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"Wherever morality is based on theology, wherever the right is made dependent on divine authority, the most immoral, unjust, infamous things can be justified and established."

-- Ludwig Feuerbach

News and Opinion

Worth a full read:

Atrocity Propaganda

As merciless bombing in Gaza continues, Israel and its supporters have weaponized dead Israeli children and false narratives about them to justify massacring Palestinian children on an unimaginable scale in Gaza. First it was the “40 beheaded babies” story, then it was a series of images of apparently burned infants, which whether fake or real, were published by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to further justify Israel slaughtering thousands of Palestinian children. ...

After the initial Hamas surprise attack, an oft-repeated rallying cry of Israel apologists was that Hamas had beheaded 40 Israeli babies. Despite the claims being referenced publicly by U.S. President Joe Biden (since walked-back by the administration), there has to date been no confirmation of such a story. According to The Grayzone, the claims were sourced to “David Ben Zion, a Deputy Commander of Unit 71 of the Israeli army who also happens to be an extremist settler leader who incited violent riots against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank earlier this year.”

CNN journalist Sara Sidner, who first aired the narrative, was forced to publicly recant and apologize for her statements:

“Yesterday the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said that it had confirmed Hamas beheaded babies & children while we were live on the air. The Israeli government now says today it CANNOT confirm babies were beheaded. I needed to be more careful with my words and I am sorry.”

This wasn’t only a journalistic error. It was Western media falling in line with the Israeli government’s claim of an atrocity, only to walk back the narrative when Israel refused to confirm the story. Her apology came after the original story went wildly viral on social media and repeated in multiple corporate news outlets, as noted by Mintpress News.

As the 40 babies narrative fell apart, Netanyahu and the Israeli government published three shocking images on X, formerly Twitter, to further justify the pulverization of Gaza: one of a dead infant, two of what appears to be the bodies of either one or two horrifically burned toddlers. When right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro republished the images, he received accusations that one of the images was generated by artificial intelligence. It has not yet been confirmed that the image was in fact created by AI. However, even if the images are real, the Israeli government has not provided any additional information about the image.

Even if we assume that these images do document Israeli infants killed by Hamas in their recent attack, the moral math of excusing genocide doesn’t add up. One cannot accept the weaponization of such a crime, no matter how horrendous, in order to commit equally horrific crimes against other innocents. That an official Israeli government social media account would publish such images — and that Netanyahu would show them to U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to drum up support for the Israeli cause — represents a direct effort by Israel to weaponize the death and (so far alleged) imagery of dead Israeli babies to excuse a multitude of war crimes.

NYT Ignores Dissent to Convey Image of Jewish Unanimity

A New York Times article headlined “Shaken and Grieving, Jewish New Yorkers Put Aside Differences” (10/14/23) appeared at the center of the front page in the print edition one day after it was posted online. Headlined online “For Jewish New Yorkers, Shared Grief Puts Divisions on Hold” (10/13/23), the piece hardly reflected the reality among New York City’s Jews, many of whom have been vocal and in the streets against Israeli policies toward the Palestinians long before this new war unfolded.

Readers who picked up their Saturday Times and saw the piece, below the lead photo of fleeing Gazans and a lead story on Israel’s impending ground invasion, would get the impression that a monolithic Jewish community in the United States’ most Jewish city sat in self-imposed collective silence about Israel’s far-right government, the intelligence failures before the Hamas surprise attack, and the brutality of the Israeli response.

What did not show up on the front page, nor updated on the online version, was that on Friday night, hundreds of Jewish activists and their allies protested outside Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer’s Brooklyn home, demanding an end to US support for Israeli militarism (Business Insider, 10/14/23).

Newsweek (10/14/23) reported that “approximately 80 Jewish protesters were arrested Friday as they demanded officials in five major US cities,” including New York City, “to stop Israel aggression toward Palestinians with fears of a ‘genocide’ breaking out in Gaza.”

The Times piece—by John Leland, a Times veteran and prolific music and culture writer—relied on a handful of voices, like Eric Goldstein, chief executive of United Jewish Appeal–Federation of New York, as well as progressive rabbis Amichai Lau-Lavie and David Ingber. It quoted Stuart Himmelfarb, who “runs a small Jewish nonprofit agency,” and Betsey Nevins-Saunders, “who runs a criminal defense clinic at Hofstra University’s law school.”

