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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Silas Hogan

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features swamp blues guitarist Silas Hogan. Enjoy!

^{Silas Hogan - Just Give Me A Chance}

"From such beginnings of governments, what could be expected, but a continual system of war and extortion?"

-- Thomas Paine

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News and Opinion

Israel Begins Choking Gaza Again, Backed By Adelson Stooge Trump

Israel has once again laid siege to Gaza, this time in full coordination with the Trump administration. All goods are being blocked from entering the enclave, including humanitarian aid. This comes after a 15-month US-backed Israeli bombing campaign deliberately made it impossible for people to survive in Gaza without extensive amounts of aid.

The move is an effort to pressure Hamas into changing the terms of the ceasefire deal they agreed to in January by shifting to a new Trump administration plan to extend the first phase of the deal instead of negotiating the second stage as scheduled.

So Israel is breaking international laws against collective punishment by laying siege to an aid-dependent population in order to force changes to a ceasefire deal. You might assume such a straightforward act of psychopathic criminality would be correctly conveyed by the headlines of the western press, but if you assumed such a thing you are adorably naive.

You misspelled "Netanyahu lays siege to aid-dependent population in order to force alterations to ceasefire deal," @abcnews. pic.twitter.com/vfzeqxcXml

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) March 3, 2025

As we anticipated yesterday, the official western propaganda line is spinning this to blame Hamas for rejecting a peace deal, but some of the headlines have been even worse than I would have guessed.

“Hamas rejects extending first phase of Gaza ceasefire, ties hostage release to phased deal,” reads a headline from Reuters.

“Israel halts aid to Gaza as Hamas rejects revised ceasefire proposal,” says the Financial Times.

“Israel says it will block aid going into Gaza until Hamas agrees to ceasefire extension,” says CNN.

“Israel Halts All Aid Into Gaza as Cease-Fire Expires,” says The New York Times in its signature passive-voice framing.

“Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu presses for Gaza ceasefire extension,” reads a particularly obnoxious headline about the story from Australia’s state broadcaster ABC.

Disgusting propaganda! Hamas NEVER rejected “extending ceasefire’s first phase”

The agreement states phase 1 should be AUTOMATICALLY EXTENDED indefinitely as long as Phase 2 negotiations are ongoing

Hamas rejected Netanyahu’s condition to NEVER have phase 2 & never end the war! pic.twitter.com/D4FYYnXtSe

— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) March 2, 2025

To be clear, it is Israel who is rejecting the ceasefire, not Hamas. Hamas already agreed to a ceasefire, and has been honoring it. It is Israel who is pushing to change the terms of the deal instead of moving forward with the deal as agreed. Israel is doing this because moving ceasefire negotiations on to their second stage would entail moving toward a commitment to lasting peace and the removal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

A new deal isn’t even necessary to extend the first phase of the ceasefire; as Muhammad Shehada noted on Twitter, phase one would renew automatically as long as phase two negotiations are ongoing. Phase one of the ceasefire isn’t the issue here: killing phase two is.

And it’s important to understand that Netanyahu never intended to move forward to the second phase of the ceasefire. As soon as the agreement was signed in January the Netanyahu-aligned factions of the Israeli press were already asserting that the prime minister would never allow the ceasefire to move on to phase two. In early February the Israeli outlet Haaretz reported that according to insider sources Netanyahu intended to sabotage the ceasefire before it could move to its second stage.

It’s important to be aware that Netanyahu always intended to sabotage the ceasefire because it shows that none of the reasons being given for Israel’s actions today are the real reasons. It has nothing to do with hostages. It has nothing to do with anything Hamas has done since the signing of the agreement. It has nothing to do with the Bibas family. Those aren’t the reasons, they’re the excuses. The excuses for Netanyahu to do what he always intended to do.

