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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Doug MacLeod

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues singer and guitarist Doug MacLeod. Enjoy!

^{Doug MacLeod - Rosa Lee}

“We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values. ... It’s important for us not to feel too sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job that those folks had. A lot of those folks were working hard under enormous pressure and are real patriots.”

-- Barack Obama

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News and Opinion

‘The forever prisoner’: Abu Zubaydah’s drawings expose the US’s depraved torture policy

A detainee held in the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay who was used as a human guinea pig in the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program has produced the most comprehensive and detailed account yet seen of the brutal techniques to which he was subjected. Abu Zubaydah has created a series of 40 drawings that chronicle the torture he endured in a number of CIA dark sites between 2002 and 2006 and at Guantánamo Bay. In the absence of a full official accounting of the torture program, which the CIA and the FBI have labored for years to keep secret, the images give a unique and searing insight into a grisly period in US history.

The drawings, which Zubaydah has annotated with his own words, depict gruesome acts of violence, sexual and religious humiliation, and prolonged psychological terror committed against him and other detainees. They were sketched from memory in his Guantánamo cell and sent to one of his lawyers, Prof Mark Denbeaux. Together with his students at the Center for Policy and Research at Seton Hall University law school, Denbeaux compiled Zubaydah’s images and words into a new report. The Guardian is posting the report, American Torturers: FBI and CIA Abuses at Dark Sites and Guantánamo, for the first time along with a set of never-before-seen sketches.

“Abu Zubaydah is the poster child for America’s torture program,” Denbeaux said. “He was the first person to be tortured, having been approved by the Department of Justice based on facts that the CIA knew to be false. His drawings are the ultimate repudiation of the failure and abuses of torture.”

The new report comes at a critical moment for Zubaydah, who is being held in Guantánamo under Kafkaesque terms. He is known as a “forever prisoner”, because he has neither been charged with a crime nor offered any prospect of release. ...

Zubaydah’s sketches provide a unique visual record of the US government’s use of torture in the wake of 9/11. Videotapes of Zubaydah being tortured were filmed by the CIA but then destroyed in violation of a court order, while a 6,700-page torture report by the Senate intelligence committee remains secret almost a decade after it was completed.

Spring offensive false start

US accuses South Africa of providing arms to Russia

The US ambassador to South Africa has accused the country of covertly providing arms to Russia – a charge that drew an angry rebuke from Pretoria.

Reuben Brigety told a media briefing on Thursday that the US believed weapons and ammunition had been loaded on to a Russian freighter that docked at a Cape Town naval base in December.

“We are confident that weapons were loaded on to that vessel and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion,” Brigety said, according to a video of the remarks. “The arming of Russia by South Africa … is fundamentally unacceptable.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office hit back, saying it was “disappointing” that Brigety had “adopted a counterproductive public posture” but announcing the launch of an inquiry into the affair.

A spokesman for the US state department later described the move as “a welcome step”. “The deeply concerning piece of this is the docking of a sanctioned Russian vessel at a South African naval port,” Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington.

UK escalation, Storm Shadow long-range missiles to Ukraine

UK Confirms It’s Supplying Ukraine With Long-Range Missiles

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed on Thursday that London is providing Ukraine with longer-range missiles, marking another escalation of NATO support for Kyiv.

The UK is sending Storm Shadow missiles, which are air-launched and can be fired by Ukraine’s Soviet fighter jets. According to CNN, the Storm Shadows London is sending Kyiv have a range of 250km (155 miles).

Wallace said the Storm Shadows are “now going in, or are in the country itself,” signaling some have been delivered. He didn’t specify how many London is sending. “The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory,” he said.

The Kremlin called the news “extremely negative” and vowed to respond. “This will demand an adequate response from our military, which will, naturally, from a military point of view, find corresponding solutions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Depleted Ukranium

Depleted uranium shells have been sent to Ukraine, as confirmed by U.K. Armed Forces Minister James Heappey last week. Britain announced last month that it would send the munitions for use with Challenger 2 tanks in Ukraine, a move that immediately escalated nuclear tensions with Russia, with President Vladimir Putin threatening to place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus just days later.

The U.K. move comes amid indications that Kiev is increasingly desperate, to the point of being willing to risk scorching the earth it is fighting for.

