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This evening's music features blues and country singer Tracy Nelson. Enjoy!

“If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change.”

-- Ray Bradbury

News and Opinion

Israeli propaganda operations to manipulate western opinion

Two separate news reports have just come out about Israeli propaganda operations to manipulate western opinion.

In an article titled “Israel is paying influencers $7,000 per post,” Responsible Statecraft’s Nick Cleveland-Stout reports on documents showing that 14 to 18 individuals have been receiving significant compensation to generate pro-Israel content for platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

In a write-up titled “Trump’s Ex-Digital Guru Works to Combat Antisemitism,” O’Dwyer’s PR News reports that “The firm of Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale has a four-month $6M agreement for strategic communications and media services in support of Havas Media’s engagement by Israel to develop a nationwide campaign in the US to combat antisemitism.”

Journalist Jack Paulson notes that we know about Parscale’s six million-dollar psyop because he had to register as a foreign agent of the Israeli government, saying Parscale was paid “to map out Gen-Z influencers and distribute a narrative about antisemitism in the United States.”

This is what happens when a state doesn’t have facts, reason or morality on its side, but has unlimited funding.

Matthew Hoh : Humanitarian Fallout - Aid Suspended, Gaza Under Fire

Israeli naval forces board pro-Palestinian flotilla 75 miles from Gaza

At least two boats from a pro-Palestinian flotilla have been boarded by Israeli forces roughly 75 miles off the coast of Gaza, as the vessels attempted to breach the maritime blockade of the war-torn territory and bring aid. Several media outlets reported that other boats were also being intercepted. The raid began with the flotilla’s leading vessel, Alma, whose crew were detained by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday.

The environmental activist Greta Thunberg was among those onboard the Alma. In a video message posted on Instagram shortly before the interception, Thunberg said: “My name is Greta Thunberg. I am onboard the ship Alma. We are about to be intercepted by Israel.” Thunberg, along with other activists on the Alma, was arrested and taken into custody at the Israeli port of Ashdod. ...

The vessels were sailing in international waters north of Egypt on Wednesday afternoon and had entered what has been described as a “danger zone” or “high risk zone”. While still in international waters, it is an area where the Israeli navy has stopped other boats attempting to break its blockade in the past and which the flotilla had been warned not to cross.

About 7.25pm, roughly 20 Israeli naval ships approached the flotilla and ordered the boats to turn off their engines, activists said on social media. Live footage from the flotilla showed passengers seated in a semi-circle, wearing lifejackets as they awaited interception. The broadcast cut off shortly afterwards. “Our vessels are being illegally intercepted,” a message on the flotilla’s Instagram page read on Wednesday evening. “Cameras are offline and vessels have been boarded by military personnel. We are actively working to confirm the safety and status of all participants onboard.” ...

Thousands of people took to the streets across Italy in a wave of spontaneous protests after Israeli navy forces boarded the boats, with demonstrations in Bari, Bologna, Genoa, Milan, Naples, Pisa and Rome. Italian trade unions also called for a general strike in support of Palestine on Friday.

Israel Seizes Gaza-Bound Vessels & Detains 400+, But More Boats Are Now Heading to Gaza

BREAKING: Massive demonstration in Brussels this evening in defense of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which has begun to be intercepted by Israeli boats

After Place Bourse, the demonstration is heading towards the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. pic.twitter.com/uEzDfLsYz6

— Muhammad Yasir (@YasirHajana) October 1, 2025

COL. Douglas Macgregor : War With Iran Is Imminent

NYT Slammed for Backing Trump Plan to ‘Deradicalize’ Gaza—Not the Country Committing Genocide

In its assessment of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, The New York Times editorial board on Tuesday resorted to age-old “Islamophobic tropes,” said one writer—namely, the claim that the exclave that is home to more than 2 million Palestinians, nearly half of them children, must be “deradicalized.”

The editorial board asserted that the White House had “crucially” included in its peace plan a proposal to not only restore basic services to Gaza and feed people who have been starved by Israel’s near-total blockade that was first imposed nearly two years ago, but also empower a multinational authority to develop Gaza as a “deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors.”

The Times editors said that the proposal repeats a call by the Wilson Center, the Washington think tank that has called for a program in Gaza’s schools and media “to remove Hamas’ pervasive radicalizing influence over Gazan society.”

The editors, said Brian Tashman of the Vera Institute of Justice, appeared to subscribe to the “belief that Palestinians are motivated by irrational bigotry... and that there is no way they might be angry over being occupied, brutalized, impoverished, displaced, and murdered by Israelis.”

Tashman noted that the viewpoint is pervasive in the US political establishment, with former President Joe Biden asserting last year that Hamas was motivated by an “ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people off the face of the Earth” when it led a violent attack on southern Israel in October 2023.

