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This evening's music features jazz pianist and bandleader Count Basie. Enjoy!

"When society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet; when it deprives thousands of the necessaries of life, places them under conditions in which they cannot live – forces them, through the strong arm of the law, to remain in such conditions until that death ensues which is the inevitable consequence – knows that these thousands of victims must perish, and yet permits these conditions to remain, its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual; disguised, malicious murder, murder against which none can defend himself, which does not seem what it is, because no man sees the murderer, because the death of the victim seems a natural one, since the offence is more one of omission than of commission. But murder it remains."

-- Friedrich Engels

News and Opinion

Iran Foreign Minister Tells Biden US 'Violated' Nuclear Deal, So It Is US 'That Has to Return'

While U.S. President Joe Biden insisted Sunday that Tehran must halt its uranium enrichment program before the U.S. rejoins the Iran nuclear deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif countered that it was former President Donald Trump who abandoned the agreement and deprived Iranians of food and medicine—and therefore the onus is on Washington to bring the U.S. back into compliance with the pact by lifting all sanctions on Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has demanded that Tehran adhere to the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) before the U.S. does. When asked by CBS anchor Norah O'Donnell on Sunday if the U.S. will "lift sanctions first in order to get back to the negotiating table," Biden responded curtly: "No." And White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday reiterated that "it's really up to Iran to come back."

But Zarif made the case that "it was the United States that left the deal [and] it was the United States that violated the deal" in 2018 when Trump withdrew from the agreement and imposed sanctions on Iran. "So it is for the United States to return to the deal to implement its obligations."

"Iran never left the deal," Zarif told CNN host Fareed Zakaria on Sunday. "Iran is in the deal. Iran has reduced some of its commitments, in line with the deal," he said, referring to Iran's decision to resume uranium enrichment—though well below levels required to develop nuclear weapons— after the U.S. breached the agreement by reinstating sanctions.

"The way to go back to full compliance, on the part of Iran, is for the United States, which has totally left the deal, to come back and implement its obligations," Iran's foreign minister added. "Now it's clear, it's a decision that President Biden and his advisers need to [m]ake. Whether they want to break with the failed policies of President Trump, or whether they want to build on his failures."

"If they want to build on his failures" Zarif warned, "they will only get failure as a result."

According to Zarif, Iran has "a statutory requirement to reduce the presence of U.N. inspectors... somewhere around February 21," at which point "you will not see the additional protocol implemented in Iran," a reference to Tehran's plan to expel United Nations nuclear inspectors if the U.S. does not lift sanctions in the next two weeks.

"That doesn't mean the window [for diplomacy] is fully shut," Zarif added, stressing that "if the United States and its partners return to the deal, return to full compliance, Iran will reverse its actions. All the actions we are taking are reversible."

"But obviously," Iran's top diplomat noted, "it would be much simpler if the United States decided to make good on its commitments earlier rather than later. And it is good for the United States' reputation because President Trump not only destroyed the reputation of the United States domestically but he destroyed the reputation of the United States internationally."

Emphasizing that an "international agreement is not a revolving door" enabling one party "to simply come and go as they please," Zarif said that "the United States must make it clear and must give guarantees to Iran and other members of the deal that the behavior of President Trump will not be repeated because the international community has suffered enough from the lawlessness of somebody who acts on a whim."

After OUTRAGE On $2,000 Checks, Biden Backs Down On Lowering Means Testing

Ilhan Omar Warns Progressives Will Revolt If Dems 'Poison' Relief Bill by Curbing Eligibility for $1,400 Checks

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota warned Sunday that conservative Democrats' ongoing effort to further restrict eligibility for the new round of $1,400 direct payments risks shedding progressive support for a final coronavirus relief package—votes that the party, clinging to narrow majorities in the House and Senate, can't afford to lose.

"Cutting the income cap will poison this bill," tweeted Omar (D-Minn.), the whip for the nearly 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). "It already lacks Republicans support and will lose progressive support. Democrats with a slim majority in the Congress can't pass this bill without progressives and must resist suggestions that will ultimately tank this relief bill."

