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"It’s wild to think we could be close to seeing Assange whisked away and disappeared from public view for the rest of his life because he committed the crime of good journalism."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

Chris Hedges: Julian Assange’s Day in Court

By the afternoon the video link, which would have allowed Julian Assange to follow his final U.K. appeal to prevent his extradition, had been turned off. Julian, his attorneys said, was too ill to attend, too ill even to follow the court proceedings on a link, although it was possible he was no longer interested in sitting through another judicial lynching. The rectangular screen, tucked under the black wrought iron bars that enclosed the upper left hand corner balcony of the courtroom where Julian would have been caged as a defendant, was perhaps a metaphor for the emptiness of this long and convoluted judicial pantomime.

The arcane procedural rules — the lawyers in their curled blonde wigs and robes, the spectral figure of the two judges looking down on the court from their raised dais in their gray wigs and forked white collars, the burnished walnut paneled walls, the rows of lancet windows, the shelves on either side filled with law books in brown, green, red, crimson, blue and beige leather bindings, the defense lawyers, Edward Fitzgerald KC and Mark Summers KC, addressing the two judges, Dame Victoria Sharp and Justice Johnson, as “your lady” and “my lord” — were all dusty Victorian props employed in a modern Anglo-American show trial. It was a harbinger of a decrepit justice system that, subservient to state and corporate power, is designed to strip us of our rights by judicial fiat.

The physical and psychological disintegration of Julian, seven years trapped in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and nearly five years held on remand in the high-security HM Prison Belmarsh, was always the point, what Nils Melzer the former U.N. Special Rapporteur on torture calls his “slow-motion execution.” Political leaders, and their echo chambers in the media, fall all over themselves to denounce the treatment of Alexei Navalny but say little when we do the same to Julian. ... It may take months to issue a ruling, or grant one or two appeal requests, as Julian continues to waste away in HM Prison Belmarsh. ...

The two-day hearing is Julian’s last chance to appeal the extradition decision made in 2022 by the then British home secretary, Priti Patel. On Wednesday the prosecution will make its arguments. If he is denied an appeal he can request the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for a stay of execution under Rule 39, which is given in “exceptional circumstances” and “only where there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm.” But the British court may order Julian’s immediate extradition prior to a Rule 39 instruction or may decide to ignore a request from the ECtHR to allow Julian to have his case heard by the court.

Prof. John Mearsheimer: US and the Unipolar Moment

US asks world court not to call for Israeli pullout from Palestinian territories

The US has urged the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague not to issue a ruling calling for Israel’s immediate withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories, arguing that Israeli security had to be taken into account in any solution to the conflict. “Any movement towards Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza requires consideration for Israel’s very real security needs,” Richard Visek, the state department’s acting legal adviser, told the ICJ judges.

Visek was stating the US position in ICJ hearings this week first requested by the UN general assembly in 2022. They are intended to establish the legal status of the occupied territories, and the implications for the international community’s approach to the conflict.

More than 50 states are due to present their stances in the week-long hearings, which have further emphasised the isolation of Israel’s few supporters, following a UN security council hearing on Tuesday in which the US was the lone vote against a draft ceasefire resolution, with the UK abstaining. The US and UK are expected to be virtually alone again at the ICJ hearings in urging restraint in its ruling on Israel’s occupation.

The ICJ is expected to issue its opinion by the summer, and it could have a far-reaching political and legal impact if it rules the occupation to be illegal. It could for example have implications for governments attempting to ban boycott campaigns aimed at products made in the occupied territories. It could also further increase the geopolitical costs to the US and UK in continuing to defend Israel on the world stage.

Hamas Rape Narrative COLLAPSES, Israeli Forces Accused of SEXUAL VIOLENCE in Gaza

UK to consider suspending arms exports to Israel if Rafah offensive goes ahead

The UK government will consider suspending arms export licences to Israel if Benjamin Netanyahu goes ahead with a potentially devastating ground offensive on the Palestinian city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

As the humanitarian situation in Gaza has worsened, diplomatic pressure has been mounting on the UK to follow other countries and suspend arms exports to Israel.

Ministerial sources said that while no decision had been made about a suspension of arms export licences, the UK had the ability to respond quickly if the legal advice to ministers said that Israel was in breach of international humanitarian law.

The UK has joined other allies in pressuring Israel to avoid a ground offensive in Rafah. In a letter to the foreign affairs select committee about arms export controls to Israel published on Tuesday, David Cameron, the foreign secretary, said he could not see how an offensive in Rafah could go ahead without harming civilians and destroying homes.

In the Commons, the UK foreign minister Andrew Mitchell underscored that an offensive in Rafah represented a red line for the UK government, telling MPs on Wednesday that the UK was urging the Israeli government not to launch an attack that could have “devastating consequences”.