Take note of which Trump comments provoke controversy, and which don't. Trump said this week that he "gave" the Golan Heights to Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, his top funders, who came to the White House "almost more than anybody." Not a peep about this brazen admission of graft pic.twitter.com/MaJLFnH7oi

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) September 22, 2024

It’s probably also worth noting at this juncture that Donald Trump has publicly admitted to being bought and owned by the world’s wealthiest Israeli, virulent Zionist Miriam Adelson. The president openly acknowledged on the campaign trail that the first time he was president, Miriam Adelson and her late husband Sheldon were at the White House “probably almost more than anybody” demanding favors for Israel like moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and acknowledging Israel’s illegitimate claim to the Golan Heights, which he eagerly granted. Miriam Adelson gave the Trump campaign $100 million last year.

It used to be considered an antisemitic conspiracy theory to say that Trump is controlled by Adelson cash; back in 2020 Roger Waters was internationally denounced as an evil Jew hater for saying what Trump himself openly admitted to last year. Now here we are, watching Trump rush weapons to Israel and push to permanently ethnically cleanse Gaza of all Palestinians while Netanyahu happily commits war crimes in full confidence that he will be supported by the Adelson asset in the White House.

Israel prepares Gaza ‘hell plan’ to pile pressure on Hamas

The Israeli government is reportedly planning to ratchet up its blockade on Gaza as part of what it has called a “hell plan” to pressure Hamas into further hostage releases without a troop withdrawal from the Palestinian territory. With the six-week-old ceasefire in limbo, and no sign of movement towards a second phase that was due to start last weekend, both sides were taking contingency steps to return to a war footing.

The government of Benjamin Netanyahu was reported to have made preparations to go beyond the suspension of food and fuel announced on Sunday, to implement a programme of steadily increased isolation of the coastal strip and its population of about 2.2 million, according to the national public radio station, Kan, which said the government was referring to the programme of measures as the “hell plan”.

The plan would involve cutting off electricity and remaining water supplies, and moving Palestinians in northern Gaza back down to the south, to pave the way to the potential resumption of full-scale war. The defence minister, Israel Katz, has instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to make preparations for a return to combat, according to the Walla news site. From Wednesday, they will be serving under a new chief of staff, Maj Gen Eyal Zamir, who has been an advocate of using overwhelming force aimed at achieving a quick, decisive victory over the remnants of Hamas in Gaza.

Meanwhile, there were reports in the Arab press that Hamas was also getting ready for the resumption of fighting. Qatar’s Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that Hamas and other armed factions had gone back to a war footing, with those holding Israeli hostages to resume heightened security measures. Hamas is also said to have been extracting high explosives from unexploded Israeli weapons fired during the war, for use in roadside bombs if the fighting starts again. ...

Talks on the ceasefire have stalled since Friday. The Israeli government is insisting on a proposal extending the first phase of the ceasefire during Ramadan and then Passover until 20 April, during which half the remaining hostages would be released in return for Palestinians in Israeli jails. The other half would be released once there was agreement on a lasting end to the war. ... Netanyahu has attributed the proposal to the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, though Witkoff has so far not spoken about it.

Aaron Maté : Zelenskyy's Hostility to Peace

Egypt alternative plan to Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ replaces Hamas with interim bodies

A plan for Gaza drawn up by Egypt as a counter to US President Donald Trump’s ambition for a Middle East Riviera would sideline Hamas and replace it with interim bodies controlled by Arab, Muslim and Western states, according to a draft seen by Reuters.

The Egyptian vision for Gaza, which is due to be presented at an Arab League summit on Tuesday, does not specify whether the proposal would be implemented before or after any permanent peace deal to end the war triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. ...

Who will run Gaza after the conflict remains the great unanswered question in negotiations over the future of the enclave. Hamas has so far rejected the idea of any proposal being imposed on Palestinians by other states.

Cairo’s plan does not tackle critical issues such as who will foot the bill for Gaza’s reconstruction or outline any specific details around how Gaza would be governed, nor how an armed group as powerful as Hamas would be pushed aside.

Under the Egyptian plan, a Governance Assistance Mission would replace the Hamas-run government in Gaza for an unspecified interim period and would be responsible for humanitarian aid and for kick-starting reconstruction of the enclave, which has been devastated by the war.