The West Bank-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, which for years has conducted public opinion surveys of Palestinians, called into question the view that Palestinians in Gaza support the atrocities Hamas is accused of committing in its October 7 attack.

“Our findings show the exact opposite,” pollster Khalil Shikaki told NPR. “Those who think atrocities were committed on October the 7 do not support October the 7 and do not support Hamas.” About 60% of Palestinians in Gaza, Shikaki’s survey found, do not support Hamas.

Numerous polls of the Israeli public, however, have shown broad support for their government’s policies and statements about Gaza. A survey conducted by Hebrew University in Jerusalem in June found that 64% of the Israeli public agreed that there are “no innocents in Gaza.” Former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman had made the statement in 2018, and it was paraphrased in October 2023 by Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

Another poll this year by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 79% of the Israeli public “did not feel personally troubled by reports of starvation in Gaza.”

The Times editorial came as Israel’s assault on Gaza nears the end of its second year, with more than 66,000 Palestinians killed and the exclave facing what one report called the ”largest orphan crisis” in modern history as more than 39,000 children have lost one or both parents. More than 400 people have starved to death so far due to Israel’s near-total blockade on humanitarian aid. Numerous human rights groups and experts on the Holocaust have called the bombardment of Gaza a genocide.

“The New York Times editorial board thinks we need to deradicalize the starved and brutalized survivors of a genocide, but not the neighboring society that enthusiastically endorsed said genocide,” said author and editor Dan Sheehan. “Poll after poll over the past two years has shown overwhelming Israeli public support for the starvation, brutalization, and even extermination of Palestinians in Gaza. Meanwhile, more than half of Gaza’s population WEREN’T EVEN BORN the last time Hamas was elected.”

The New York Times editorial board thinks we need to deradicalize the starved and brutalized survivors of a genocide, but not the neighboring society that enthusiastically endorsed said genocide.

Make it make sense. pic.twitter.com/5xmxkcvnKp

— Dan Sheehan (@danpjsheehan) October 1, 2025

The Times’ call for Palestinians to be “deradicalized,” said Adam Johnson of the podcast Citations Needed, amounted to “pure racism.”

“Israel has killed 19,000+ children,” said Johnson. “Seventy-nine percent say they are ‘not troubled’ by the reports of famine... How is this not the society in urgent need of de-radicalization?”

Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani added that “one can similarly imagine the Times reporting from Poland in 1943 and publishing an editorial that sanctimoniously proclaims that the main impediment to peace in Europe is the Bolshevik virus that has infected the continent’s Jews.”

“The concept of deradicalization has a long pedigree. At heart, it is based on the premise that colonial subjects have no grievances towards their foreign rulers,” wrote Rabbani. “The natives, duly infected with ideas like independence, social justice, and the redistribution of wealth, need to be deradicalized so that the natural order of things can be restored... The Palestinian case is no different. They hate Zionism and Israel only because they have been taught and terrorized into doing so... If we can only reform the Palestinian school curriculum yet again, Palestinians will learn to peacefully co-exist with dispossession, apartheid, and genocide.”

“If Palestinians are indeed radicalized, the agents of their radicalization are Israel and its policies, not least its compulsive murder of their children,” he added. “The only available formula for deradicalization is Palestinian rights, first and foremost their inalienable right to self-determination.”

Prof. John Mearsheimer : Trump’s Flawed Gaza Plans

Israel’s Katz Says Civilians in Gaza City Have ‘Last Opportunity to Leave,’ Will Be Treated as ‘Terrorists’

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday issued a threat to Palestinian civilians in famine-stricken Gaza City, warning they have their “last opportunity” to leave the besieged city and that they will be treated as “terrorists” if they remain.

Katz said in a post on X that the IDF has almost encircled Gaza City. “This is the last opportunity for Gaza residents who wish to do so to move south and leave Hamas terrorists isolated in Gaza City itself, facing the IDF’s ongoing operations at full force,” he wrote. “Those who remain in Gaza will be considered terrorists and terror supporters,” he added.

Israel’s goals for Gaza City involve cleansing it of its Palestinian population and razing every single building to the ground. The IDF has claimed that more than 780,000 civilians have fled, while other estimates put the number around 400,000. Either way, hundreds of thousands of civilians remain for several reasons, including the fact that many are too sick for another displacement.

Richard Wolff & Michael Hudson: The U.S. Cannot Survive this WAR

LIVE FROM CHINA!~ Pepe Escobar : Can Iran Defeat US/Israel?

General strike against 13-hour work day brings Greece to a halt

A general strike has paralysed Greece as unions step up industrial action against labour laws introducing a 13-hour work day in a country that already puts in some of the longest hours in Europe.

The 24-hour strike brought mass disruption to services across the country on Wednesday as thousands of workers in the public and private sector stopped work and took to the streets.