Himmelfarb said he put aside his critiques of the Israeli government, saying his new focus was, “How in the world can the hostages be saved?” According to the Times, “the scale and scope of the attacks” inspired Nevins-Saunders to hold her fire against Israeli policies. Ingber said the crisis “has laid bare for many in the liberal community the dangers of anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist ideologies.”

The closest thing to a dissenting view in the piece was Nevins-Saunders, who “said she was not willing to put aside her criticisms of Israel,” but then proceeded to do just that:

Right now we do not have to say, “Yeah, but—”; “Sorry for the pain in Israel, but—”…. Sometimes we’re so quick to go to the “but” part that we negate that opportunity to grieve.

Lau-Lavie, saying “it was time to put aside divisions and focus on shared grief,” told the Times:

Our political position now makes no difference. Left, right, pro-occupation, anti-occupation, don’t know about it—we’re hurting and we’re shocked and we’re horrified and we want Israel to get through this.

I first encountered Lau-Lavie in 2006 when I covered religion for the Stamford Advocate, and I can say he’s generally someone with thoughtful ideas on both religion and the conflict in the Middle East; he was a big part of the protests against the far-right Israeli government’s judicial power grab this year (Vox, 7/24/23). The perspectives in the Times piece are valid, but they don’t represent any kind of complete picture of Jewish opinion in the unfolding of the new Israel/Palestine war.

The fact is that the actual mood among New York City’s Jews is that the phrase “two Jews, three opinions,” still applies. And if the opinions quoted in this piece matter enough for the Times, then so should other Jewish voices.

It should include someone like Audrey Sasson, executive director of the New York–based Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ). In a statement (10/7/23) issued days before the Times piece, she said that while she grieved for the Israeli dead and feared for the hostages, her group was “fearful about what’s to come,” and were “angry that leaders continually choose extremism, violence and occupation, and dismayed that official Israeli and US statements are calling for massive escalation.”

It could have quoted someone like Arielle Angel, editor-in-chief of the New York–based Jewish Currents, who gave anything but a simple response (10/12/23) to the ongoing trauma in the Middle East, grappling with how left-wing and progressive Jews sought to channel their grief in the face of a mounting catastrophe in Gaza. The Times knows who Angel is, as the paper profiled her (12/30/22) last year, and it interviewed her (10/10/23) for a response to a pro-Palestine rally in Manhattan that came under heavy press criticism (Politico, 10/10/23; New York Post, 10/11/23).

Brad Lander, who as the city’s comptroller is the highest-ranking Jewish-American official in New York City government, wrote on Twitter (10/13/23) that it is, indeed, possible to hold nuanced views of the situation. “Watching what’s happening in Gaza right now—as someone who cares deeply about the future for a Jewish and democratic Israel—is excruciating,” he said. “I can’t stop thinking about the hostages,” he added. “And I can’t stop thinking about the children of Gaza.”

The paper could have, at the very least, included coverage of the Jews protesting outside of Senator Schumer’s house for the print edition, and provided an update in the online version, in order to present a much fuller and more nuanced picture of how New York’s Jewish communities were responding to the situation. This rally was important, because Schumer is perhaps the most powerful Jewish American in the federal government and his spur-of-the-moment trip (The Hill, 10/13/23) to Israel is widely seen as strong US support for Israel’s fierce military assault on the people of Gaza. The fact that Jewish activists took to his home to protest this move shows that Jewish opinion in New York City is nowhere near the univocal scene painted in the Times.

The Times piece ends at a “somber prayer gathering” in Borough Park, a Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn, quoting one activist saying that normally he’d engage in discussions about how to “make Palestinian life easier” but added, “That’s not an appropriate conversation in these days.”

But the Borough Park Jewish community is but one of very many Jewish communities across the city. It does a disservice to Jews to say that they’re all letting the emotional weight of the initial Hamas attack put a damper on difficult political discussions. In Israel, Guy Ziv, associate director of American University’s Center for Israel Studies, told NPR (10/16/23) that one poll “shows that only 29% of the public now think [Netanyahu is] qualified to be prime minister,” which “includes many of his own voters.” Various media have reported how the Israeli public has responded to the Hamas attacks by blaming Netanyahu (Middle East Monitor, 10/12/23; Jerusalem Post, 10/13/23; Bloomberg, 10/13/23; Ha’aretz, 10/16/23).