Over the last few months documents emerging as part of the Pentagon leak have shown Ukrainian forces are faring far worse than previously reported by corporate media. As reported by Consortium News, the leaked documents “show the long-planned Ukrainian offensive will fail miserably.”

Britain’s decision to send depleted uranium rounds to Ukraine represents more than a dangerous escalation in the West’s proxy war with a nuclear-armed power. It is an example of Ukraine’s willingness to target the ethnic Russian population in eastern Ukraine and poison the land it is attempting to retain, but knows it won’t be able to. Depleted uranium will have effects not only on Russian fighters but also on the civilian population for years to come.

With Ukraine set to lose, if slowly, on the battlefield, what is to be gained by taking out a few more Russian tanks if it permanently renders the land a danger to its inhabitants, permeated with toxic dust particles of radioactive heavy metal? How can this decision be viewed as anything but a spiteful admission that that land is being lost, and that “salting” it is a final act of malice against ethnic Russians in Donbass?

Former Pakistani PM Imran Khan Freed on Bail After Days of Mass Protests over His Arrest

Pakistan supreme court rules arrest of Imran Khan was illegal

Pakistan’s supreme court has ruled the arrest of the former prime minister Imran Khan was illegal and ordered for him to be released. The chief justice of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial, declared that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had acted in violation of the law by arresting Khan on the premises of the Islamabad high court without permission and that such actions would have a “chilling effect”.

A written order released by the court stated that the “manner of execution” of Khan’s arrest was “invalid and unlawful” and had violated his right to justice.

On Thursday evening, Khan was brought into the supreme court amid heavy security and produced before the three-judge panel. “There have been incidents of violence after your arrest,” Bandial said to him. “We want peace in the country.” Khan told the judge he was unaware of what was happening in the country. “I was caught as if I am a terrorist. How am I responsible for the protests?” he said. On the request of the judge, Khan appealed for calm from his followers. “We only want elections in the country,” he said.

The judges directed Khan to appear before the Islamabad high court on Friday, where he will seek bail in several of the corruption cases against him.

Though no longer a prisoner, Khan was ordered to stay in a police guesthouse overnight “as a guest” under the security of Islamabad police to ensure his protection, and told he could bring 10 people of his choice to join him.

The government, led by prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, condemned the decision by the supreme court and made it clear that Khan was not safe from re-arrest after his release. “We will arrest him again. If he gets bail from the high court tomorrow, we will wait for the cancellation of bail and arrest him again,” said interior minister Rana Sanaullah.

Here’s Why The World Hates America

Macron’s democracy: repression and austerity

French prosecutors demand Sarkozy face trial over alleged Libya money

French prosecutors have demanded that the former president Nicolas Sarkozy face a new trial over alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 election campaign. France’s financial crimes prosecutors (PNF) said on Thursday that Sarkozy and 12 others should face trial over accusations they sought millions of euros in financing from the regime of the then Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, for his ultimately victorious campaign.

Sarkozy, who has been embroiled in legal troubles since leaving office, is accused of corruption, illegal campaign financing and concealing the embezzlement of public funds, the prosecutors said in a statement. He has always rejected the charges. ...

The rightwing Sarkozy, who won the 2007 elections but then lost in 2012 to the Socialist party’s François Hollande, has been convicted twice in separate cases since leaving office.

Fmr 'MINISTRY OF TRUTH' Head Nina Jankowicz SUES Fox News For Defamation

Fox News sued for defamation by ex-government disinformation chief

The former head of a disinformation group created by the US Department of Homeland Security has sued Fox News for defamation, saying its attacks threatened her safety. In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Nina Jankowicz alleged that multiple Fox News hosts spread lies about her work, fueling an internet campaign against her that ultimately led to her resignation and the disbandment of the group.

Jankowicz was executive director of the Disinformation Governance Board, created to coordinate efforts to combat disinformation posing a threat to US security. The group was created in April 2022 but paused just three weeks later, after a barrage of conservative attacks. Jankowicz resigned and in August the group was shut down.

