---

---

The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Billy Branch

---

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Billy Branch. Enjoy!

^{Billy Branch - Hoochie Coochie Man}

"To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace."

-- Tacitus

---

News and Opinion

US Airstrikes Kill Civilians in Yemen After Hegseth’s Threat of Escalation

According to the Anadolu Agency, the Houthis reported that 22 US airstrikes hit Yemen on Tuesday, including 11 in the northern Saada province, nine in the central Marib province, and two in the Red Sea province of Hodeidah. More US strikes were reported in the provinces of Dhmar and Ibb.

Yemen’s SABA news agency reported that US strikes in Hodeidah on Tuesday night hit residential areas. According to the local authority in Hodeidah, four civilians were killed by the US strikes, and others were wounded. Women and children were among the casualties.

Residential buildings have been a frequent target of US airstrikes, and the bombing campaign has taken a heavy toll on Yemeni civilians.

The heavy US airstrikes on Tuesday came after Hegseth vowed the situation would get “worse” for Yemen’s Houthis, who are officially known as Ansar Allah. “It’s been a bad three weeks for the Houthis, and it’s about to get a lot worse,” Hegseth said during President Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump BROADCASTS His Own War Crimes In Yemen!

Gaza medic deaths just the latest in Israel’s long history of changing its story over civilian killings

The Israel Defense Forces’ changing account of its killing of 15 Palestinian medics and civil defence workers is part of a long familiar pattern in high profile cases involving the killing of civilians. Often, at first, the IDF denies involvement. Sometimes – in the context of Gaza – it suggests one of Hamas’s own rockets fell short, causing the casualties. Otherwise, it might allege that those killed were either combatants themselves, or collateral damage from the targeting of combatants.

And the case of the Gaza medics is only the latest incident when Israel has altered its account of a high profile killing. The killing of the celebrated Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who worked for Al Jazeera, while covering a protest on the West Bank in 2022, saw a similar shifting of explanations. ... When evidence emerges to challenge the Israeli military’s account, history shows the IDF then changes its story to suggest the circumstances are not the result of military orders or systemic issues but a “mistake” or – rarely – individual, but not organisational, culpability.

In the case of the paramedics killed on 23 March, the IDF’s initial explanation as the bodies were discovered in a mass grave was that their vehicles had been “advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals”. As witness testimony and video from the phone of one of the dead medics emerged to show that account was untrue and that the ambulances were travelling with lights on and with paramedics wearing identifying hi vis vests, Israel suggested – without providing evidence – that six of the dead were somehow linked to Hamas, even if they were unarmed.

Last week, briefings to Israeli media settled on one of the IDF’s most familiar claims seen over the years: the assertion that the soldiers felt they were under threat and that Hamas has used ambulances to move men and weapons. The IDF’s evolving narrative in such cases is often supported with claims made by pro-Israel accounts on social media. In this case, a video was posted on X by a pro-Israel account claiming to show in a blurred image that one of those killed may have been carrying a weapon in their hands. However, examination of the video by the German broadcaster DW judged that all that was visible was a shadow cast by the lights.

If some have identified a pattern of obfuscation over the years, there is also a suspicion that it is in service of a wider aim: muddying the waters when an investigation is launched. And when the IDF does launch an investigation, through the auspices of its Military Advocate General’s office, the results are often opaque and seldom lead to the most serious charges.

Pepe Escobar : Donald and Bibi: Birds of a Feather

Netanyahu Says Iran Deal Would Work Only If Nuclear Facilities Are ‘Blown Up’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that a US diplomatic deal with Iran would work only if Tehran’s civilian nuclear facilities are “blown up” under the supervision of the US, terms that would be a non-starter in negotiations with Tehran.

“We agree that Iran will not have nuclear weapons. This can be done by agreement, but only if this agreement is Libyan-style: They go in, blow up the installations, dismantle all of the equipment under American supervision and carried out by America—this would be good,” Netanyahu said in a video statement a day after meeting with President Trump.