Omar was referring to ongoing talks among Senate Democrats over whether to lower the annual income cutoff for the new round of relief checks with the stated goal of ensuring the payments are more closely "targeted" to those in need. According to the Washington Post, top Democrats are currently weighing a plan under which only individuals earning $50,000 a year or less, heads of household earning $75,000 or less, and married couples earning a combined $100,000 or less would be eligible for full $1,400 payments.

A growing chorus of progressive lawmakers is strongly pushing back against that proposed eligibility framework, which could leave millions of struggling middle-class people with smaller checks or no payments at all.

"There are some Dems who want to lower the income eligibility for direct payments from $75,000 to $50,000 for individuals, and $150,000 to $100,000 for couples. In other words, working-class people who got checks from Trump would not get them from Biden. Brilliant!" Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who along with Omar and others has been pushing for recurring relief payments for nearly a year—tweeted sardonically on Saturday night.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a CPC member, echoed the Vermont senator. "It would be outrageous if we ran on giving more relief and ended up doing the opposite," said Ocasio-Cortez. "It's sad that this is even an argument in the Dem party. Covid relief is disaster relief, and it's urgent."

To pass a coronavirus relief package through the reconciliation process without Republican support, the Senate Democratic caucus cannot afford a single defection. House Democrats, meanwhile, hold just a 10-seat majority, meaning that even a relatively small exodus of CPC members could imperil the coronavirus relief package—a state of affairs that potentially gives the chamber's progressive contingent significant leverage over the ongoing negotiations.

NBC News reported late last week that the eligibility framework remains a "live ball," with conservative and progressive members of the Democratic caucus publicly and privately battling over who should receive the new round of payments. President Joe Biden has said he is open to lowering the income cutoff for the checks, and discussed the possibility of narrowing eligibility with Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) at the White House last week.

Progressive activists and commentators have argued that in addition to being morally unjustifiable amid such a far-reaching economic collapse, limiting eligibility for the $1,400 payments would be politically "suicidal" and represent yet another retreat from the original campaign-trail promise of $2,000 relief checks that helped Democrats take control of the Senate.

"Let's be really, really clear. Doing this will cost Democrats control of the Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024," Robert Cruickshank, campaign director at advocacy group Demand Progress, said last week. "There is nobody out there in America aside from a few wonks who want to limit these checks. It is a colossally bad idea."

Budget Chair Sanders Hails CBO Score as Proof Congress Can Pass $15 Minimum Wage Through Reconciliation

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday welcomed the Congressional Budget Office's new estimate that raising the national minimum wage to $15 by 2025 would add $54 billion to the deficit over the next decade as further evidence that the hourly pay increase would have a direct impact on federal revenue and spending—and thus complies with the rules of budget reconciliation.

While casting doubt on the accuracy of the CBO's finding—just two years ago, Sanders noted, the same agency estimated a $15 minimum wage would increase the deficit by less than $1 million over 10 years—the Vermont senator and budget committee chairman nevertheless argued that the CBO's analysis bolsters the progressive case for passing the pay raise for 32 million U.S. workers through the expedited reconciliation process.

"The good news," Sanders said in a statement, "is that from a Byrd rule perspective, the CBO has demonstrated that increasing the minimum wage would have a direct and substantial impact on the federal budget. What that means is that we can clearly raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour under the rules of reconciliation."

"I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House and the Senate to end the crisis of starvation wages in America and raise the minimum wage to a living wage of at least $15 an hour," Sanders added.

Named after the late former Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, the Byrd rule requires that every individual provision of a reconciliation bill have a direct—not "merely incidental"—budgetary impact. As New York Times columnist Ezra Klein explained last week, "Any senator can challenge any provision of any budget reconciliation bill for violating these rules."

"The parliamentarian then rules on the question, and if the parliamentarian rules for the challenger, the provision is struck from the bill," Klein noted.

While the vice president or Senate president pro tempore have the constitutional authority to overrule the parliamentarian, progressives argued Monday that the CBO's new analysis should lead the parliamentarian to rule in favor of the minimum wage, rendering such a move unnecessary.