Sonya Meyerson-Knox, senior communications manager for Jewish Voices for Peace, told FAIR in an email that despite the documentation of many Jewish organizations and individuals marching against Israeli aggression, the paper painted a skewed picture:

In this article, however, the New York Times neglects the voices of tens of thousands of anti-occupation and anti-Zionist Jews who feel deeply alienated from legacy Jewish institutions and their support of the Israeli government. Many Jewish New Yorkers (of all ages) do not support the Israeli government, its military occupation or its apartheid regime—and they feel this way more strongly now than ever before. By neglecting the voices of so many Jewish New Yorkers, this article furthers the incredibly problematic myth that Jews are a monolith, and that to support Jews in this moment requires supporting the Israeli government’s genocidal war on Palestinians.

In an interview with FAIR, JFREJ’s Sasson noted that in contrast to the tone of the Times article, her group’s members were able to simultaneously grapple with their grief in response to the Hamas attacks, their worry about the hostages and their ability to speak out against Israeli policies. “We can hold many truths,” she said, speaking about how many of her members were experiencing many emotions at the same time. Sasson added:

A lot of our members are mobilizing to participate in actions that are calling for a ceasefire, and are trying to simultaneously hold their grief and say, “Don’t use my grief, don’t weaponize my grief.”

Did the Times piece weaponize Jewish grief? By marginalizing opposition among New York’s Jews to Israel’s brutal campaign against Gaza, it certainly made it easier for the bloodshed to continue.

How Media Outlets Work With Israel To Control Gaza Narrative

After Al-Ahli Hospital Blast Kills 500, Gaza Doctor Fears for His Life & Safety of His Patients

‘They believed it was safe’: death toll rising after blast at Gaza hospital

Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in a massive explosion at a crowded hospital in Gaza City, in the biggest single loss of life in the blockaded territory in all the five wars between Hamas and Israel since the militants took over the strip in 2007.

The Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said at least 500 people were killed on Tuesday night in what it said was an Israeli airstrike on al-Ahli al-Arabi, also known as the Baptist hospital. A spokesperson for the Gaza civil defence put the number of killed at about 300. ...

The Israeli military reportedly said an initial investigation suggested the explosion was caused by a failed Hamas rocket launch, before saying it was the result of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket barrage. Islamic Jihad denied the Israeli allegation, and the scale of the blast appeared to be outside the militant groups’ capabilities. Footage broadcast from the ground by Al Jazeera showed a huge fire engulfing the multi-storey building, with bodies, streaks of blood and widespread debris scattered around.

The hospital, which is owned by the Anglican church, was reportedly struck without any prior warning. It was previously hit by a rocket on Saturday in an attack that injured four medical staff. The hospital was hit at about 7.30pm local time. It was packed with people injured in Israeli strikes, as well as civilians seeking shelter, believing the hospital grounds to be safer than their homes after relentless Israeli attacks that have already killed more than 3,000 people.

Rashid Khalidi on Biden's "Israel-First Approach" & Growing Outrage over Gaza Across the Middle East

Fears grow people are dehydrating to death in Gaza as clean water runs out

Fears are growing that people in Gaza are beginning to dehydrate to death as clean water runs out, while Israeli airstrikes continue to pound the Palestinian territory of 2.3 million residents amid a total blockade on food, electricity, medicine and fuel.

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on Tuesday that Gaza’s last seawater desalination plant had shut down, bringing the risk of further deaths and waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Six water wells, three water pumping stations and one water reservoir – which collectively served more than 1.1million people – are also out of action, it said.

Israel cut off its sole water pipeline to Gaza, along with the fuel and electricity that power water and sewage plants, in the wake of the Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 people. UN experts have condemned the Israeli bombardment and blockade as “collective punishment”, which is a war crime.

Dehydration quickly leads to fatigue, dizziness and confusion before organs such as the kidneys shut down, causing coma and death. Severe dehydration must be treated quickly for patients to recover: it can cause permanent brain and other organ damage.

On Tuesday, US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said during his second visit to Israel since the crisis began that the US and Israel had “agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organisations to reach civilians in Gaza”. But as night fell, no progress appeared to have been made on the opening of the Rafah crossing, the civilian entry point between the strip and Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, for any civilians to leave or aid to go in. The bombardment has continued without relenting.