In both Athens and Thessaloniki, the country’s second biggest city, transport systems were halted, while hospital staff, teachers and other civil servants stopped working. The seas around the Greek capital were vessel-free as crews, heeding union calls, kept ferries in ports.

The pro-business government of the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has faced growing opposition over the proposed changes, with workers contending they not only ride roughshod over their rights but kill off any hopes for work-life balance.

The 13-hour day proposal is expected to be passed into law this month. The change would allow employees to clock in 13 hours, effectively extending their presence in the work place by up to five hours.

Yemen Attacks US Ships, Putin's BOMBSHELL Stuns Trump | Larry Johnson and Col. Wilkerson

Worth a click and a full read:

Trump Declares War on the U.S.

Recently the name Department of Defense was retired and that federal agency in charge of the military was given its original name, Department of War. Immediately president Donald Trump implied via one of his Truth Social posts that he was declaring war on the city of Chicago. He then walked back his comment claiming that "We're not going to war. We're going to clean up our cities," which may have seemed benign for those engaging in wishful thinking until Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called a meeting of the top military brass. ...

Trump isn’t content for the U.S. to be a global hegemon unless it can also act against dissent at home too. We at Black Agenda Report have made this very point for years. The wars abroad are always brought home, whether through the distribution of surplus military equipment to police through the 1033 Program or Trump and his predecessors claiming the right to kill anyone they choose through the Obama administration “kill list” or indefinite detention of anyone a president may choose.

Black people in Kenya or Somalia or Chicago can be subjected to the wrath of the state whenever doing so is expedient. Trump’s attacks on democratic run cities are a feast of red meat to his Make America Great Again followers. Without the occasional outburst of violence against Black people or anyone designated as a leftist they may ask why Trump’s tariff policies are causing inflation or wonder why there isn’t full disclosure of his connections with Jeffrey Epstein. There is nothing like a crackdown on the marginalized and demonized to whip up an angry mob at an opportune moment.

After the shooting death of right wing influencer Charlie Kirk, Trump and company conducted a full court press of hatred against the left and elevation of the racist podcaster to sainthood. Now we see new determinations to break legal precedent and violate the spirit of the Posse Comitatus Act which forbids the use of the military to police a civilian population.

Initially Hegseth’s announcement of the military summoning was met with many questions. Was the U.S. going to war against Iran/Venezuela/China? Were they stopping a palace coup? Now there is a simple answer. Trump is getting the military onboard to carry out his fantasy of destroying anyone he sees as an enemy. Black people, big cities, leftist groups, and anyone who funds their activities are now all in his crosshairs and the people Trump has designated to carry out his wishes know that they must comply or get out. He has declared war on millions of people in this country and the only questions are whether anyone with the power to stop him will have the will to do so and whether the people he has designated as “enemies within” will surrender.

SURPRISE Job Losses Revealed During Shutdown

Vance uses false claims to pin shutdown blame on Democrats as White House warns of layoffs

JD Vance, the US vice-president, used false claims to blame Democrats for the government shutdown as the White House warned that worker layoffs were imminent. Federal departments have been closing since midnight after a deadlocked Congress failed to pass a funding measure. The crisis has higher stakes than previous shutdowns, with Trump racing to slash government departments and threatening to turn furloughs into mass firings.

Making a rare appearance in the White House briefing room, Vance told reporters: “We are going to have to lay some people off if the shutdown continues. We don’t like that. We don’t necessarily want to do it, but we’re going to do what we have to do to keep the American people’s essential services continuing to run.” Vance denied workers would be targeted because of their political allegiance but acknowledged there was still uncertainty over who might be laid off or furloughed. “We haven’t made any final decisions about what we’re going to do with certain workers,” he said. “What we’re saying is that we might have to take extraordinary steps, especially the longer this goes on.”

About 750,000 federal employees are expected to be placed on furlough, an enforced leave, with pay withheld until they return to work. Essential workers such as military and border agents may be forced to work without pay, and some will likely miss pay cheques next week. ...

Vance sought to upbraid Democrats over their demands, targeting Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC. “The Chuck Schumer-AOC wing of the Democratic party shut down the government because they said to us, we will open the government only if you give billions of dollars of funding to healthcare for illegal aliens. That’s a ridiculous proposition.”

It is also a false claim. US law bars undocumented immigrants from receiving the health care benefits Democrats are demanding, and the party has not called for a new act of Congress to change that. At a press conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives, said Trump and Republicans shut the government down to deny healthcare to working-class Americans.

Trump CUTS BLUE STATE FUNDING: Promises FED LAYOFFS

Funding for Democratic states frozen as president uses shutdown to punish opponents

Donald Trump’s administration froze $26bn for Democratic-leaning states, following through on a threat to use the government shutdown to target Democratic priorities.

