The Evening Blues - 10-3-24

Submitted by joe shikspack on Thu, 10/03/2024 - 3:17pm

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

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features delta blues singer and guitarist Skip James. Enjoy!

^{Skip James - Hard Times Killing Floor Blues}

"Americans: hurricane relief please

Washington: Sorry did you say send thousands more troops to the middle east to support Israeli warmongering?

Americans: no, hurricane relief

Washington: Okay you drive a hard bargain but those troops are on their way to the middle east right now."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

These Are US Wars. These Are Biden’s Wars.

Politico has an obnoxiously propagandistic and deceitful article out titled “Biden approaches limits of influence on Israel,” yet another in the mountain of imperial media spin pieces that have come out over the last year trying to wash this administration’s hands of its criminality by portraying it as an innocent, passive witness to the US-backed atrocities and military brinkmanship we’ve been seeing in the middle east.

Politico’s Jonathan Lemire and Robbie Gramer report, completely falsely, that Biden may be unable to stop “what his administration has spent a year trying to prevent: regional war.” They falsely assert that the Biden administration now has “far less say in shaping events,” because “Netanyahu and his government have consistently ignored American counsel as to how to prosecute the war in Gaza.”

These are just lies. They’re lying.

As many have correctly pointed out over the last year, US presidents absolutely do have the power to stop Israeli warmongering dead in its tracks by threatening to terminate the military support Israel depends on, and past presidents have exercised this power. An Israeli air force official admitted last month that the atrocities we’ve been seeing in Gaza for an entire year could only be sustained for a few months without US support.

An arms embargo or the threat thereof would have stopped this long ago. Israeli warmongering isn’t getting worse and worse because the Biden administration can’t control Israel, it’s getting worse and worse because the Biden administration knowingly refuses to make use of the control that it has.

We saw this illustrated in a recent exchange at a State Department press conference. State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller was asked by reporter Tom Bateman about accusations that “you have simply not used leverage to get what you want,” citing Ronald Reagan’s well-documented phone call to the Israeli prime minister during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982 — which stopped the assault instantly.

“So there have been a number of times over the course of this conflict where direct US intervention with the government of Israel has led them to take steps that they were not previously doing — to take steps when it comes to humanitarian access, to take steps with regards to the shape of their military operations,” Miller replied, adding, “I’m not going to speak to all those publicly. Some of them have been reported over time.”

.@tombateman: In 1982 Reagan phoned the PM of Israel and told him to stop bombing Beirut or US-Israel relations would be endangered…you have not used leverage

Miller: Every country makes their own decisions…

Tom: Reagan did stop the bombing, Begin stopped it 20 minutes later pic.twitter.com/81xed6BK68

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) October 2, 2024

This is actually a rather damning admission by Miller, because it shows that Biden has been exerting some influence over Israel, which means what we’ve been seeing from Israel is more or less what the Biden administration wants to happen. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be happening.

The other day Miller let the words “We’ve never wanted to see a diplomatic resolution with Hamas” escape from his lips while dodging pointed questions from reporter Prem Thakker, a position which of course makes all this administration’s talk about ceasefire negotiations completely meaningless.

Despite the nonstop churn of White House press releases disguised as news stories in the mainstream media about how “angry” and “frustrated” Biden is with Netanyahu and how powerless he is to divert Israel off the war path, this administration is just as responsible for these wars as Netanyahu himself. These are US wars. These are Biden’s wars.

Another article from Politico titled “US officials quietly backed Israel’s military push against Hezbollah” reports that White House officials Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk “told top Israeli officials in recent weeks that the U.S. agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s broad strategy to shift Israel’s military focus to the north against Hezbollah,” supposedly “to convince the group to engage in diplomatic talks to end the conflict.”

Got that? This same outlet which told us the Biden administration supports Israel’s warmongering in Lebanon is simultaneously publishing articles about how powerless Biden is to rein in Israel’s warmongering.

Absolutely pathetic. No matter how much you might despise the mainstream press, it’s not enough.

Understanding Iran's overdue retaliation, w/Dr. Foad Izadi

Israel Planning Major Attack on Iran

Israel is planning to launch a “significant retaliation” attack against Iran over the Iranian missile barrage that targeted Israel on Tuesday, which was a response to several Israeli escalations in the region. Israeli officials acknowledged to Axios that the situation could lead to a full-blown regional war, which would involve the US.

According to the Axios report, Israel could target oil production facilities inside Iran or other strategic sites. Israeli officials say that if Iran hits back, then all options will be on the table, including strikes on Iran’s civilian nuclear facilities.

“We have a big question mark about how the Iranians are going to respond to an attack, but we take into consideration the possibility that they would go all in, which will be a whole different ball game,” an Israeli official told Axios.

Other options being considered are attacks on Iran’s air defenses or targeted assassinations. Israel has a history of killing people inside Iran, including the July 31 assassination of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh.

But, as we now know, "would not support" does not mean "would exert leverage to stop," nor does it really mean "hasn't been working behind the scenes to plan and execute." Fucking liar.

US would not support Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, says Biden

Joe Biden has said he would not support an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites, as the US sought to temper Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday and contain a rapidly escalating regional conflict.

