russian drone attacks, after Ukrainian military officials reported new restrictions on the system. According to Zelenskyy, Starshield, a military version of Starlink funded by the Pentagon, has for several days been subject to speed limits of 100mph (161km/h) along the frontline and in Russian-occupied territory. Kyiv has contacted Washington to seek an explanation for the disruption, which Zelenskyy said appeared to be deliberate rather than a technical fault.

As Key Democrats Betray Party and US Public, Coalition Says Don’t Renew Spying Power in NDAA

As a few leading congressional Democrats urged their Republican colleagues to reauthorize a widely reviled spying power before Democratic majorities take over in January, a diverse coalition of advocacy groups on Thursday demanded lawmakers refrain from including a provision on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in any critical bills before the year ends.

Rampant abuse of that portion of FISA—which lets the federal government spy on electronic communications of noncitizens located outside the country without a warrant—has fueled calls for reform across the ideological spectrum in Congress and among civil society organizations. Although Section 702 expired in June, surveillance operations will be able to continue through next March.

Noting that various lawmakers have long “sought meaningful reforms,” including a warrant requirement for “accessing the private communications of US persons in Section 702 databases and closing the data broker loophole,” the new letter calls on top Democrats and Republicans in both chambers of Congress to keep a reauthorization of Section 702 “out of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) or any other must-pass legislation in the waning days of the 119th Congress.”

“The principle at stake is fundamental: Foreign intelligence authorities and purchased data should not be used to circumvent Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights,” argued more than two dozen groups. “The need for reform is particularly acute as artificial intelligence tools are making it cheaper and easier than ever for the government to compile and analyze Americans’ data at scale to reveal our habits, associations, and beliefs.”

“Americans across the political spectrum have good reason to distrust unchecked executive branch surveillance power. Conservatives have seen abuses of surveillance authorities targeted at political campaigns and other Americans engaged in lawful, First Amendment-protected activity. And progressives have warned against granting expansive surveillance powers to the current administration,” the letter notes. President Donald Trump has both fought for and sabotaged reauthorization efforts.

The letter emphasizes that “in recent years, Section 702 has been abused to spy on protesters on the left and the right; 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign; members of Congress and their staff; and multiple government officials, political commentators, and journalists. No member of Congress knows who will occupy the White House in the years ahead, and constitutional protections should not depend on who is president.”

What a terrible (but unsurprising) stance from Rep. Himes.

There’s no need to rush Section 702 reauthorization.

Let the new Congress debate and decide whether the government needs a warrant to spy on Americans.
https://t.co/Oky94xXlDg

— Freedom of the Press Foundation (@FreedomofPress) November 12, 2026

Signatories include the ACLU, Center for Democracy & Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, Free Press Action, Win Without War, and the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law—whose Liberty and National Security Program counsel, Hannah James, stressed that “for too long, Section 702’s warrantless foreign intelligence surveillance authority has been abused to spy on Americans. Slipping an extension into must-pass year-end legislation, instead of openly debating and voting on bipartisan reforms, would betray the democratic process and Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights.”

Hajar Hammado, senior policy adviser at Demand Progress, which helped organize the letter, similarly said in a statement that “following the widespread outcry over Flock cameras, it’s clear that the American people don’t want mass surveillance. Slipping a renewal of federal mass surveillance powers into a must-pass defense bill during a lame-duck session would be a wholesale rejection of what the American people want.”

“Congressional leaders need to reject the failed agenda of out-of-touch Intelligence elites who want unchecked surveillance of Americans by refusing to add FISA to the NDAA or any other must-pass bill,” the campaigner continued.

Jason Pye, vice president at the Due Process Institute, another signatory, pointed to Democrats’ sweeping victories in the midterms: “Voters just spoke with a resounding voice that they are sick of politics as usual in Congress. They’re sick of backroom deals. They’re sick of being sold out.”

“Putting the reauthorization of Section 702 in the NDAA is a terrible message to send back to voters who are desperately seeking a change in how Congress operates,” Pye declared. “Worse, it’s coming at a time when there are increasing worries about the executive branch having too much power. The notion that Congress would reauthorize Section 702 without a warrant requirement and without prohibiting the government from buying information on Americans from third-party data brokers is incomprehensible.”