British Medical Journal calls pandemic response “social murder”

On Thursday, the BMJ (formerly, British Medical Journal ) published an editorial accusing the world’s governments of “social murder” in their collective response to the pandemic. The BMJ is one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious medical periodicals, with a publication history going back to 1840. Its editorial, “Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant,” is signed by executive editor Kamran Abbasi. It is a devastating indictment of policies implemented over the past year that have led to the deaths of more than two million people.

“Murder,” the editorial begins, “is an emotive word. In law, it requires premeditation. Death must be deemed to be unlawful. How could ‘murder’ apply to failures of a pandemic response?” The BMJ then goes on to argue that the term is entirely appropriate:

When politicians and experts say that they are willing to allow tens of thousands of premature deaths for the sake of population immunity or in the hope of propping up the economy, is that not premeditated and reckless indifference to human life? If policy failures lead to recurrent and mistimed lockdowns, who is responsible for the resulting non-covid excess deaths? When politicians willfully neglect scientific advice, international and historical experience, and their own alarming statistics and modelling because to act goes against their political strategy, is that lawful? Is inaction, action?

“At the very least,” the BMJ writes, “covid-19 might be classified as ‘social murder,’” pointing to the use of the term by the socialist leader Friedrich Engels in “describing the political and social power held by the ruling elite over the working classes in 19th century England.” The editorial savages the lying justifications of capitalist politicians, who “say they have done all they can or that the pandemic was uncharted territory; there was no playbook. None of these are true. They are self-serving political lies from the ‘gaslighters in chief’ around the globe.”

The characterization by the BMJ of the response to the pandemic is entirely accurate. Around the world, politicians deliberately and knowingly handicapped government responses to the pandemic, often claiming that the mass infection of the population was desirable—in a policy dubbed “herd immunity.” ...

The policies of governments have been dictated by one overriding priority: No measures could be taken to stop the spread of the virus that impinged on the interests of the financial oligarchy. The slogan, “the cure can’t be worse than the disease,” first coined by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, meant in practice that the necessary measures to stop the virus—including the shutdown of non-essential production, with full income to all workers—were unacceptable to the ruling class. These social interests dictated not only the initial cover-up of the pandemic, but also the premature reopening of schools and workplaces, which helped fuel a massive resurgence that has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of people since the lifting of partial lockdowns in the spring.

In its most damning passage, the BMJ concludes, “The ‘social murder’ of populations is more than a relic of a bygone age. It is very real today, exposed and magnified by covid-19. It cannot be ignored or spun away. Politicians must be held to account by legal and electoral means, indeed by any national and international constitutional means necessary.”

Caitlin Johnstone: Democrats WANT To Lose The Midterms: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

Americans: We’re dying!

Republicans: Good.

Democrats: We hear you and we honor your experience.

Disease experts warn of surge in deaths from Covid variants as US lags in tracking

Experts who have spent the last year forecasting Covid-19 transmission across the US are now considering scenarios for the spread of new, more infectious strains of the coronavirus. At the same time, the US continues to lag in surveillance for coronavirus variants, despite having among the most well-developed genomic sequencing infrastructure in the world.

The warnings come as the US appears to have crested a devastating winter wave of infections, which at one time saw more than 300,000 new infections and 4,000 deaths a day. Even though daily infections have more than halved from the peak, with death rates expected to drop soon also, the threat of the more infectious variants has some considering the possibility of a fresh surge.

“It’s a grim projection, unfortunately,” said Ali Mokdad, professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, one of the leading academic forecasters of Covid-19. “I’m concerned about a spike due to the new variant and the relaxation of social distancing,” he said. “People are tired. People are very tired.” ... IHME’s “rapid variant spread” model predicts total deaths could increase by 26,000 over the most likely scenario by May. Such a forecast would result in a total of more than 620,000 Covid-19 deaths by that time.

Notably, the most accurate are often “ensemble” forecasts, which draw in many individual projections. The ensemble forecast published by the CDC makes a prediction only through 27 February, when it estimates up to 534,000 deaths could occur. IHME also estimates universal masking could save 31,000 lives.