Pepe Escobar : The Resistance Gathers

US, Israel Reject French Proposal to End IDF Presence in Lebanon

Weeks after the February 18 deadline for Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon has come and gone, IDF troops remain at the five hilltop surveillance posts they hastily constructed in southern Lebanon ahead of that deadline, and there are increasing signs that this is an indefinite occupation.

The ceasefire ending the Israeli invasion of Lebanon was reached in late November, and initially the deadline for withdrawal was January 26, though the US and Israel ultimately stretched that out to February 18. The US and France were meant to be the guarantors of the ceasefire and the Israeli pullout.

Enforcement of the ceasefire has been effectively non-existent, with the US only giving empty guarantees that Israel was on track to meet deadlines, while giving them a green light to stay. France, however, has been offering proposals that would end with Israel not occupying Lebanon at all.

French proposals have centered around bolstering the UNIFIL peacekeeper force and having them replace the IDF at the hilltop posts, or potentially even stationing French troops inside southern Lebanon at places that Israel would designate. Replacing an Israeli occupation with a French one is probably sub-optimal from Lebanon’s perspective, but it doesn’t have a very recent history of violent invasion and massive civilian casualties associated with it. How palatable a French military presence would be to Lebanon apparently isn’t an issue at any rate, since Israel and the US both rejected these proposals out of hand.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Trump Saying Good Night to NATO

Trump outraged at Zelenskyy saying end of Russia-Ukraine war could be ‘very far away’

The rift between Washington and Kyiv over a potential ceasefire in the war with Russia deepened on Monday as Donald Trump was said to be considering cutting military aid to Ukraine and expressed new outrage at Volodymyr Zelenskyy for saying that the end of the war could be “very, very far away”.

In a post to social media on Monday, Trump posted a link to an Associated Press story outlining Zelenskyy’s comments and said: “This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!

“It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the US,” Trump continued. “Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia,” he said. “What are they thinking?”

Later on Monday, Trump said that Zelenskyy “won’t be around very long” unless he succumbs to pressure and makes deal on the US’s terms. “It should not be that hard a deal to make. It could be made very fast,” Trump told reporters, referring to a ceasefire. “Now, maybe somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, and if somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long.”

Trump Pauses All Military Aid to Ukraine

President Trump has paused all military aid to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing a senior Pentagon official.

The pause applies to all US military equipment bound for Ukraine that’s not currently in the country, including weapons that are in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in Poland to be delivered.

The Pentagon official said the US was pausing all military to Ukraine until the country’s leadership demonstrates a good faith commitment to peace. A senior Trump administration official told Fox News, “This is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause.”

Zelensky Defies Trump, US Ends Kiev Military Aid, Seeks His Removal; UK/EU Split, Starmer Macron Row

Western countries must keep military aid flowing to Ukraine, Starmer warns

Western countries must keep military aid flowing to Ukraine, Keir Starmer has warned, amid reports that the US president, Donald Trump, is considering stopping US support to Kyiv altogether. The prime minister told MPs on Monday that Ukraine would need money and weapons from allied countries even after a peace deal, as he also urged the US to provide security guarantees that go beyond its proposed minerals deal.

Starmer was speaking to the Commons for the first time after a tumultuous 72 hours for the Ukraine conflict which culminated in Sunday’s defence conference in London, at which the prime minister announced a new Franco-British peace initiative. “We must keep the military aid to Ukraine flowing – keep increasing the economic pressure on Russia,” the prime minister said.

He added that he was continuing to put pressure on Trump to provide military backing to any western troops that ended up being deployed to help secure an eventual peace deal. The US president has suggested that a minerals deal with Kyiv would provide enough security because it would mean American civilians working in Ukraine, but Starmer insisted this would not be sufficient.

“We have to avoid the mistakes of the past, which is why a security guarantee is so important – a guarantee that we should lead, but [which] needs US backing if it’s to act as a proper guarantee,” he said.