Israeli Narrative FALLS APART as US Report Shows UNRWA Not OVERUN with HAMAS OPERATIVES

Gaza aid deliveries paused amid ‘incredible level of desperation’

New fighting and a deepening breakdown in public order in northern Gaza have derailed a humanitarian effort to avert a famine in parts of the battered territory, with senior aid officials describing an “incredible level of desperation” as food supplies run out.

A UN attempt to deliver 10 convoys of food aid to northern Gaza over seven days was suspended earlier this week after trucks were looted by crowds, a driver was beaten and gunfire reported amid chaotic scenes.

Reports of fresh clashes between Israeli troops and Hamas militants in northern Gaza have reinforced fears that fighting may continue across the territory for many months if there is no ceasefire, further complicating relief efforts.

The looting incidents were the latest in a series of such attacks, which began around a month ago. Some have involved organised and armed gangs, but most appear spontaneous. “In most cases, when food does get taken directly from convoys, it’s because of utter desperation, with people even eating it on the spot,” said Jonathan Fowler, a spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Aid agencies believe there may already be “pockets of famine” in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people are living in the ruins of former homes with almost no functioning infrastructure.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: US Unrepentant for War Crimes

In Likely Illegal Attack, Israeli Navy Fired on UN Food Convoy in Gaza

The Israeli navy fired on a United Nations convoy bringing much-needed aid to northern Gaza after Israel approved the route it would take.

The incident, which took place on February 5, was documented by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and confirmed by a CNN investigation published on Wednesday. The attack marked the last time that UNRWA attempted to deliver aid to northern Gaza, where 15.6% of children under two are acutely malnourished. The U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) also announced on Monday that it was suspending aid to northern Gaza because it could not ensure the "safety and security" of workers or recipients.

"Gaza has become very fast one of the most dangerous places to be an aid worker in," Juliette Touma, UNRWA's global director of communications, told CNN.

“#Gaza has become very fast one of the most dangerous places to be an aid worker”@CNN: Israeli forces fired on @UN convoy carrying vital food supplies on Feb 5, before ultimately blocking trucks progressing north, where people are on verge of famine https://t.co/miXbJB88Og pic.twitter.com/3zR6iI6kfV

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) February 21, 2024

The UNRWA convoy left southern Gaza for the north early on the morning of February 5. It consisted of 10 trucks filled with supplies and two armored vehicles marked with the U.N. logo.

UNRWA said it had confirmed the route, along the Al Rashid Road, with Israel's COGAT agency, as emails seen by CNN confirm.

"We share with the Israeli army the coordinates of the convoys, and the route of that convoy," Touma explained to CNN. "Only when the Israeli army gives us the okay, the green light, does UNRWA move. We don't move without that coordination."

The convoy reached an IDF holding point in central Gaza at 4:15 am local time; at 5:35 am, after waiting for more than an hour, aid workers heard gunfire and one of the trucks was hit. While no one was injured, much of the cargo was ruined, primarily wheat flour. When UNRWA later asked to continue through a checkpoint into northern Gaza, the Israeli military denied it access.

On the day of the attack, Thomas White, UNRWA's director of affairs in Gaza, posted images of the damaged truck on social media and said it had been hit by "Israeli naval gunfire."

UNRWA's head of legal in Gaza, Philippa Greer, reshared the images, saying she was on the convoy when it was struck and that "we were extremely lucky that no one was injured."

Using photo analysis and satellite images, CNN confirmed that the shot fired at the truck came from the direction of the sea and that three Israeli naval vessels carrying missiles were stationed offshore two hours after the attack.

The firing came after the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel was plausibly committing genocide in Gaza and ordered it to take steps to prevent acts of genocide, including delivering humanitarian aid to Gazans.

"It's really difficult to see how this could be a legal attack," Janina Dill, co-director at Oxford University's Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict, told CNN. "At a minimum it would look like a very serious violation of international humanitarian law. Whether it's also criminal then depends on questions of intent, which is something that needs to be established in a court of law."

'KILL THEM ALL': Republican Calls For Exterminating Gaza Kids

Israel Demolishing Buildings to Construct Road in Gaza to Cut the Strip Into Two

Israel is demolishing buildings to build a road through central Gaza that will cut the Strip in two, demonstrating Israel’s long-term plans to occupy the territory.

Israel’s Channel 14 reported on the road, which is being built in an area known as the Netzarim Corridor. The new road, known as Highway 749, will separate Gaza City from the rest of the Strip.

Israel is creating a 1-kilometer “buffer zone” to the north and south of the road, similar to the zone it’s creating along the entire Israel-Gaza border. According to The New Arab, among the structures likely to be demolished to build the road is the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which was shut down in November due to an Israeli siege that cut off fuel.