Biden SHUNNED As Middle East Summit Collapses

Gaza faces imminent starvation amid Israeli bombing, blockade

UN officials warned yesterday that Gaza will run out of water and electricity today, due to the blockade the Israeli state imposed amid the uprising against its 16-year illegal blockade of Gaza. The unprecedented humanitarian crisis unleashed in the densely populated area of 2.3 million people, half of whom are under 18, exposes the genocidal character of the Israeli war on Gaza supported by the NATO imperialist powers.

“There is an electricity crisis, water crisis, a crisis of everything,” Eyad Abu Mutlaq told Reuters in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip. He said he had not found any bread in four bakeries in the city, towards which thousands of Palestinians are fleeing after Israel issued an order demanding that over 1.1 million Gazans abandon their homes around Gaza City and flee into the south of the Gaza Strip. “I was looking for basic food, eggs, rice, canned food, even milk for the children and I could not find them,” said Um Salem, a resident of Khan Younis. “This is how Israel is fighting us, through starvation of our children. They either kill our children by bombs or soon by starvation.” ...

Over 1 million Gazans, nearly half Gaza’s population, have already fled their homes under relentless Israeli bombing that has claimed over 2,800 lives and left over 10,000 wounded. Some 600,000 Gazan refugees have arrived in the more sparsely populated middle and south of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli evacuation order would also compel Gazans to abandon 23 hospitals in northern Gaza with a capacity of 2,000 hospital beds—over half of the area’s 3,500 total hospital beds.

UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) official Philippe Lazzarini gave a press conference in the occupied West Bank, warning of the imminence of mass deaths due to lack of drinking water and the cut-off of electricity to hospitals in Gaza and appealing for a cease-fire. “Before the war, Gaza was under a blockade for 16 years, and basically, more than 60 percent of the population was already relying on international food assistance,” he said. Now, however, he said: “There is not one drop of water, not one grain of wheat, not a liter of fuel that has been allowed into the Gaza Strip for the last eight days.” He added that UNRWA operations in Gaza “are on the verge of collapse,” with UNRWA staff issued one liter of water per day for drinking, washing, and all other purposes. ...

In violation of international law, [...] the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are relentlessly bombing Gaza hospitals and murdering Gazan health personnel. Al-Mandhari said 111 health facilities have been attacked, 12 health care workers killed, and 60 ambulances bombed so far. The result is a collapse of medical care in Gaza, he noted: Doctors “have to triage the patients who are coming in. They have no other choice. There are too many people, so some are left to die slow deaths.”

Gaza’s Devastating Humanitarian Crisis Worsens. The US & Israel Revive War on Terror Framework: Dissenters Labeled “Pro-Hamas.” And Is the US Establishment pro-Israel or pro-Palestine?

House Republican Floats Bill to Authorize US Military Action in Iran as Fears of Broader War Grow

The Republican chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday said his panel is drafting legislation to authorize the use of military force in Iran amid growing fears that ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza could set off a broader regional conflagration.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) toldCNN that his committee is preparing the bill "in the event it's necessary" for the U.S. military to become directly involved in another Middle East war. McCaul's comments came on the 21st anniversary of the enactment of a measure that authorized the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"I hope I never have to mark this bill up," said McCaul, who has repeatedly accused Iran of direct involvement in Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel even though U.S. intelligence sources and other government officials there's no evidence to support that claim.

McCaul added that "we have a situation in the Middle East that's growing day by day with intensity," pointing to the increasing likelihood of a full-blown conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran's recent warning that it could be forced to intervene if Israel invades the Gaza Strip.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote on social media Tuesday that McCaul's remarks provide additional evidence that "we are inching toward a regional war in the Middle East, further fueled by [U.S. President Joe] Biden's refusal to call for a cease-fire and deescalation."

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), for his part, responded dismissively to the nascent push for another war authorization bill.

"How about we first repeal the AUMF that greenlighted the colossal blunder in Iraq before neocons ask Congress to vote for a new blunder and war that will cost us more blood and treasure?" Khanna wrote.

The Biden administration has reportedly sent back-channel messages to Iran warning it not to get involved in Gaza, and the U.S. has mobilized the world's largest aircraft carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean in what one White House official described as "a strong signal of deterrence should any actor hostile to Israel consider trying to escalate or widen this war."