On Monday, the US surpassed 27m confirmed coronavirus cases, with the country’s death toll nearing 465,000. Both figures are by far the highest in the world, according to the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Disabled Advocates Demand Better Vaccine Access as They Face Greater Risks of Dying from COVID-19

North Korea upgraded nuclear missile programme in 2020, says UN diplomat

North Korea maintained and developed its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes throughout 2020 in violation of international sanctions, said a UN diplomat with knowledge of a confidential report given to security council members on Monday.

The report by independent sanctions monitors said Pyongyang “produced fissile material, maintained nuclear facilities and upgraded its ballistic missile infrastructure”, and continued to seek technology for those programmes from abroad.

The annual report to the security council’s North Korea sanctions committee comes just weeks after the US president, Joe Biden, took office. A state department representative said on Monday the administration planned a new approach to North Korea that includes a full review with allies “on ongoing pressure options and the potential for any future diplomacy”.

Ecuador presidential election heads into runoff after leftist wins first round

Ecuador is heading to a runoff presidential election in April after a young leftwing candidate won a first-round victory on Sunday, following years of austerity measures made more painful by the pandemic.

Andrés Arauz , a 36-year-old protege of former president Rafael Correa, will advance to the 11 April runoff, but it was still too close to call whether he would face the environmental activist Yaku Pérez or conservative banker Guillermo Lasso.

The surprisingly strong showing by Pérez, who is running on a platform of banning industrial mining, shakes up an election that has so far been defined by dueling ideologies of social welfare versus free markets.

According to a quick count by the National Electoral Council Arauz took 31.5% of the vote, Pérez 20.04% and Lasso 19.97%. The count was based on some 2,400 poll statements from a representative sample of voting centers.

Shortly after the announcement, Pérez told reporters that he had won enough votes to enter the second round, and said he was holding a vigil outside the election council’s headquarters in Quito to prevent vote manipulation.

US investigates Honduran president accused of role in narcotics trade

US prosecutors are investigating the Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, according to a new court filing, piling pressure on a leader who prosecutors have already accused in court of participation in the nation’s bloody narcotics trade.

In a court document filed on Friday night in the southern district of New York in the case of Geovanny Fuentes Ramírez, an alleged Honduran drug trafficker, federal prosecutors said Hernández himself was the target of an investigation, along with other “high-ranking officials”.

The filing did not say what Hernández, who has been president since 2014, is being investigated for. Last month, US prosecutors said in a court filing related to the same case that Hernández had by 2013 “accepted millions of dollars in drug-trafficking proceeds and, in exchange, promised drug traffickers protection from prosecutors, law enforcement, and [later] extradition to the United States”.

The Honduran government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Hernández has repeatedly denied any ties to drug cartels. The Honduran president has been a key US ally in the region and the investigation could complicate the Biden administration’s efforts to invest $4bn in Central America, including in Honduras, to address the root causes of migration.

Germany, Poland and Sweden expel Russian diplomats

Germany, Poland and Sweden have each expelled a Russian diplomat in a coordinated act of retaliation over the expulsion of three EU officials by Moscow while the bloc’s foreign policy chief was visiting last week.

The tit-for-tat expulsions on Monday underscored the volatility in east-west relations and an erosion of trust among former cold war foes, as the west accuses Moscow of trying to destabilise it and the Kremlin rejects what it sees as foreign interference.

The EU executive defended Josep Borrell over his trip to Russia where he said he had learned of the initial expulsions via social media while speaking with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Friday.

The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on Monday the removal of diplomats from Germany, Poland and Sweden, who were accused by Moscow of taking part in protests last month against jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, took place a day before Borrell’s trip.

Bernie Sanders to Confirm Enemy of Progressives: Neera Tanden

As DeJoy Readies New Assault on Postal Service, Pressure Grows for Biden to 'Clean House'

With Postmaster General Louis DeJoy reportedly preparing to unveil plans for another round of service cuts and operational changes as soon as this week, President Joe Biden is facing growing calls from lawmakers, mail carriers, and others to take urgent steps to protect the U.S. Postal Service from further damage, pave the way for DeJoy's removal, and shore up the agency's finances for the near and distant future.