The construction will also require the demolition of Al-Aqsa University, several villages, amusement parks, and agricultural land. Israeli soldiers said the purpose of the road was to make it easier to launch incursions into Gaza, and it could also prevent the movement of Palestinians from the south to the north.

The Wall Street Journal also reported on the highway and said it would effectively create a militarized belt across Gaza that will help prevent the 1 million Palestinians who fled the north from returning to their homes. Israeli officials told the Journal that the road will be patrolled until Israel’s military operations are complete, which they say could be years away.

Top GOP Congressman Says Ukraine Funding is TEARING THE HOUSE APART

Alito Renews Threat to Overturn Marriage Equality

Trial attorneys in the U.S. frequently stop potential jurors from serving on cases based on their stated biases, but U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito indicated on Tuesday that he was disturbed by a case out of Missouri in which three people were eliminated from a jury after expressing homophobic views—and suggested the high court should reconsider marriage equality to prevent such outcomes.

The Supreme Court declined to take up Missouri Department of Corrections v. Jean Finney, with none of the justices dissenting. But Alito appeared reluctant in his agreement with the other eight justices and released a five-page statement saying the case "exemplifies the danger that I anticipated in Obergefell v. Hodges," the 2015 case in which the court ruled 5-4 that same-sex couples in the U.S. had the same right to marry as heterosexual couples.

The case out of Missouri on Tuesday centered on Jean Finney, who said she faced discrimination at the state Department of Corrections (DOC) after she began a relationship with another woman.

During her court case, Finney's lawyer questioned potential jurors about their views on same-sex couples to ensure they didn't harbor a bias against the plaintiff.

The lawyer asked the potential jurors, "How many of you went to a religious organization growing up where it was taught that people that are homosexuals shouldn't have the same rights as everyone else because it was a sin with what they did?"

Three people were eliminated from consideration after stating they believed homosexuality to be a sin.

The jury ultimately sided with Finney in her case, and the state DOC asked for a re-trial, claiming the potential jurors' 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law had been violated.

After the state Supreme Court declined to take up the case, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review it.

The case, said Alito in his statement, showed that "Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be 'labeled as bigots and treated as such' by the government."

The Obergefell ruling "made it clear that the decision should not be used" to discriminate against people for their religious views, wrote Alito, "but I am afraid that this admonition is not being heeded by our society."

Alito's comments come less than two years after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, also a member of the court's right-wing majority, signaled that the court should reconsider a number of rulings, including Obergefell and a case that guaranteed the right to contraception, following its overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Both Alito and Thomas dissented in Obergefell, arguing the ruling had no basis in the U.S. Constitution. In defense of a Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples in 2020, the two justices said the decision must be overturned to protect Americans from Obergefell's "cavalier treatment of religion."

"Overturning Obergefell is on their bucket list," said journalist Annika Brockschmidt of the right-wing justices.

Biden brother testifies as Republicans urged to halt impeachment-push ‘circus’

A top Democrat urged Republicans to “fold up the tent to this circus show” and stop attempting to impeach Joe Biden, after the president’s youngest brother, James Biden, testified to the House oversight and judiciary committees.

The closed-door session was held after the revelation that a former FBI informant, charged with making up a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving the Bidens and a Ukrainian energy company, had contacts with officials affiliated with Russian intelligence. ...

In a combative opening statement, released to the press, James Biden said those alleging corruption were “mistaken, ill-informed or flat-out lying”. Hunter Biden, whose troubled personal life, legal jeopardy and business affairs provide the chief fuel for Republican allegations, is due to be interviewed next week. ...

On Wednesday, two far-right Republicans, Jim Jordan and Andy Biggs, told CNN the Smirnov revelations did not lessen their determination to impeach. Biggs claimed: “We have lots of evidence.” CNN also quoted an aide to the impeachment inquiry as saying the inclusion then deletion of a reference to Smirnov in a letter to a potential witness, first reported by the Huffington Post, was simply a clerical error.

FBI’s LAST DITCH Effort To Keep Seth Rich Laptop Hidden!

Speeding Seattle officer who struck and killed student will not face charges

Prosecutors in Washington state said on Wednesday they will not file felony charges against a Seattle police officer who struck and killed a graduate student from India while responding to an overdose call – a case that attracted widespread attention after another officer was recorded making callous remarks about it.

Officer Kevin Dave was driving 74mph (119km/h) on a street with a 25mph (40km/h) speed limit in a police SUV before he hit 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula in a crosswalk on 23 January 2023. ...

Kandula’s death ignited outrage, especially after a recording from another officer’s body-worn camera surfaced last September, in which that officer laughed and suggested that Kandula’s life had “limited value” and the city should “just write a check”.

Diplomats from India as well as local protesters sought an investigation. The city’s civilian watchdog, the Office of Police Accountability, found last month that the comments by officer Daniel Auderer – the vice-president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild – damaged the department’s reputation and undermined public trust on a scale that is difficult to measure.