Hossein Amirabdollahian, Iran's foreign minister, said Monday that Tehran wants "killings and war crimes" in Gaza to stop immediately and cautioned that "the time for political solutions is running out."

"The possible expansion of the war on other fronts is approaching the inevitable stage," Amirabdollahian said, raising the possibility of some form of "preemptive" action against Israel.

Ukraine deploys US-supplied ATACMS missiles for first time, Zelenskiy says

Ukraine’s military has used US-provided long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who said they were deployed on the battlefield against Russia and “executed very accurately”.

“Today, special thanks to the United States. Our agreements with President Biden are being implemented,” Zelenskiy said, adding that the missiles “have proven themselves”.

The White House also confirmed the delivery of the missiles. “We believe these ATACMS will provide a significant boost to Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities without risking our [US] military readiness,” said a National Security Council spokesperson, Adrienne Watson. Several US media outlets reported that Ukraine had used the ATACMS missiles in an overnight attack on Tuesday on two airbases in Russian-held territory.

Without mentioning the US missiles, Ukrainian special forces said they had carried out an overnight operation named “Dragonfly” striking a military airfield in Berdiansk and another one in the Luhansk region and resulting in “significant losses” on the Russian side. In the statement, Ukraine said it had successfully destroyed nine Russian military helicopters, an anti-aircraft missile system and an ammunition warehouse.

The Washington Post reported that the ATACMS version used by Ukraine to hit the targets was armed with cluster bomblets, rather than a single warhead.

Bolsonaro was engineer of ‘wilful coup attempt’, Brazil congress inquiry alleges

Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro was the mentor of “a wilful and premeditated coup attempt” that sought to plunge Latin America’s largest democracy into political mayhem and perhaps even civil war, a congressional inquiry investigating the 8 January insurrection has alleged.

The dramatic assertion was made on Tuesday as the senator Eliziane Gama read the inquiry’s final report into January’s failed rightwing uprising in which thousands of radical Bolsonaro supporters rampaged through the capital, Brasília, after their leader failed to win re-election.

But experts are doubtful the report – considered politically symbolic rather than crucial to any future prosecution – will have immediate legal consequences for the former president and his allies. The congressional committee does not itself have the power to charge suspects. Instead, its findings will be presented to the attorney general who will consider what action to take, if any.

The inquiry’s 1,333-page report called for Bolsonaro to be charged with four crimes which could land him in jail for a total of 29 years: coup d’état, the violent abolition of the rule of law, criminal association and political violence. Similar accusations were leveled at dozens of key Bolsonaro allies, including three army generals who held prominent posts in his cabinet and his former justice minister Anderson Torres.

Bolsonaro, a former army paratrooper notorious for celebrating Brazil’s 1964-85 military dictatorship, has repeatedly denied involvement in January’s turmoil or seeking to stage a coup. However, Gama, who is the inquiry’s rapporteur, said the committee’s investigations, documents and oral testimony had led congressional investigators to one name as they probed the attempt to “corrupt, obstruct and annul” Brazil’s 2022 presidential election. “That name is Jair Messias Bolsonaro,” Gama said.

Amy Coney Barrett calls ethics code for scandal-hit supreme court ‘a good idea’

The conservative supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett has said she and her colleagues should be subject to a code of ethics, following a series of scandals that have dented public confidence in the nation’s highest bench.

The Donald Trump appointee was speaking on Monday at a sometimes raucous discussion at the University of Minnesota law school, the New York Times reported.

Barrett, speaking in Minneapolis to the law professor Robert Stein, a former chief operating officer of the American Bar Association, said she now favored the implementation of ethics rules similar to those that govern less senior members of the judiciary.

“It would be a good idea for us to do it, particularly so that we can communicate to the public exactly what it is that we are doing in a clearer way,” she said. “All nine justices are very committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct.”

Jim Jordan FACEPLANTS As Republicans In SHAMBLES

House remains without speaker as Jim Jordan falls short of votes in first ballot

The House of Representatives was unable to elect a new speaker on Tuesday, as the hard-right congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio struggled to win the gavel following the historic ouster of the Republican Kevin McCarthy earlier this month.

In the first round of voting, 20 Republicans opposed Jordan, while 200 Republicans supported the judiciary committee chair. The result left Jordan far short of winning the speakership, given that he can only afford four defections within his conference and still capture the gavel. All 212 House Democrats supported Hakeem Jeffries of New York, giving the Democratic leader more votes than Jordan.