Netanyahu’s mention of Libya refers to when former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi agreed to dismantle his nuclear weapons program in 2003 and allowed inspectors to verify his progress. Only eight years later, in 2011, Gaddafi was brutally killed by US-backed militants after a NATO airstrike hit his convoy amid a US-NATO bombing campaign. ...

In his video statement on Tuesday, Netanyahu also threatened military action if a deal isn’t reached and said he and Trump spoke about the possibility. “The second possibility—that will not be—is that they drag out the talks, and then there is the military option. Everyone understands this. We spoke about this at length,” he said.

President Trump has threatened to bomb Iran if a deal on its nuclear program isn’t reached, even though US intelligence agencies have recently reaffirmed there’s no evidence Tehran is working toward a nuclear weapon.

Max Blumenthal : Netanyahu Laughs at Gazans Suffering

Iran says talks with US will be indirect, contrary to Trump’s words

Iran, wrongfooted by Donald Trump’s revelation that “direct talks” between the US and Iran on its nuclear programme are set to start in Oman on Saturday, insisted the talks would actually be in an indirect format, but added that the intentions of the negotiators were more important than the format.

Trump on Monday threw Tehran off guard by revealing the plan for the weekend talks and saying that if the talks failed Iran would be in “great danger”. There has been an unprecedented US military buildup across the Middle East in recent weeks, and Trump’s decision to make the talks public looks designed to press Iran to negotiate with urgency.

The US delegation to the talks will be led by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, who has also been involved in talks with Russia over the Ukraine war; and the Iranian side by its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. Witkoff’s efforts to broker peace between Israel and Hamas and between Russia and Ukraine have so far failed.

Iran had in public been stalling about talks, saying simply that it was prepared for indirect talks with the US, but had not yet received a formal response from the US as to whether talks were going ahead. In a post on X issued some hours after Trump used an Oval Office press conference to reveal the agreement to stage weekend talks, Araghchi described the talks as an opportunity and a test. He insisted the ball was in the US’s court.

Phil Giraldi : US a Two-Tier Country

Judge gives Trump administration deadline to justify Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation

An immigration judge ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration has until 5pm on Wednesday to present evidence as to why Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, should be deported. She said that if the evidence does not support deportation, she may rule on Friday on his release from immigration detention.

Khalil, a green-card holder and leader in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year, was detained on 8 March. The Trump administration claims that his presence has adverse foreign policy consequences, an argument decried by his legal team as a blatant free speech violation. The government has not provided any evidence that he broke the law, a typical condition for revoking permanent residency.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can “either can provide sufficient evidence or not”, said the judge, Jamee Comans, from her courtroom in Jena, Louisiana. “If he’s not removable, I’m going to terminate this case on Friday.”

A lawyer for DHS told the judge: “We have evidence we will submit.”

During the hearing, Khalil sat beside an empty chair, his immigration attorneys and counsel appearing over video on a flatscreen TV. Behind him sat a handful of supporters, some of whom had been directed by security to remove keffiyehs. Khalil, in navy blue detention-issued clothes, sat calmly, sometimes fingering a set of prayer beads.

A War on the First Amendment: David Cole on Trump Targeting Students, Law Firms, Schools & More

‘We will persist’: Mahmoud Khalil’s wife says pro-Palestinian voices won’t be silenced

In a letter marking one month since his detention by immigration authorities, Noor Abdalla vowed to continue to fight for the release of her husband, Mahmoud Khalil, and for the right to speak up on behalf of Palestinian rights. “We will not be silenced,” she said. “We will persist, with even greater resolve, and we will pass that strength on to our children and our children’s children – until Palestine is free.”

Khalil, the recent Columbia graduate and Palestinian activist, was detained on 8 March and remains in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention in Louisiana. The Trump administration is seeking to deport him. ... Khalil helped lead Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests last spring. His arrest was the first in what has become a mounting series of actions by the Trump administration to deport international students – some over their pro-Palestinian activism, others for reasons unclear to them.