Biden’s comments came after the top Israeli diplomat at the UN warned his country’s retaliation for an Iranian salvo of nearly 200 ballistic missiles would be heavier than Tehran “could ever have imagined”.

On the same day, the Israeli chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, warned: “We have the capabilities to reach and strike any point in the Middle East”, a reality that Israel’s enemies would “soon understand”

Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of his top security officials at the Israeli defence headquarters, the Kirya in Tel Aviv, on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the country’s options after a round of conversations with Washington.

As Israel contemplated opening a fourth front with its regional enemies, eight Israeli soldiers were confirmed killed and a significant number wounded in three clashes with Hezbollah, following Israel’s first significant ground incursions across the Lebanese border since 2006.

Prof. John Mearsheimer : Does US Want War?

"Don't Do It": Lebanese Lawyer Warns Israel Against Using War to Create a "New Middle East"

Six killed in Israeli airstrike on medical centre in central Beirut, Lebanon says

Israeli airstrikes are still being reported across Beirut and the Lebanese health ministry says at least six people have been killed and seven injured in an Israeli attack on a health centre in the central suburb of Bachoura. It is a war crime to target health workers.

The medical centre belonged to the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Organisation. ... Israeli airstrikes have killed paramedics across Lebanon over the last two weeks, including airstrikes that killed 14 emergency health workers over the weekend. On Monday, six more paramedics were killed in the west Bekaa, all of them belonging to the Islamic Health Organisation. ...

Israel has also been accused of targeting health workers in Gaza, including by killing them in airstrikes on hospitals and ambulances as well as arresting and torturing them. It denies targeting medics and claims Hamas uses civilians as human shields.

AMB Chas Freeman : Why Israel is Isolated

Dozens killed in Israeli strikes and ground operations in southern Gaza

More than 70 people have been killed in a series of intensive ground operations and airstrikes by the Israel Defense Forces in southern Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said on Wednesday.

Israel has continued to strike what it says are militant targets across Gaza nearly a year after Hamas’s 7 October attack triggered the war in the territory, and even as attention has shifted to Lebanon and Iran.

The health ministry in Gaza said at least 51 people were killed and 82 wounded in the operation in Khan Younis that began early on Wednesday. Records at the European hospital show that seven women and 12 children, as young as 22 months old, were among those killed. Another 23 people, including two children, were killed in separate strikes across Gaza, according to local hospitals. ...

Residents said Israeli planes had carried out heavy airstrikes as its ground forces staged an incursion into three neighbourhoods in Khan Younis. Mahmoud al-Razd, who said four relatives were killed in the raids, described heavy destruction and said first responders had struggled to reach destroyed homes. “The explosions and shelling were massive,” he said. “Many people are thought to be under the rubble, and no one can retrieve them.”

Eight Israeli soldiers killed in clashes with Hezbollah in Lebanon

Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed and a number of others wounded in three exchanges with Hezbollah in heavy fighting inside Lebanon. The largest group of soldiers, from the commando brigade and including an officer, was involved in a clash with Hezbollah in a village north of the Israeli border community of Misgav Am, while two other soldiers from the Golani brigade were killed in a separate incident.

Claims of significant losses had been circulating since early on Wednesday when Hezbollah had said it had inflicted casualties on a group of Israeli soldiers attempting to assault the Lebanese village of Odaisseh, not far from the border.

The casualties in the second incident appear to have taken place in the neighbourhood of Maroun-el-Ras. Hezbollah said its fighters wounded and killed a group of Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon after detonating an explosive device. Hezbollah also claimed it had destroyed three Israeli Merkava tanks with guided rockets in the Lebanese border town of Maroun el-Ras. ...

The deaths appeared to signify the first substantial clashes between Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and Hezbollah since Israel said it had initiated a limited ground incursion into Lebanon to target Hezbollah’s infrastructure along the border, and came as Israel announced it was deploying additional forces to the fight in southern Lebanon.

US judge sides with pro-Palestinian students over canceled 7 October vigil

The University of Maryland cannot block students from holding an event on 7 October to mourn those killed in Gaza, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday, allowing students to move forward with it.

Students with the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) had reserved a room in July to host the event. In August, school leaders met with them to share concerns about the event and pressure they had been receiving to cancel it. On 1 September, the school’s president announced he was canceling all student-sponsored events on 7 October and would only allow school-sponsored events.

The school cited security concerns in support of its decision and said school officials had received death threats as news of the event spread.

The decision to cancel the event probably violated the students’ first amendment rights, Peter Messitte, a US district judge appointed by Bill Clinton, wrote in a ruling on Tuesday. The school could have also taken other steps short of canceling the event to bolster security, including hiring additional personnel or even law enforcement.

“The decision of the University to revoke SJP’s reservation was clearly neither viewpoint- nor content-neutral. It came about for reasons that the Constitution simply does not countenance: fear of disruption, and anger of opponents. Again, the case authority emphatically rejects these reasons,” he wrote.