Seattle police chief Adrian Diaz is weighing Auderer’s punishment.

DEMS PANIC Over Michigan Voter Israel REVOLT

Letitia James says she will seize Trump’s assets if he fails to pay $355m fraud fine

The New York state attorney general, Letitia James, said that she will seize Donald Trump’s assets if he does not pay the $355m civil fraud fine stemming from his financial fraud trial.

“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James said to ABC News in an interview on Tuesday evening.

James added that she would not hesitate to seize Trump’s buildings, including his 40 Wall Street skyscraper in Manhattan.

“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day,” James told ABC. ...

Trump and his legal team have denied any wrongdoing and decried the verdict as politically motivated. They have said they will appeal the ruling.

‘Safe’ air-quality levels in US, UK and EU still harmful for health

The sooty air pollution spewed out by cars, trucks and factories is causing widespread harm to people’s hearts and lungs even with the smallest amounts of exposure, with government regulations still routinely allowing for dangerous risks to public health, two major new studies have found.

There is no safe amount of a microscopic form of airborne pollution known as PM2.5, consisting of tiny particles of soot measuring less than the width of a human hair, for heart and lung health, US researchers found, with even small amounts raising the risk of potentially serious problems.

In one of the studies, an analysis of 60 million people in the US aged 65 and older from 2000 to 2016 found there was an increased risk of hospitalization for seven major types of cardiovascular disease when exposed to the average levels of PM2.5 found in the US.

The increased level of risk is significant, with the average pollution amount in the US causing the risk of hospital admission to jump by 29%, or nearly a third, compared with the lower air quality guideline level issued by the World Health Organization (WHO).

But even the WHO-recommended level isn’t itself safe, the second study found, with a significant increase in hospital visits occurring for cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease, as well as emergency visits for respiratory problems, when short-term PM2.5 exposure was below the WHO limit.

Butterfly genomes have barely changed for 250m years

The genomes of butterflies and moths have remained largely unchanged for more than 250m years despite their enormous species diversity, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

In the face of rapid environmental changes in the 21st century, the researchers said the analysis gives clues as to how Lepidoptera – the order of winged insects that contains butterflies and moths – have been so resilient throughout dramatic changes on Earth.

Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Edinburgh looked at more than 200 genomes – a complete set of the genetic information needed to build and maintain an organism – of butterflies and moths to better understand their evolutionary history. They traced the genetic code back to the very first butterflies and identified 32 ancestral chromosomes that are the building blocks of nearly all lepidopterans.

Prof Mark Blaxter, the senior author of the study and the head of the Tree of Life programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “All life is connected by a common thread – DNA. Our DNA sequences record our deep history. We were able to look at the evolutionary history of butterflies through their genome to go back to their common ancestor, to the great-great-great-etcetera-grandmother of all butterflies. We found they had been remarkably stable.” He added: “There is a contrast between the butterflies that have 16 times as many species as mammals but have a much more stable genetic foundation. It’s just amazing!”

Lepidoptera is among the most diverse animal groups known to science, making up approximately 10% of living organisms on Earth. Most moths and butterflies species today have 31 chromosomes, but a rare subset of species that includes the chalkhill blue butterfly, common during the British summer, has 90, the scientists found – breaking the species groups’ genetic norms.

Also of Interest

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

Assange lawyers rebuff anti-democratic US government extradition arguments

Craig Murray: Your Man on Assange’s Final Appeal

Israel-Palestine Isn’t ‘Complicated’, You Just Support Killing Palestinians

Top UN court hearings expose longstanding Israeli plans to occupy and annex Palestinian land

Israeli forces kill, wound Palestinians waiting for food aid in Gaza

New investigation disputes Israel claims about al-Ahli hospital bombing

"A Final Solution"

The Rate Of Child-Deaths In Gaza Are About To Soar

Examining US Neocons’ Wider Black Sea Strategy

Phony Fani Willis, Misguided Support, and the Atlanta Plantation

Covid death toll in US likely 16% higher than official tally, study says

Plantwatch: redwoods make amazing recovery after California wildfire

Malcolm X Assassination: Former Security Guards Reveal New Details Pointing to FBI, NYPD Conspiracy

Rus Advances Avdeyevka, Marinka; Ukr Vuhledar Cauldron; US 5 Carriers Pacific, China Calls US Bluff

A Little Night Music

Fats Domino - Ain't That A Shame

Fats Domino - I Hear You Knocking

Fats Domino - Let the Four Winds Blow

Fats Domino - Jambalaya (On The Bayou)

Fats Domino - My Girl Josephine

Fats Domino - It Keeps Raining

Fats Domino - The Fat Man

Fats Domino - So Long

Fats Domino - I’m Walkin’