The targeted programs included $18bn for transit projects in New York, home to Congress’s top two Democrats, and $8bn for green-energy projects in 16 Democratic-run states, including California and Illinois. Vice-president JD Vance, meanwhile, warned that the administration might extend its purge of federal workers if the shutdown lasts more than a few days.

The moves made clear that Trump would carry out his threat to take advantage of the shutdown to punish his political opponents and extend his control over the $7tn federal budget.

Vance said at a White House briefing that the administration would be forced to resort to layoffs if the shutdown lasts more than a few days, adding to the 300,000 who will be pushed out by December. Previous shutdowns have not resulted in permanent layoffs.

Trump falsely claims that national guard troops are ‘in place’ in Portland

Donald Trump once again shared misinformation about Portland, Oregon, on social media on Wednesday, when he announced that the national guard troops he called up in response to a small protest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) office in the otherwise tranquil city are “now in place” and have begun restoring “LAW AND ORDER”.

However, Portland’s NBC News affiliate KGW reported 90 minutes after Trump’s social media post that no members of the guard were yet in place around the Ice field office where dozens of protesters have demonstrated against immigration sweeps since June.

The Oregon national guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Russell Gibson, a national guard commander, told state lawmakers on Tuesday that the 200 troops who have been called up would need another four to seven days of vetting and training before being deployed, likely early next week. ...

Oregon’s governor, Tina Kotek, said in a statement on Wednesday: “Donald Trump’s unlawful federalization of members of the Oregon National Guard could cost taxpayers up to $10m, according to the Oregon Military Department (OMD).” The calculation includes salaries, supplies, food, lodging and other costs associated with the deployment of 200 guard members to Portland for 60 days. “Our country and our state should be focused on solving real problems,” Kotek said. “Wasting an estimated $10m dollars on made up problems is an insult to Americans who are struggling with the cost of living, access to affordable health care, safety in their neighborhoods and more. Not only is this an abuse of power, it is a dereliction of the president’s duty to solve real problems.”

Border wall slicing through Arizona wildlife corridor begins construction: ‘A show of force for nothing’

On a late summer day in September, the sound of cicadas pierced the profound silence in the sprawling grasslands and gently rolling hills of the San Rafael Valley in southern Arizona. But before long, the shrill buzzing gave way to the rumble of heavy machinery sculpting an unpaved road leading to the US-Mexico border. In the distance, a deer darted across the road and disappeared into a thicket of oak trees. A few miles later, a fenced-in worker camp came into view, next to a construction site full of trucks, bulldozers and cranes.

The San Rafael Valley, south-east of Tucson, is considered one of the most biodiverse regions in North America. But in recent days, a towering black steel wall has begun to rise on the landscape. The Trump administration is forging ahead with plans to erect a 27-mile section of the border wall here, despite a legal challenge still playing out in the courts. When completed, the 30ft-high barrier will tear through one of the last pristine, unbroken grasslands in the west.

Trump’s pledge to “build the wall” between the US and Mexico was a top priority during his first term, but the 1,954-mile border is still full of gaps. Construction in this remote valley is among efforts in several states to fast-track new sections along the southern border. The new wall is intended replace low barriers that stop vehicles but still allow wildlife to get across. Even before construction began, many Arizonans worried about the plan’s impact on the numerous wildlife species that regularly move between the two countries – including jaguars, ocelots, bears and mountain lions.

“The wildlife there have existed for and evolved over thousands of years in a connected ecosystem and this wall will sever populations in half,” says Russ McSpadden, south-west conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. The barrier, he says, can prevent animals – including the endangered jaguar – from migrating to find food and mates, which could mean their eventual extinction.

The possibility of water depletion has also concerned residents in an arid landscape that’s already grappling with drought. New wells are being drilled for drawing up groundwater to mix with concrete for the wall foundation. Previous border wall projects have required vast quantities of water, running into the hundreds of thousands of gallons per day.

Data Centers PILLAGE ELECTRICITY For AI Video Slop

Also of Interest

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

Will the US Push Lebanon to Civil War?

How the Media Tears Up Its Own Rulebook To Hide Israel’s Atrocities

The Next Big Crash Is On Its Way

LATEST Compelling Theory Of Who Killed Charlie Kirk!

Trump closer to deep strikes inside Russia

A Little Night Music

Tracy Nelson – You'll Be Mine

Tracy Nelson - Same Old Blues

Tracy Nelson – Down So Low

Tracy Nelson - I'll Be Your Baby Tonight

Tracy Nelson – Time Is On My Side

Tracy Nelson – It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry

Mother Earth – You Win Again

Mother Earth – Revolution

Mother Earth – Wait, Wait, Wait

Tracy Nelson – Howlin' For My Baby