The letter came a day after House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-Conn.), who will likely chair the panel next year, urged the GOP to act on reauthorization immediately: “My preference would be, let’s just take the win that’s on the table, get it done in the lame-duck,” he told Politico on Wednesday. “If that fails, we’ll do something in the first quarter.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) also backed a lame-duck reauthorization, acknowledging that “it becomes much more difficult in a new Congress,” while Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told the outlet: “We need to get it reauthorized... As soon as possible.”

In response to that reporting, Hammado charged that “Jim Himes has betrayed his own party and the American people,” highlighting that a reauthorization is desired by not only Trump but also his controversial new chief of staff, Stephen Miller.

“After seeing a blowout election where Americans overwhelmingly rejected Trump and sided with the Democrats, Himes’ first instinct was to urge Republicans to use the little time they have left to hand Donald Trump and Stephen Miller the mass surveillance powers that they’re asking for,” said the Demand Progress adviser.

“It’s incredibly telling that Himes fears the idea of his own party having the leverage to stop Trump from bypassing the courts to spy on everyday Americans, and it is shameful he is advising the administration on how to undermine Americans’ privacy,” added Hammado. “Democrats and Republicans alike must reject Himes’ agenda and oppose any effort to force a FISA renewal through Congress.”

Boomers and young, rich and poor agree: The housing market is completely wrecked. So now what?

The CFPB says it’s looking out for consumers. Its own data tells a different story

Early in Donald Trump’s second term, his administration began ditching consumer protection lawsuits involving some of the nation’s biggest-name corporate players – including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway empire. Under the command of Trump officials, the federal agency that had filed the suits – the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – was signaling it no longer believed these companies were hurting everyday Americans. Many consumers across the nation disagree.

As the CFPB abandoned these enforcement efforts, its own data began to tell a troubling story. In the year following the dismissals of the lawsuits, complaints against the vast majority of companies whose cases were dismissed increased – sometimes dramatically. A Guardian analysis of CFPB data shows that across all banks and corporations named as defendants in the now-dropped suits, the number of complaints published to the agency’s public database shot up by more than 75%.

Of the 23 financial firms named as defendants, 17 saw increases in the number of complaints against them. These increases are part of a larger trend of everyday Americans letting the CFPB know they have concerns about the way companies have treated them. Publicly posted complaints to the agency have grown from nearly 2.7m in 2024 to 6.3m so far this year.

Experts – and current and former CFPB employees – say the spike in complaints against companies freed from enforcement actions points to a disconnect between the bureau’s mission and its actions. “Consumers are telling the bureau that there is an emergency, and the bureau is not listening or acting on that information,” said Erie Meyer, a former chief technologist at the CFPB who helped oversee the creation of its complaint database. “People are getting screwed twice: first by the company, second by the agency that’s supposed to stick up for them.”

The dismissals of enforcement actions are part of a wide-ranging campaign by the Trump administration to deplete or dismantle an agency created a decade and a half ago to counter the reckless and predatory practices that helped spawn the Great Recession.

Calls grow for release of beloved California nurse detained by ICE: ‘We want her home’

Nearly two months after ICE agents whisked a beloved California nurse and professor from her home in Lodi, her university has ramped up calls for her release. “She needs to come home,” said Eileen Fry-Bowers, dean for the University of San Francisco’s nursing school,in reference to Ann Lawani, who was arrested by immigration agents in September and has since been shuffled between detention centers in California, Texas, and Louisiana, in a series of opaque transfers.

Lawani, 39, came to the US in 2007. She established herself as a nursing professional, obtaining a master’s and doctoral degree in the field, before stepping into academia. She steers two programs at the University of San Francisco, one a master’s entry program geared toward students with non-nursing backgrounds and another a bachelor’s program for students seeking to work in public health safety-net institutions. “She basically has her hands on almost 300 students that she engages with on a regular basis,” Fry-Bowers said.