The Washington Post reported over the weekend that DeJoy—a Republican megadonor to former President Donald Trump—soon intends to "outline a new vision for the agency, one that includes more service cuts, higher and region-specific pricing, and lower delivery expectations."

Meanwhile, the Post noted, "congressional Democrats are pressing President Biden to install new board members, creating a majority bloc that could oust DeJoy, a Trump loyalist whose aggressive cost-cutting over the summer has been singled out for much of the performance decline."

Appointed unanimously by the Trump-appointee-dominated Postal Service Board of Governors in May despite his complete lack of experience with the Postal Service, DeJoy wasted no time imposing sweeping operational changes at the mail agency that resulted in precipitous drops in performance in the weeks ahead of, during, and after the November presidential election—prompting accusations of politically motivated sabotage of the nation's most popular government institution.

While DeJoy was forced to temporarily suspend some of his operational changes last year in the face of a nationwide uproar and numerous court injunctions, the postmaster general now appears intent on moving forward with his plan to cripple the agency—a plan that has Democratic lawmakers and postal workers clamoring for action from the Biden administration.

Because Biden is prohibited by statute from firing DeJoy directly, congressional Democrats are urging the president to terminate every sitting postal governor—including those who publicly cheered on the postmaster general's changes as they produced major package backlogs nationwide and slowed delivery of prescription medicines and mail-in ballots—and replace them with officials willing to remove the postmaster general and protect the agency.

"My solution starts at the top: firing the whole board who presided over Trump and DeJoy's wrecking of USPS. Clean house," Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.) tweeted Sunday.

Late last month, as Common Dreams reported, Pascrell became the first congressional Democrat to call on Biden to remove the sitting members of the Board of Governors, which currently consists of four Republicans and one Democrat—all appointed by Trump. Under federal law, the president has the authority to remove postal governors "for cause."

"The board members' refusal to oppose the worst destruction ever inflicted on the Postal Service was a betrayal of their duties and unquestionably constitutes good cause for their removal," argued Pascrell.

Days later, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio.) echoed Pascrell's demand, accusing the board members of complicity in "unprecedented sabotage" of the mail service.

"The response from the leadership of the USPS to the unconscionable delays we are experiencing with the mail is beyond unacceptable," Ryan wrote in a January 29 letter to Biden. "We must do right by the American people, and we must do right by our postal workers and letter carriers."

Nation’s @USPS mail service now slower & more erratic than in generations, fueling demands for reform with more service cuts, higher & region-specific pricing, & lower delivery expectations expected to be announced soon, @washingtonpost rpts: https://t.co/Au45MIJubX pic.twitter.com/aOZpaunCtM

— Mark Albert (@malbertnews) February 8, 2021

Last week, USA Today's editorial board joined the growing chorus demanding that Biden remove the sitting postal governors, pointing out that "beyond the hiring of DeJoy, the Board of Governors is led by a former Republican National Committee chairman tapped by Trump."

Hacker attempted to poison water supply of Florida city, officials say

Local and federal authorities are investigating how a hacker was able to remotely gain access to a Florida city’s water treatment plant in an unsuccessful attempt at what could have amounted to a mass poisoning.

A mysterious hacker infiltrated a computer for the water treatment system of the city of Oldsmar, near Tampa, and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, by a factor of more than 100, the Pinellas county sheriff, Bob Gualtieri, said on Monday.

The chemical is used in small amounts to control the acidity of water but it is also a corrosive compound commonly found in household cleaning supplies such as liquid drain cleaners. In large quantities it can cause irritation, burns and other complications.

A sharp-eyed supervisor noticed the measurements of the chemical suddenly changing wildly on his computer screen and promptly stepped in to reverse the action, leaving the city’s water supply unaffected, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Amid Unrest in Haiti, ICE Deports Dozens — Including a 2-Month-Old Baby — into "Burning House"

Outcry as more than 20 babies and children deported by US to Haiti

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) deported at least 72 people to Haiti on Monday, including a two-month-old baby and 21 other children, in an apparent flagrant breach of the Biden administration’s orders only to remove suspected terrorists and potentially dangerous convicted felons.