Abdalla, a 28-year-old dentist residing in New York, is a US citizen who was born and raised in Michigan. Her parents immigrated to the US from Syria about 40 years ago. She was with him the evening of his arrest last month as they were returning from breaking their Ramadan fast with friends, and recorded the arrest. ...

Khalil has not been charged with any crimes and his lawyers contend that the Trump administration is unlawfully retaliating against him for his activism and constitutionally protected speech.

Russian military LAVA flow, collective west panic

South Korea sets snap election date after President Yoon’s removal from office

South Korea will hold a presidential election on 3 June, the country’s acting president said on Tuesday, after predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached and removed from office over a disastrous declaration of martial law.

The government “is to set June 3 as the date for South Korea’s 21st presidential election”, prime minister Han Duck-soo said, adding that the day would be designated as a temporary public holiday to facilitate voting.

Yoon was removed by the constitutional court for violating his official duty by issuing the martial law decree on 3 December and mobilising troops in an attempt to halt parliamentary proceedings.

The law requires a new presidential election within 60 days if the position becomes vacant.

South Korea has faced months of political turmoil since Yoon stunned the country by declaring martial law, triggering his impeachment by parliament and the impeachment of prime minister Han Duck-soo, who is also acting president. Han’s impeachment was later overturned by the constitutional court and he will continue in the role of acting president until the election.

Trump Administration Considers Drone Strikes on Mexican Cartels

The Trump administration is considering launching drone strikes against cartels in Mexico in an effort to stem the flow of fentanyl and other drugs through the southern border, NBC News reported on Tuesday.

The report, which cited multiple former and current US officials, said the discussions were still in the early stages, but the administration has taken steps toward taking military action against cartels, including designating them as “terrorist organizations” and stepping up CIA drone flights over Mexico.

The report said that the Trump administration would prefer to launch drone strikes against cartels in cooperation with the Mexican government but is not ruling out launching unilateral military action, which would significantly rupture US-Mexico relations.

Trump Announces $1 TRILLION Military Budget

Elon Musk Stands to Get Even Richer as Trump Backs $1 Trillion Budget for Pentagon

Trump pauses plans to hike US tariffs on most countries except China

Donald Trump shelved plans to hike tariffs on most countries except China, unveiling a 90-day pause and pulling back from his global trade war after days of market turmoil and warnings of recession.

After insisting for days that he would hold firm on his aggressive trade strategy, Trump announced that all countries that had not retaliated against US tariffs would receive a reprieve – and only face a blanket US tariff of 10% – until July.

As Beijing prepared to slap punishing 84% tariffs on US goods from tomorrow, however, Trump said he would raise US tariffs on Chinese exports to 125% effective immediately.

Mexico and Canada will also be hit with a 10% US tariff, according to administration officials, escalating tensions with America’s closest trading partners and neighbors. ...

Stock markets soared after the announcement. On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 rallied by 8% and the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 6.6%.

Trump confirms 104% tariffs on Chinese goods as part of unfolding global trade war

Donald Trump is poised to unleash his trade war with the world on Wednesday, pressing ahead with a slew of tariffs on the US’s largest trading partners despite fears of widespread economic damage and calls to reconsider. The US president claimed “many” countries were seeking a deal with Washington, as his administration prepared to impose steep tariffs on goods from dozens of markets from Wednesday.

However, Beijing vowed to “fight to the end” after Trump threatened to hit Chinese exports with additional 50% tariffs if the country proceeds with plans to retaliate against his initial vow to impose tariffs of 34% on its products. That would come on top of the existing 20% levy and take the total tariff on Chinese imports to 104%.

The White House confirmed that the higher US tariffs on China would, indeed, be imposed from Wednesday. “President Trump has a spine of steel and he will not break,” the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said. “And America will not break under his leadership.” ...

After days of turmoil since they were first revealed last week, global markets initially recovered some ground on Tuesday as senior US officials attempted to reassure investors that the new tariffs – including rates of 20% on the European Union, 26% on India and 49% on Cambodia – could be temporary.