Putin Offers Rare Earth Deal To Trump!

Trump announces Taiwanese chip giant’s $100bn investment in US plants

The CEO of a giant in the semiconductor chip industry joined Donald Trump on Monday to announce the Taiwanese company’s new $100bn investment in production in the United States.

CC Wei, the chief executive of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) announced the investment at the White House alongside the president, the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and David Sacks, a Trump adviser on AI and crypto. He said the new investment brings TSMC’s total investment in chip manufacturing in the US to $165bn. “We are producing the most advanced chip on US soil,” Wei said. “Now the vision becomes reality.”

Trump called Wei a “legend” and said the investment will create many thousands of jobs. The president claimed that bringing semiconductor manufacturing to the US is a matter of national security and would give the country a big share of the world market.

Last April, Wei had agreed to expand TSMC’s planned spending in the US by $25bn to $65bn and to add two more factories to its site in Arizona by 2030.

TSMC is the largest contract chipmaker in the world, and it first set up shop in Arizona in 2020, with production there beginning late last year. The company’s further expansion in the US would bring additional investment to semiconductor manufacturing at a time when much of the industry is consolidated in Asia.

Trump says ‘no room left’ for deal that avoids tariffs on Mexico and Canada

The US will press ahead with steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico from Tuesday, Donald Trump has said, setting the stage for a trade war with his country’s two largest economic partners.

Hours before his administration was due to hit America’s closest neighbors with sweeping import duties, the US president claimed there was “no room left” for a deal to avoid their imposition. The announcement led to a sharp sell-off on Wall Street.

All Mexican exports to the US are set to face a levy of 25% under the plans. Most Canadian exports will face a 25% tariff, with energy products facing a 10% duty. A 10% levy on China – introduced last month – will be doubled to 20%, according to an executive order released by the White House.

China’s commerce ministry on Tuesday vowed countermeasures that it said were aimed at safeguarding its rights and interests. The US had “shifted the blame” and is using its problems with the deadly drug fentanyl as an excuse to impose tariffs, the ministry said in a statement. ...

The actions are set to prompt swift retaliation. “We’re ready,” said the Canadian foreign minister, Mélanie Joly. Wall Street fell sharply after Trump’s remarks, with the S&P 500 down 1.7%, the Dow Jones industrial average down 1.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropping over 2.6%.

As Trump Confirms Tariffs Coming, Canada and Mexico Prep for Fight

The Canadian and Mexican governments are preparing for U.S. President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs targeting imports from neighboring nations after he told reporters Monday that the policies will take effect Tuesday after a monthlong delay.

"Very importantly, tomorrow, tariffs—25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico," Trump said, suggesting the damaging policies will make companies "build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs."

Business leaders, lawmakers, and economists have stressed that the costs of tariffs are passed on to consumers.

Ask whether either government could make a deal before midnight to prevent or further delay the tariffs, Trump responded: "No room left for Mexico or for Canada. No. The tariffs, you know, they're all set, they go into effect tomorrow."

Welcome to the Golden Age! More expensive groceries, construction material that will ultimately make it even more difficult to build, automobile parts price increasing, and much more!

That's what we voted for right? Not cheaper groceries or anything? https://t.co/Yo0P37rP7j

— Tahra Jirari (@tahrajirari) March 3, 2025

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addressed the looming tariffs during a press conference earlier Monday.

"It's a decision that depends on the United States government, on the United States president," Sheinbaum said, according to The Associated Press. "So whatever his decision is, we will make our decisions and there is a plan, there is unity in Mexico."

"It's very important that the people know that we have made a very important effort of coordination, of collaboration, but it depends on the United States," the Mexican leader added. "We have to respond to this decision."

Reuters noted that Sheinbaum signaled multiple responses, saying that "we have a plan B, C, D," without offering details.