Federal immigration officials say Lawani entered the US on a visitor’s visa in 2007, which she overstayed. She was issued a final order of removal in August 2013, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson. Natalia Santanna, Lawani’s lawyer, confirmed the removal order, but noted that DHS’s account was “incomplete”.

“Dr Lawani applied for asylum within one year of being in the United States. And, in the same 2013 order, the immigration judge found that Ann would more likely than not face persecution in Nigeria and granted withholding of removal,” Santanna said. “That is not a temporary stay. It is a continuing bar to removal to Nigeria. Dr Lawani has lived in the United States pursuant to that grant of withholding of removal since 2013.”

Santanna said they have filed a habeas petition to challenge the legality of her detainment, which remains pending in California’s eastern district court.

New Democrat Says He Was THREATENED Over Hakeem Jeffries Speaker Vote

Dozens of protesters arrested after staging sit-in at Chuck Schumer’s DC office

Dozens of protesters with the Sunrise Movement, a youth climate organization, were arrested after staging a sit-in inside Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer’s Washington DC office Thursday

According to the Sunrise Movement, 54 people were arrested, among a few hundred who joined the protest from across the country, including some from New York, which Schumer represents. On its Instagram, the group is fundraising $24,000 to cover the bail fees and any potential legal fees for those arrested.

In a clip on the Sunrise Movement’s Instagram, with over 40,000 likes at the time of publication, young people sitting on the office floor chanted: “Hey hey, ho ho, Schumer has got to go!” Protesters, including children, held signs reading “The filibuster kills,” “Stop the climate crisis,” and “Schumer: Step up or step aside.”

The protesters on Thursday delivered a letter to Schumer arguing, per the group’s press release, that “after a collective decade of Schumer leadership it was time for change” and demanding Democrats prioritize ending the filibuster when Congress returns in January.

They also dropped the letters at the offices of every Senate Democrat. According to the Sunrise Movement’s campaigns director, Kidus Girma, Thursday’s action is one of several planned over the next two weeks targeting Senate Democrats and “demanding they actually take action”.

Schumer CHALLENGED by Chris Van Hollen For Senate Leadership

Chris Van Hollen to challenge Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader

Chris Van Hollen, the Democratic senator of Maryland, announced on Thursday that he is challenging Chuck Schumer for the role of Senate majority leader when Democrats regain the chamber’s majority in January. “In this election, the American people called for change. They called for a change from Donald Trump’s disastrous policies – but even bigger than that, a change from the status quo that isn’t working for working people,” Van Hollen said in a statement posted on social media.

“It’s now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership. This is not about any one person – it’s about answering the call of the American people. That is why I’m running for Senate Majority Leader.”

Schumer, the leader of the Democratic minority in the current Senate, responded less than a minute later in a social media post of his own. “I welcome any discussion about the future of our caucus and the important work ahead,” Schumer wrote. “I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together – 55 seats and counting is an amazing result – and I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic Leader. I look forward to leading our new Democratic majority and delivering for the American people.”

The closed-door, secret-ballot election will be held in early December.

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Fetterman DAYS NUMBERED? New Challenger Appears

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The planet ‘is being killed’, Greta Thunberg tells Cop31 climate summit

The planet is “not dying, it is being killed and we know by who”, said Greta Thunberg, who excoriated world governments for their failure to prevent environmental breakdown in her first appearance at the annual UN climate talks in five years. “It [Earth] is being killed by the very same people thought to come to our rescue,” Thunberg said. “No one is coming to our rescue. When our human rights are being threatened by states and other institutions, it’s our duty to stand up and be the adult in the room and fight for everyone’s human rights.”

Thunberg, who in recent years has shifted her focus towards other areas such as the conflict in Gaza, linked worsening global heating to other calamities such as war in an appearance alongside activists from Nepal, Canada and Australia. “We are heading towards a future of more genocides and more ecocides and the complete compromise of our basic rights and where basic necessities become luxuries,” she said. “It’s more clear than ever in spaces like these that the situation could not be any less under control. The planet is not dying, it is being killed.”