But the bounce didn’t last long. On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 closed down 1.6%, at 4,982.77 – below 5,000 for the first time in more than a year – as the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.8%. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite also came under pressure, dropping 2.2%.

China UNLEASHES PAYBACK Tariff As Trump DOUBLES DOWN

US workers feel effects of Trump cuts: ‘I am seeing my work dry up’

Americans are grappling with climbing costs, falling sales and dwindling work as Donald Trump moves to overhaul the federal government and economy. As the US president pushes forward with an array of controversial policies, from sweeping cuts to blanket tariffs, the Guardian asked US workers how they have been affected. Some requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Knock-on effects from Trump’s attempt to rapidly shrink the federal government by firing workers, slashing funding and cancelling grants are already reaching the private sector, with workers reporting layoffs, price hikes and supply issues.

Consumer confidence in the US has dropped in March to the lowest level in four years. At least 60,000 federal civil servants have been fired in recent months, in addition to about 25,000 probationary employees who have been ordered by courts to be reinstated.

The federal layoffs have also created challenges in the private sector, with contractors and businesses reliant on federal workers or agencies as customers hit hard.

US supreme court blocks ruling that 16,000 fired federal workers must be rehired

The US supreme court has handed Donald Trump a reprieve from a judge’s ruling that his administration must rehire 16,000 probationary workers fired in its purge of the federal bureaucracy. A day after ruling in the White House’s favor to allow the continued deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members, the court gave the White House a less clear-cut victory in halting the order by a California court that dismissed workers from six government agencies must be rehired.

The court struck down by a 7-2 majority last month’s ruling by US district court judge William Alsup because non-profit groups who had sued on behalf of the fired workers had no legal standing. It did not rule on the firings themselves, which affected probationary workers in the Pentagon, the treasury, and the departments of energy, agriculture, interior and veterans affairs.

“The district court’s injunction was based solely on the allegations of the nine non-profit-organization plaintiffs in this case,” the unsigned ruling read. “But under established law, those allegations are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing. This order does not address the claims of the other plaintiffs, which did not form the basis of the district court’s preliminary injunction.”

Two of the court’s three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented. The victory, though limited, is likely to embolden the Trump administration in the belief that the spate of legal reverses it has faced since taking office can be eventually overturned in the supreme court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, due largely to three rightwing judges Trump nominated to the bench during his first presidency.

Judge orders Trump White House to lift access restrictions on Associated Press

A US judge on Tuesday ordered the White House to restore full access to the Associated Press to presidential events, after the news agency was punished for its decision to continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its coverage. The order from the US district judge Trevor McFadden, an appointee of Donald Trump, requires the White House to allow the AP’s journalists to access the Oval Office, Air Force One and events held at the White House.

The White House “sharply curtailed” the AP’s access to media events with the US president after he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and the news agency did not follow suit, McFadden wrote in a 41-page decision. “Under the First Amendment, if the government opens its doors to some journalists – be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere – it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints,” McFadden wrote. “The Constitution requires no less.”

The AP sued three senior Trump aides in February, alleging the restrictions violated the US constitution’s first amendment protections against government abridgment of speech by trying to dictate the language they used in reporting the news.

---

---

Matt Taibbi SUES Dem Representative Over Pathetic Smear Job!

---

---

Trump signs orders to allow coal-fired power plants to remain open

Donald Trump signed four executive orders on Tuesday aimed at reviving coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel that has long been in decline, and which substantially contributes to planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. Environmentalists expressed dismay at the news, saying that Trump was stuck in the past and wanted to make utility customers “pay more for yesterday’s energy”.

The US president is using emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants scheduled for retirement to keep producing electricity. The move, announced at a White House event on Tuesday afternoon, was described by White House officials as being in response to increased US power demand from growth in datacenters, artificial intelligence and electric cars.