Sheinbaum previously negotiated a one-month delay to Trump's tariffs, pushing her approval rating to 80% among respondents to a poll conducted by Buendía & Márquez for El Universal February 13-18, shortly after that deal was reached. Citing the newspaper's polls, Mexico News Daily reported last week that her rating rose "from 77% in January and 74% in November," and "only 11% of those polled in February said they disapproved of the president's performance, down from 13% in January."

As Mexico News Daily detailed:

The 1,000 respondents to the most recent El Universal poll were also asked to respond to the question: "In your opinion, what is the best thing Claudia Sheinbaum has done so far as president of the republic?"

The top response was "defending the country from Donald Trump," with 14% of those polled saying that was the president's greatest achievement since she took office on October 1.

While Sheinbaum is facing off against Trump during her first year in office, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on his way out. The Liberal leader announced his resignation in January, in response to mounting calls for him to step aside. His party is set to choose its next chief on Sunday, ahead of elections later this year.

CBC reported Monday that Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, a Liberal Party member, previewed retaliatory action:

"We are ready with $155 billion worth of tariffs and we are ready with the first tranche of tariffs, which is $30 billion, which has already been announced," Joly said, referring to countermeasures that were first released when Trump floated his tariff threat last month.

Joly said she will be meeting with her Cabinet colleagues this evening to discuss the country's next steps as it stares down the possibility of economic ruin.

"We know this is an existential threat to us. There are thousands of jobs in Canada at stake. Now, we've done the work, we are ready, should the U.S. decide to launch their trade war," Joly said.

Newly reelected Ontario Premier Doug Ford, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, discussed Trump's tariffs with reporters on Monday while attending a mining convention in his province's capital, according to the Toronto Sun.

"If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything—including cut off their energy with a smile on my face," Ford said. "They rely on our energy, they need to feel the pain. They want to come at us hard, we're going to come back twice as hard."

Ontario is cutting off electricity exports to the U.S. in response to Trump's tariffs.

This is a big problem for a U.S. already struggling to get enough reliable electricity.

Even bigger when you consider that Ontario is mostly nuclear and hydro powered, meaning the grid is… pic.twitter.com/xxhLrIATdi

— Alexander C. Kaufman (@AlexCKaufman) March 3, 2025

While Trump's tariffs targeting Canada and Mexico were halted for a month, his administration has imposed tariffs on Chinese imports. The Washington Post reported Monday that "tariffs on China will also increase by an additional 10 percentage points for the second time in two months, bringing the total tax on some Chinese products to 45%."

The newspaper noted that "on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down around 1.5%. The broader S&P 500 index fell nearly 2%. Both market measures are now in the red since Trump's election win."

The U.S. president is also planning to impose 25% tariffs on imports from the European Union.

"Mexico, Canada, and Europe have leverage," economist Gabriel Zucman, director of the E.U. Tax Observatory, wrote in a Friday column, arguing that countries affected by Trump's tariffs "should retaliate by taxing U.S. oligarchs."

Top Economist Has Winning Idea for Trump's Trade War: Tariffs for US Oligarchs

As U.S. President Donald Trump weighed 25% tariffs he plans to impose on Canada and Mexico on Monday, with the White House sending mixed messages in recent days about when the levies will go into effect, a top progressive economist has proposed foreign countries should respond to "the trade war Trump seems determined to stoke" by targeting the "Achilles heel" embedded in the Trump administration.

"Mexico, Canada, and Europe have leverage," wrote Gabriel Zucman, director of the E.U. Tax Observatory, in a column Friday, pointing to the country's "highly internationalized oligarchy: a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals whose fortunes depend on access to global markets."

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick indicated Monday morning that Trump has yet to decide whether tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports—including produce, lumber, vehicles, and electronics—will go forward just after midnight on Tuesday as previously planned; the president has also recently said the tariffs could be delayed until April 2.

But Zucman wrote that whenever the policy does enter force, Canada, Mexico, and any other countries affected "should retaliate by taxing U.S. oligarchs."

Powerful business owners like Tesla CEO Elon Musk—now also spearheading Trump's gutting of federal agencies through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg all rely on markets outside of the U.S. to enrich their companies, which "gives foreign governments influence," Zucman continued.