Campaigners have criticised governments for their slow pace of emissions cuts and for, so far, failing to rally around a phaseout of fossil fuels in the negotiations. Current policies are set to heat the planet by 2.7C by the end of the century, a report by Climate Action Tracker found on Thursday. The catastrophic rise in temperatures is slightly more than the group expected last year and well above the 1.5C that world leaders have promised.

Senator opens investigation into evidence RFK Jr ‘unlawfully lied’ to Congress

A top Democratic senator has launched an investigation into evidence that Robert F Kennedy Jr “unlawfully lied” in his 2025 confirmation hearings to become the US health secretary, citing a report by the Guardian. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the incoming chair of the powerful Senate finance committee, is seeking extensive records from Children’s Health Defense (CHD), the non-profit anti-vaccine group Kennedy has used as a vehicle to fuel his political rise, including all documents related to a 2019 trip Kennedy took to Samoa.

“We are beginning an investigation into evidence that Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy, Jr unlawfully lied to Congress on multiple occasions,” Wyden said in a letter to the group that was sent on Wednesday and obtained by the Guardian. The letter was also signed by Angela Alsobrooks, a Democratic senator from Maryland. In the letter, the two lawmakers cited reporting by the Guardian that indicated Kennedy lied about his reasons for going to Samoa in 2019, a trip that occurred just months before a measles outbreak killed 83 people in the Pacific island nation, mostly children under age five.

The trip, which Kennedy made as the chair and chief legal counsel of CHD, became one of the most criticized events in his career before he entered government. Critics, including Samoan officials, have said Kennedy’s presence emboldened anti-vaccine activists in Samoa, worsening a vaccination crisis. Kennedy has denied the allegations, saying he never gave any public statement about vaccines or discouraged Samoans from getting vaccinated.

“We are deeply concerned by the tactics Kennedy has used – both before and during his tenure as secretary – to stand in the way of children receiving life-saving vaccinations,” the two Democratic senators wrote. “In Samoa and in the United States, unvaccinated children have died tragic and preventable deaths during measles outbreaks. We intend to hold Secretary Kennedy accountable for the grave harm he has caused to vulnerable children. We also intend to hold him accountable for any false statements made to Congress, a crime that undermines the Senate’s ability to fulfill its constitutional duties.”

In two congressional confirmation hearings in January 2025, Kennedy told lawmakers who held the key to his confirmation that his visit to Samoa had “nothing to do with vaccines”. But letters obtained by the Guardian and the Associated Press through an open records lawsuit brought by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press contradicted that testimony. In one he wrote to the Samoan prime minister in January 2019 before the trip, Kennedy explicitly said he wanted to study the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in the Pacific island nation. In it, he used the words “vaccine” or “vaccination” eight times.The prime minister responded a month later, saying Samoa could benefit from CHD’s assessment of MMR vaccines and inviting him to come.

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Also of Interest

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

Artillery Strikes Hammer Southern Lebanon as Officials Detail Massive Damage

Israeli Forces Shell Area Around Key Southwest Syrian Dam

Putin Rejects Idea of Demilitarized ‘Grey Zones’ as Part of Ukraine Settlement

Disgraced neocons Feith & Libby: stop whining about 'endless war'

Nvidia – Knives Are Out For Jensen Huang – Spy Allegations Fanciful

‘A Mobilization That No One Imagined’: Furious Over Housing Costs, Millions Join General Strike in Spain

‘It is much, much faster’: could China’s battery-swapping e-trucks be the answer to EV range anxiety?

Billions lost and markets roiled by one man’s indiscretion. Isn’t it now clear that these tech bros are too powerful?

Florida St Patrick’s Day parade cancelled over Republican anti-DEI law, causing outrage

Humpback whale spotted in New York’s Hudson River

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A Little Night Music

The James Cotton Band – Boogie Thing

James Cotton – Hoochie Coochie Man

James Cotton Blues Band – The Mule

James Cotton – You Didn't Think About That

James Cotton - Just To Be With You

James Cotton – Cut You Loose

James Cotton – Take Me Back

James Cotton Blues Band – Somethin' You Got

James Cotton Blues Band – Turn On Your Lovelight

Hubert Sumlin With James Cotton - Juke

James Cotton – Midnight Creeper

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