Harris & Walz Don't Understand The First Amendment

US Wealth Gap Report Fuels Call to 'Unrig Our Tax Code'

As a Capitol Hill battle over the "GOP tax scam" looms, U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse on Wednesday pointed to a new nonpartisan government analysis about soaring wealth inequality as proof of the need for serious reforms.

Whitehouse (D-R.I.) sought the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, which details trends in the distribution of family wealth—including projected Social Security retirement and disability benefits—in the United States from 1989 to 2022.

"Adjusted for inflation, the wealth held by families in the United States almost quadrupled between 1989 and 2022, rising from $52 trillion (in 2022 dollars) to $199 trillion, at an average rate of about 4% per year," the CBO found. "Over that 33-year period, family wealth was unevenly distributed, and that inequality increased."

"In 2022, families in the top 10% of the distribution held 60% of all wealth, up from 56% in 1989, and families in the top 1% of the distribution held 27%, up from 23% in 1989," the office said. "The share of wealth held by the rest of the families in the top half of the distribution shrank from 37% to 33% over the same period. Families in the bottom half of the distribution held 6% of all wealth in both 1989 and 2022."

The report comes as Congress prepares for a tax debate due to next year's expiration of policies signed into law in 2017 by then-President Donald Trump, the Republican facing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in this November's election.

Throughout the current election cycle, Trump and congressional Republicans have campaigned on extending policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and also benefited wealthy individuals.

"This report should add urgency in Congress as the Trump tax scam expires next year and we negotiate future tax legislation," Whitehouse said of the CBO analysis. "Do we want to reward billionaires, who have already captured so much of the nation's wealth, or do we want to de-corrupt the tax code, ensure the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share, and reduce the deficit, all while making necessary investments to better the lives of all Americans?"

Julian Assange SPEAKS OUT Against Deep State, ‘Wolves In MAGA Hats’: Interview

Jill Stein SOUNDS OFF On Dem Ballot Lawfare, Lesser Of 2 Evils

the evening greens

EPA’s drinking water limits for PFAS are under threat – and that’s nothing new

Several unexpected plaintiffs are behind a legal challenge aiming to kill the Environmental Protection Agency’s groundbreaking new drinking water limits for highly toxic PFAS: the US’s water utilities, represented by their major trade groups. But utility industry opposition to clean water regulations is nothing new. Though utilities’ mission is to provide the US with clean and safe water, their trade groups have for decades often fiercely opposed initiatives to improve quality.

Utilities have successfully helped kill, delay or weaken virtually all proposed limits on toxic substances like lead, the rocket fuel perchlorate, and carcinogenic disinfectants. The utility industry also lobbied to weaken the Safe Drinking Water Act’s 1996 revision, which is largely why the EPA since then has only successfully set a new limit for one contaminant – PFAS – and that still may be undone, said Erik Olson, senior adviser to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund, who also lobbied on the legislation.

The US now faces a baffling scenario in which those who are responsible for cleaning its water are considered to be the biggest obstacle to safe water, public health advocates say. Utilities often work “arm and arm” with the chemical industry to attack rules, Olson said. “It has been across the board that when the EPA tries to advance strong new rules, many utilities fight against it,” he added.

Two major trade groups lead the campaigns – the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and Association of Metropolitan Water Companies, the former of which was a public health group at its outset. They represent thousands of utilities, though not all utilities nationwide agree with the trade groups’ positions. The cost for membership is baked into customers’ bills, creating a situation in which consumers are funding the attacks on their water quality.

Major storms contribute to thousands of deaths up to 15 years later, study finds

Major storms such as Hurricane Helene, which obliterated towns and turned roads into rivers after surging inland from Florida last week, have a far longer and more devastating impact upon lives than previously thought, contributing to thousands of deaths up to 15 years after they have swept through, a new study has found. In terms of lives lost, hurricanes are generally thought to be short, sharp events. More than 150 people are thought to have died across five states after Helene tore across the southern US as a category 4 storm, with fatalities caused by rising floodwaters, car crashes or falling trees and debris.

But new research has found that big storms have an impact upon mortality that lingers much longer – for up to 15 years, ultimately causing far more deaths than first apparent. Each tropical cyclone hitting the US causes an average 7,000 to 11,000 excess deaths in total, it calculates, a death toll so vast that as much as 5% of all deaths along the eastern coast of the US since the 1930s have been the result of such storms. ...

The study, published on Wednesday in the Nature journal, analyzed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data for states hit by hurricanes between 1930 and 2015. The researchers were able to calculate “pre-storm” norms for states and then track the death totals once a hurricane hit, with the echo of these storms often overlapping with the next big storm event. What they found, according to Solomon Hsiang, a climate and public policy expert at Stanford University who co-authored the research, was surprising – rather than a single spike in deaths from high winds and floodwater, hurricanes cause a persistent trickle of deaths for years afterwards. Certain groups suffer relatively high risks of post-hurricane deaths, the research found, such as infants and the Black population. ...

The new study does not provide a definitive answer as to the exact cause of these extra deaths but comes up with potential factors, such as the fallout from resulting economic and job losses after storms, suddenly overstretched local government budgets that underfund health providers, the release of environmental toxins as storms hit industrialized areas and the unhealthy impact of stress upon those who have to endure hurricanes.