"If Tesla wants to sell cars in Canada and Mexico, Elon Musk—Tesla's primary shareholder—should be required to pay taxes in those jurisdictions," he wrote. "Of course, this strategy is explicitly extraterritorial, since it applies tax obligations on foreign actors in exchange for access to local markets. But rather than fearing extraterritoriality, countries should embrace it as a tool for enforcing minimum standards, curbing inequality, preventing tax evasion, and promoting sustainability."

Tariffs on oligarchs could fight against Trump's attacks on environmental regulations, push for tax giveaways to billionaires at the cost of crucial public services, and advocacy for re-segregating workplaces, suggested Zucman, while shifting "the economic conflict from a battle between countries—which fuels nationalist tensions and economic retaliation—to one between consumers and oligarchs."

Countries could also "collect taxes that multinationals have dodged elsewhere, gradually eroding the appeal of tax competition" and triggering a "virtuous cycle," added the economist, who focuses on wealth inequality and international tax policy.

With tariffs on oligarchs in place, he said, firms would no longer be incentivized to move to countries that hand out corporate tax breaks because their savings would be offset by the tariffs levied by countries with large markets.

Governments have been accused in taking part in a "race to the bottom" as they try to attract large multinational companies run by some of the richest people in the world, with huge tax breaks that weaken "national safety nets, [kill] jobs by subsidising capital at the expense of labor, [allow] elites to escape the rule of law, and [reduce] productivity and economic growth," as the Tax Justice Network wrote in a 2020 report.

With tariffs for oligarchs, said Zucman "the race to the bottom would soon be replaced by a race to the top."

While the first weeks of Trump's second term in the White House have raised fears over a looming trade war, attacks on immigrants and transgender Americans, mass firings of federal workers, and the United States' withdrawal from international agreements and organizations, Zucman said the Trump presidency "also presents an opportunity."

"This is a moment to rethink international economic relations, calmly but radically," wrote Zucman. "The best response is a new global economic framework that neutralizes tax competition, fights inequality, and protects our planet. Under such a framework, importing countries would enforce tax justice beyond their borders, ensuring that multinational corporations and their billionaire owners pay their fair share."

"If it's a trade war Trump wants," he said, "consumers in Mexico, Canada, Europe, and beyond should unite to ensure that Musk and his fellow oligarchs feel the cost."

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Apparently, this is the best the Dems can do...

Democrats invite fired federal workers to attend Trump’s address to Congress

Workers fired in Donald Trump’s mass purge of the federal government will attend his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday at the invitation of Democrats seeking to display the human costs of the president’s radical policies.

Senior Democrats, including the party’s leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, have invited laid-off military veterans as their guests in an attempt to embarrass Trump over the unbridled assault on the federal bureaucracy spearheaded by Elon Musk and his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) team. ...

“What the Democrats are showing with our guests is that it’s the American people who are being hurt by the actions of Elon Musk and Donald Trump,” Brad Schneider, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from Illinois, told the New York Times.

The invitations have been extended by some Democrats in lieu of boycotting the event, as some prominent lawmakers are doing, including Chris Murphy, a Senator from Connecticut who has emerged as a leading voice in critiquing Trump’s policies.

Dems Try To Change Their Message But The Problem Is Deeper

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Trump orders swathes of US forests to be cut down for timber

Donald Trump has ordered that swathes of America’s forests be felled for timber, evading rules to protect endangered species while doing so and raising the prospect of chainsaws razing some of the most ecologically important trees in the US.

The president, in an executive order, has demanded an expansion in tree cutting across 280m acres (113m hectares) of national forests and other public lands, claiming that “heavy-handed federal policies” have made America reliant on foreign imports of timber. “It is vital that we reverse these policies and increase domestic timber production to protect our national and economic security,” the order adds.

Trump has instructed the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to increase logging targets and for officials to circumvent the US’s Endangered Species Act by using unspecified emergency powers to ignore protections placed upon vulnerable creatures’ habitats.