Trump, standing in front of a group of miners in hard hats, said he would sign an executive order “that slashes unnecessary regulations that targeted the beautiful, clean coal”. He added that “we will rapidly expedite leases for coal mining on federal lands”, “streamline permitting”, “end the government bias against coal” and use the Defense Production Act “to turbocharge coal mining in America”.

The first order directed all departments and agencies to “end all discriminatory policies against the coal industry” including by ending the leasing moratorium on coal on federal land and accelerate all permitted funding for coal projects. The second imposes a moratorium on the “unscientific and unrealistic policies enacted by the Biden administration” to protect coal power plants currently operating.

The third promotes “grid security and reliability” by ensuring that grid policies are focused on “secure and effective energy production” as opposed to “woke” policies that “discriminate against secure sources of power like coal and other fossil fuels”. The fourth instructs the justice department to “vigorously pursue and investigate” the “unconstitutional” policies of “radically leftist states” that “discriminate against coal”.

Keystone, 'Safest Pipeline in the World,' Ruptures—Again

The Keystone pipeline—which carries hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil nearly 2,700 miles from the Alberta tar sands to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma daily—was abruptly shut down Tuesday morning following a rupture in North Dakota, marking yet another accident along what proponents have called the "safest pipeline in the world."

South Bow, the Canadian company that manages the Keystone system, said it shut down the pipeline—which transports an average of around 624,000 barrels of crude oil per day—after detection systems sounded the alarm on a pressure drop. The company said the spill is confined to an agricultural field about 60 miles southwest of Fargo.

"The affected segment has been isolated, and operations and containment resources have been mobilized to site," the company said, according toThe Associated Press. "Our primary focus right now is the safety of onsite personnel and mitigating risk to the environment."

As the AP reported:

It wasn't clear what caused the rupture of the underground pipeline or the amount of crude oil released into the field. An employee working at the site near Fort Ransom heard a "mechanical bang" and shut down the pipeline within about two minutes, said Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager with the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality. Oil surfaced about 300 yards (274 meters) south of the pump station in a field and emergency personnel responded, Suess said.

A proposed extension known as Keystone XL would have carried more tar sands oil—widely considered the world's dirtiest fuel—to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. Opponents warned of the danger of leaks, with a 2021 report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office noting that there were 22 accidents along the conduit between 2010 and 2020. These include leaks of more than 100,000 gallons per spill in 2017, 2019, and 2022.

"Keystone's incident history illustrates the problematic pipeline's systemic issues," Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, said in a statement Tuesday. "The Keystone pipeline appears to be on track to hit its average of about a significant failure every year. It's time to address this pipeline's shortcomings."

Following more than a decade of pressure from climate, environmental, Indigenous, and other groups, then-President Joe Biden revoked Keystone XL's permit on his first day in office in January 2021. President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a "drill, baby, drill" platform, now wants to revive Keystone XL.

Long read, here's a start:

‘All other avenues have been exhausted’: Is legal action the only way to save the planet?

In November 2024, Monica Feria-Tinta, a veteran of UN tribunals and the international criminal court, strode through a heavy black door into a Georgian building in London’s august legal district for a meeting about a tree in Southend. Affectionately known as Chester, the 150-year-old plane tree towers over a bus shelter in the centre of the Essex seaside town. The council wanted to cut it down and residents were fighting back – but they were running out of options. Katy Treverton, a local campaigner, had travelled from Southend to ask Feria-Tinta’s legal advice. “Chester is one of the last trees left in this part of Southend,” said Treverton, sitting at a large table in an airy meeting room. “Losing him would be losing part of the city’s identity.”

Feria-Tinta nodded, deep-red fingernails clattering on her laptop as she typed. She paused and looked up. “Are we entitled to nature? Is that a human right? I would say yes. It’s not an easy argument, but it’s a valid one.” She recommended going to the council with hard data about the impact of trees on health, and how removing the tree could violate the rights of an economically deprived community. Recent rulings in the European court of human rights, she added, reinforced the notion that the state has obligations on the climate crisis. This set a legal precedent that could help residents defend their single tree in Southend. “It isn’t just a tree,” said Feria-Tinta. “More than that is at stake: a principle.”