The children were deported to Haiti on Monday on two flights chartered by Ice from Laredo, Texas to the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. The removals sent vulnerable infants back to Haiti as it is being roiled by major political unrest.

Ice is facing a rising chorus of denunciation as a “rogue agency” for its apparent refusal to abide by the new guidelines laid down by Biden and his homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. The incoming administration ordered a 100-day moratorium on all deportations, which was temporarily blocked by a judge in Texas.

However, the judge’s restraining order left in place the new guidelines stipulating that only the most serious immigration cases should be subject to deportation.

Last Friday, the administration appeared to gain the upper hand in its attempt to rein in Ice when deportation flights to Haiti were suspended. But on Monday the immigration agency reasserted itself again with the renewed flights to Port-au-Prince, children and infants on board.

Senate Puts Trump On Trial in Historic Second Impeachment Case For Inciting Capitol Insurrection

Democrats to open Trump impeachment trial by recounting Capitol attack

House impeachment managers will open their prosecution of Donald Trump for “incitement of insurrection” by recounting the deadly assault on the US Capitol in harrowing and cinematic detail, rekindling for senators the chaos and trauma they experienced on 6 January.

The historic second impeachment trial will open on Tuesday, on the Senate floor that was invaded by rioters, with a debate over the constitutionality of the proceedings. In a brief filed on Monday, Trump’s lawyers assailed the case as “political theater” and argued that the Senate “lacks the constitutional jurisdiction” to try a former president after he has left office – an argument Democrats promptly rejected.

Exactly one week after the Capitol assault, Trump became the first president to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives. This week, he will become the first former president to stand trial. It would take 17 Republicans joining all Democrats in the Senate to find Trump guilty, making conviction highly unlikely.

Nevertheless, when opening arguments begin later this week, House Democrats will try to force senators to see the assault on the Capitol as the culmination of Trump’s long campaign to overturn the result of the election he lost to Joe Biden.

Georgia opens investigation into Trump effort to overturn election results

The Georgia secretary of state’s office opened an investigation on Monday into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, according to a new report. The office of Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state, had faced calls to open an investigation after Trump was recorded in a 2 January phone call pressuring Raffensperger to overturn the state’s election results based on unfounded voter fraud claims.

“The secretary of state’s office investigates complaints it receives,” said Walter Jones, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office, describing the investigation as “fact-finding and administrative”, Reuters reported. “Any further legal efforts will be left to the attorney general,” he said.

Legal experts said Trump’s phone calls might have violated at least three state criminal election laws: conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud, and intentional interference with performance of election duties. The felony and misdemeanor violations are punishable by fines or imprisonment.

Ryan Grim: Is 'Bernie Bro' John Fetterman Headed To US Senate?

A 'uniquely American whale': new species discovered off southern US coast

Genetic analysis and a close examination of the skulls from a group of baleen whales in the north-eastern Gulf of Mexico have revealed that they are a new species.

“I was surprised that there could be an unrecognized species of whale out there, especially in our backyard,” says Lynsey Wilcox, a geneticist with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who helped uncover the new species. “I never imagined I would be describing a new species in my career, so it is a very exciting discovery.”

The newly described whales weren’t exactly hiding in plain sight. With a population estimated at fewer than 100, the new whales – which researchers have dubbed Rice’s whales after American biologist Dale Rice – aren’t commonly seen even in the corner of the Gulf of Mexico they call home. It doesn’t help that the whales, previously believed to be a population of Bryde’s whales, have a feeding strategy that takes them deep under the water around DeSoto Canyon, about 100km south of Mobile, Alabama.

Researchers have long known that this group of Bryde’s-like whales in the Gulf of Mexico was different. They seemed to mostly stay put in the north-eastern corner of the gulf, and didn’t mingle with Bryde’s whales, which are found in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They also feed near the seafloor, while most Bryde’s whales typically forage near the surface. ...