This move is similar to recent instructions by Trump to use a rarely-used committee to push through fossil fuel projects even if they imperil at-risk species. Experts have said this overriding of the Endangered Species Act is probably illegal. The order also stipulates logging projects can be sped up if they are for purported wildfire risk reduction, via “thinning” of vegetation that could ignite. Some scientists have said that aggressively felling forests, particularly established, fire-resistant trees, actually increases the risk of fast-moving fires.

“This Trump executive order is the most blatant attempt in American history by a president to hand over federal public lands to the logging industry,” said Chad Hanson, wildfire scientist at the John Muir Project. “What’s worse, the executive order is built on a lie, as Trump falsely claims that more logging will curb wildfires and protect communities, while the overwhelming weight of evidence shows exactly the opposite.” Hanson said logging alters the microclimate of forests, creating hotter and drier conditions that helps wildfires, such as the events that recently ravaged Los Angeles, to spread faster.

Winona LaDuke: DAPL Pipeline Lawsuit Against Greenpeace Aims to Silence Indigenous Protests, Too

Earth’s strongest ocean current could slow down by 20% by 2050 in a high emissions future

In a high emissions future, the world’s strongest ocean current could slow down by 20% by 2050, further accelerating Antarctic ice sheet melting and sea level rise, an Australian-led study has found. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current – a clockwise current more than four times stronger than the Gulf Stream that links the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans – plays a critical role in the climate system by influencing the uptake of heat and carbon dioxide in the ocean and preventing warmer waters from reaching Antarctica.

Using Australia’s fastest supercomputer and climate simulator, Gadi, located at Access National Research Infrastructure in Canberra, the researchers used climate models to analyse the impact of changing temperature, ice melting and wind conditions on the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

The results, published in Environmental Research Letters, revealed a clear link between meltwater from Antarctic ice shelves and circumpolar current slowdown, and comes less than a week after another paper anticipated a weakening in vital Atlantic Ocean currents.

What they found suggested a “substantial reconfiguration of Southern Ocean dynamics”, with “far-reaching impacts on global climate patterns, oceanic heat distribution, and marine ecosystems”. Co-author Assoc Prof Bishakhdatta Gayen, from the University of Melbourne, described the result as “quite alarming”. He explained that as melting Antarctic ice released cold, fresh water into the ocean, this sank and spread towards the equator. That flow of fresh water changed the density variation in the ocean, a key driver of movement, causing the slowdown.

“The ocean is extremely complex and finely balanced. If this current ‘engine’ breaks down, there could be severe consequences, including more climate variability, with greater extremes in certain regions, and accelerated global warming due to a reduction in the ocean’s capacity to act as a carbon sink,” Gayen said.

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Also of Interest

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

Jonathan Cook: The Monsters Among Us

Third student expelled from Columbia's Barnard College for pro-Palestinian activism

'No Other Land': Palestinian-Israeli film’s Oscar win sparks outrage in Israel

Starmer's Summit Gives Birth To A Mouse - It's Stillborn.

Quick Takes: Tariffs, the Zelensky BlowUp & More

DOGE Taketh Away From the Many as Trump Pays Off Crypto Bros With New “Strategic” Fund, Above All, Crypto Czar David Sacks

'Brain Drain': Study Shows Workers Fleeing States With Abortion Bans

Brooklyn’s fraught history with slavery is examined in a new exhibit

Remembering Aaron Bushnell: How He Inspired People in the Military to Question U.S. Empire

Oscar-Winning Film CENSORED in the U.S.?

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A Little Night Music

Silas Hogan - Lonesome La La

Silas Hogan - Run Around Blues

Silas Hogan - Dry Chemical Blues / Hoo Doo Blues

Silas Hogan - You're too late baby

Silas Hogan - Out And Down Blues

Silas Hogan - Dark Clouds Rollin'

Silas Hogan - I’m in love with you baby

Silas Hogan - I'm Goin' in the Valley

Silas Hogan - Every Saturday Night

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