The meeting was just a tiny example of a much bigger shift in how law is being used to fight climate breakdown. Since the early 1980s, communities and campaigners have turned to the courts to fight back against polluting industries. But traditional environmental claims are geographically specific – as in West Virginia, say, where residents sued the chemical firm DuPont for failing to prevent toxic chemicals from leaking into their water supply. Climate litigation presents very different challenges. A vast number of actors are responsible for emissions, making it hard to establish legal responsibility, and often the worst harms occur in a different continent to the worst emissions. But in the last decade, a series of court cases around the world have sought to change the legal status quo. “It’s been a huge shift,” said Adam Weiss, chief programmes and impact officer at ClientEarth, an environmental law charity that has spearheaded this approach. “Judges now see the environmental issues we’re facing as existential, and have allowed the interpretation of human rights law to shift to grasp that.”

Feria-Tinta is one of the pioneers of this change. In 2017, she worked on the first case to argue before an international court that state failings on the climate crisis were violating the human rights of a group of Indigenous people. The case was successful, and since then, hundreds of claimants around the world have made similar arguments. Feria-Tinta is “one of a small group that’s really engaged in thinking strategically about how to use the law as a tool to push for greater ambition on climate change and biodiversity”, says Margherita Cornaglia, a barrister specialising in climate and environmental justice.

After the meeting with Treverton, Feria-Tinta explained to me how all of these grand legal debates related to Chester the tree. “It is not just that this tree is threatened, but that it’s valuable,” she said. “After the second world war we developed certain standards in human rights treaties because of the horrors humanity endured. But we separated what is human from nature. We are living in such a cataclysmic moment that only now are we realising how vital nature is for human beings. The law has to be reframed, rethought.”

Many observers see the law as the last hope for preventing catastrophic climate change. “It seems to me all other avenues have been exhausted,” says Brett Christophers, professor at Uppsala University and the author of The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet. “Governments and companies aren’t taking serious and significant action, but in theory, at least, both are beholden to the law.” This strategic shift also has limitations, since, put bluntly, states can ignore rulings made in faraway international courts (or, for that matter, in their own courts). Meanwhile, it is not just environmental groups who are embracing climate-related litigation. In the US, there has been a significant rise in cases filed by airlines, fossil fuel producers and even states arguing against the obligation to consider climate risk in their financial planning. Yet Feria-Tinta passionately believes in the power of the law to create change. As the world passes the grim benchmark of 1.5 degrees of global heating, can the law save us from environmental destruction?

---

Also of Interest

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

Cory Booker, Confused Liberals, Obama's Reappearance, and the Dangers of a Fake Movement

Craig Murray: This Hell

An Economic Advisor's Weird Theory

‘We’​re Turning Into a Dictatorship’: Trump Tariffs Seen as Ploy to Further Consolidate Power

Understanding Xi JIngping

How Trump tariffs could push Vietnam into the arms of China

Patrick Lawrence: The Lost Man of Europe

‘Magical realism’: how a fake Hindu nation tried to take over Indigenous land in Bolivia

The de-extinction of the dire wolf – is Jurassic Park really happening?

Pro-Israel Org ASKS AG Bondi To INVESTIGATE Ms Rachel, Allege She’s Spreading ‘Pro-Hamas Propaganda’

Fired CRINGE Censorship Czar Nina Jankowicz IS BACK!

---

A Little Night Music

Billy Branch feat. Lurrie Bell & The Sons Of Blues - Help Me

Billy Branch - Nobody But You

Billy Branch & Lurrie Bell - Just a little bit

Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues - Blues Shock

Billy Branch - Where's my money

Billy Branch - It's a Carzy Mixed Up World

Billy Branch / Willie Dixon - Little Red Rooster

Billy Branch - Bring it on home

Billy Branch & Jamiah Rogers - Red House

---