Rice’s whales are already considered endangered by the United States. They were listed under the Endangered Species Act as a population of Bryde’s whales in April 2019, and the discovery that they are a distinct species is unlikely to change much – other than requiring an update of their name. Living in the Gulf of Mexico, the whales face threats from oil spills, ship strikes, ocean noise and entanglement in fishing gear.

Union Head KNOCKS Biden On Keystone

Pollen season grows 20 days in 30 years as climate crisis hits hay fever sufferers

The climate crisis is multiplying the miseries faced by people with allergies, with new research finding that the pollen season in North America is now an average 20 days longer than it was three decades ago. Rising global temperatures are helping lengthen the period of time, typically in spring, when pollen is released by plants, trees and grasses, according to the study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In an analysis of 60 pollen-collecting stations across the US and Canada, the pollen season is now 20 days longer on average than it was in 1990. The season is also becoming more intense, with significantly larger quantities of pollen being detected.

This increase is strongly coupled with global heating, with the researchers using climate modeling to show that climate change is responsible for at least half of the additional days of pollen activity. There is also some evidence the growing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may in itself be helping spur the increase.

“We are getting warmer winters, warmer springs and earlier springs and that is driving a lot of this,” said William Anderegg, co-author of the study and a scientist at the University of Utah, who became personally interested in the topic because of his own seasonal hay fever. “This is a really clear example that climate change is already here, in essence it’s here in every breath we take. The health impacts are with us and likely to get worse.”

Elon Musk pledges $100m to carbon capture contest

The Tesla co-founder Elon Musk has offered a $100m (£73m) fund for inventions that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or oceans.

Musk, who has built up an estimated $203bn fortune, said he wanted scientists to make a “truly meaningful impact” and achieve “carbon negativity, not neutrality”.

“This is not a theoretical competition; we want teams that will build real systems that can make a measurable impact and scale to a gigaton level,” Musk said as he announced the competition as part of the X Prize charity initiative that encourages technological developments that can benefit humanity. “Whatever it takes. Time is of the essence.”

To win, teams must create “a solution that can pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or oceans and lock it away permanently in an environmentally benign way”, the X Prize Foundation said.

Also of Interest

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

The Diplomacy of No Diplomacy

U.S., Taiwan Manipulate Chip Supplies To Press For War With China

How Ecuador’s US-backed, coup-supporting ‘ecosocialist’ candidate Yaku Pérez aids the right-wing

Amazon's mushrooming power has met an unlikely foe: Bessemer, Alabama

Press Freedom Groups Urge Biden DOJ to Drop 'Disastrous' Charges Against Assange

Green Coalition Threatens to Sue Biden Administration Over Trump-Era Permits That 'Jeopardize' Wildlife

Jim Cramer’s Thesis that Reddit’s WallStreetBets’ Guys Caused the Short Squeeze in GameStop Is Falling Apart

Paul Manafort can't be prosecuted in New York due to double jeopardy, court rules

Utah school under fire for allowing Black History Month opt-out

Every executive action Joe Biden has signed — and what they do

New Campaign Targets Wall Street Funding to Stop Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline

New Orleans houses become Mardi Gras floats in Covid era – in pictures

Keiser Report | Central Banks Swim Against the Rip Current

Saagar Enjeti: NYT Reporter CAUGHT Spreading False Smear, Reveals SOCIOPATHIC Tattletale Journalism

Krystal Ball: Fox FIRES Lou Dobbs But NOTHING Can Save Them

Derek Thompson: How Remote Work Revolution Will TRANSFORM Cities And Could Screw GOP

Krystal and Saagar: Newsmax SLOBBERS Over Marjorie Taylor Greene

A Little Night Music

Count Basie - Swingin' the Blues

Count Basie and Jimmy Rushing - Sent for You Yesterday

Count Basie - Splanky

Count Basie - Green Onions

Count Basie - Jumping at the Woodside

Count Basie / Jimmy Rushing - Take Me Back Baby

Count Basie and his Orchestra - In a Mellow Tone

The Count Basie Orchestra - Blues In Hoss' Flat

Bennie Moten w/Count Basie - Moten Swing

Count Basie - Big Joe Turner - Honeydripper

Count Basie - Basie Boogie