Speaking to reporters after the vote, Jordan initially indicated Republicans would hold another vote on Tuesday evening, but that plan was scrapped as Jordan’s critics doubled down on their opposition. The House will instead reconvene on Wednesday at 11am to commence the next round of voting, but it remained unclear whether Jordan had a path to victory. ...

The House has now been without a speaker for two weeks, leaving the chamber paralyzed. The House remains unable to pass any legislation, even as many lawmakers of both parties have stressed the urgent need to approve an aid package for Israel following the recent Hamas attacks.

US man wrongfully imprisoned for 16 years shot and killed by police

A Black man who spent 16 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a violent crime was shot and killed by police in Georgia on Monday. Leonard Cure, 53, was killed after a sheriff’s deputy pulled him over in south-eastern Georgia’s Camden county early on Monday morning. The Georgia bureau of investigation (GBI) is examining the shooting.

Cure was released from prison in Florida in 2020 after a conviction review unit exonerated him of robbing a drug store in 2003. The Innocence Project of Florida represented Cure in his exoneration case. The group’s executive director, Seth Miller, said he was devastated by news of the death. “I can only imagine what it’s like to know your son is innocent and watch him be sentenced to life in prison, to be exonerated and … then be told that once he’s been freed, he’s been shot dead,” Miller told the Associated Press.

The GBI said in a statement that Cure’s vehicle was stopped by the deputy at about 7.30am in Camden county. The statement said the deputy had “initiated a traffic stop”, but the GBI did not give the reason for the stop. ...

Cure’s killing was the 80th “officer-involved” shooting in Georgia so far this year, according to the GBI. And it was the fourth police shooting in the past week.

RFK JR’s Independent Candidacy THREATENS Trump, Biden DUOPOLY

21 species removed from US Endangered Species Act after going extinct

About 21 species have been removed from the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) after going extinct in a move conservationists are calling a wake-up call. The US Fish and Wildlife Service removed the species – a mix of animals and plants – after determining that they had gone extinct, according to a press release.

Among the species that were delisted include the Bachman’s warbler, a bright yellow bird once common in Florida, South Carolina, and other southern states; eight types of southeastern mussels; and the Little Mariana fruit bat, a small fruit bat found in Guam.

Malawi swelters in record heat with temperatures nearly 68F above average

Malawians endured the country’s hottest weekend on record, with temperatures reaching nearly 20C above the seasonal average.

The heatwave began last Thursday with the government warning people to stay out of the sun, to keep hydrated, and avoid alcohol and caffeine. Some school buildings in the south of the country were evacuated, and children were taught in the shade of playground trees.

By Saturday, parts of Malawi saw a maximum temperature of 43C (109F), compared with an average of nearly 25C (77F) for the time of year. The temperatures had dropped by Monday, but in an advisory last week the country’s Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services warned of a “prolonged period of hot and uncomfortable weather” throughout October. ...

Malawi experienced similar heat in November 2020, when a temperature of 37C was recorded. Experts are pointing to climate change as the cause of the extreme weather; global temperatures in 2023 have been the hottest on record.

Also of Interest

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

U.S. Deploys Large Force - Eyes On Syria

"The 'Never Again' of Our Lifetimes Is Underway in Gaza"

Palestine and Ukraine Updated Commentary

Former ambassador and Assange advocate Craig Murray detained under UK terror laws

Why Did Colombia Change Its Mind About Expelling Israeli Ambassador Over Israel’s “Genocidal” Siege of Gaza?

The Obscenity

Deaths of Despair Afflict More Cohorts Than Case-Deaton Originally Found

DEM CIVIL WAR: Rashida Tlaib RIPS Biden For Israel Carnage

Protests erupt across Middle East following air strike on Gaza hospital

Poland Law and Justice election self-defeat, ultimate Zelensky curse

A Little Night Music

Johnny Adams – Walking On A Tightrope

Johnny Adams – After All The Good Is Gone

Johnny Adams – Body And Fender Man

Johnny Adams – A Losing Battle

Johnny Adams – Danger Zone

Johnny Adams - She Said the Same Things to Me

Johnny Adams – One Foot In The Blues

Johnny Adams – I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home

Johnny Adams – You're In For A Big Surprise