Jankowicz’s lawsuit focuses on three claims she says Fox levied against her: that she intended to censor speech, that she was fired, and that she wanted to give verified Twitter users, including herself, the power to edit others’ tweets, a claim taken from a video clip used out of context. “Several of these falsehoods stand out as especially destructive – and directly contrary to available, verifiable evidence,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit also says Fox hosts continuously attacked Jankowicz, calling her a “wicked witch”, a “disinformation czaress” and a “lunatic”, among other things. The suit adds: “Fox’s defamatory coverage has caused Jankowicz and her family immense suffering. Jankowicz has been doxxed, threatened, harassed and even cyber-stalked. “Threatening and harassing messages and social media posts are usually linked to Fox’s coverage of Jankowicz and nearly always premised on Fox’s false statement that Jankowicz intends to police online speech.”

Gaffe machine with specialization in foreign policy discusses his Ireland visit:

Unionists angry as Joe Biden says he visited Northern Ireland to ‘make sure the Brits didn’t screw around’

An MP from Northern Ireland’s biggest pro-UK party has condemned Joe Biden after the US president made contentious remarks about his recent visit to the territory.

Biden said the purpose of his trip last month was “to make sure … the Brits didn’t screw around” with peace in Northern Ireland, and “didn’t walk away from their commitments”.

The comments, relayed in a White House transcript, came as Biden addressed a Democratic party gathering in New York on Wednesday.

He had visited Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of violence in the UK province.

During the visit, Democratic Unionist party (DUP) MP Sammy Wilson accused the Irish-American president of being “anti-British”, and he was angered by the latest intervention.

Big Oil Tries To Buy Its Own Courts

When Texas oil and gas companies need to remove a legal roadblock to drilling, or answer for alleged wrongdoing, they head to court — and a bill that could be considered by the state legislature as early as Thursday would hand them considerable sway in picking the judges that hear some of their cases.

The state’s $200 billion fossil-fuel industry has thrown its weight behind legislation that would create a new system of district courts to hear certain disputes involving corporations. While 26 states already have so-called business courts, the Texas proposal has a unique feature: Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been bankrolled by fossil fuel donors, would have the power to personally appoint judges, who would then serve two-year terms — a tenure that would let Abbott quickly remove judges if they deny favorable rulings to his supporters.

The legislation backed by the oil industry comes just after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed climate cases against fossil fuel companies to proceed in state courts. Opponents of the business-court plan say that not only would it run afoul of the state constitution, which mandates the popular election of district and appellate judges, it could also set a dangerous national precedent by undermining the independence of the judiciary.

As a result, cases that would otherwise be heard by judges elected by communities in their districts could instead be forced into courts controlled by the governor — and by extension, his donors.

'Same Sh*t, Different Day,' Says Fetterman After Yet Another Norfolk Southern Derailment

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman on Thursday demanded accountability for Norfolk Southern and other railroad companies following Wednesday night's freight train derailment in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.

Local media report nine out of more than 200 cars on a Norfolk Southern train went off the track just before midnight in the town of New Castle, 50 miles north of Pittsburgh and about 10 miles east of the Ohio border.

Fire officials said that salt, soybeans, and paraffin wax—used to make candles—spilled from the derailed cars, none of which were carrying hazardous materials. A statement from Norfolk Southern said no one was injured in the accident.

New Castle is also located about 20 miles from East Palestine, Ohio, the site of the fiery Norfolk Southern derailment and chemical burn disaster that spilled cancer-causing dioxin and vinyl chloride into the air, soil, and waterways in the vicinity of the accident.

"It's the same shit, different day from Norfolk Southern," Fetterman (D-Pa.) said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

"It's time to finally hold Norfolk Southern and the big rail companies accountable for the harm they have caused in East Palestine and Darlington Township, and the harm they continue to cause with this dangerous, reckless, and selfish behavior," the freshman senator continued. Darlington Township, Pennsylvania is located about nine miles east of East Palestine.

"I'm thankful that no one was hurt and no toxic material was spilled in New Castle, but this derailment looks way too similar to the ones we've said can't happen again," Fetterman said. "This has got to end."

"I'm proud that my bipartisan bill, the Railway Safety Act, advanced out of committee yesterday," added Fetterman, who has also introduced the Railroad Accountability Act.

"This bill will finally enact commonsense rail safety procedures that would have prevented last night's derailment," the lawmaker asserted of the measure advanced Wednesday. "It's time to pass this bill on the floor and finally hold Norfolk Southern accountable."

Ex-marine to be charged in subway chokehold killing of Jordan Neely

Authorities in New York said they will bring criminal charges against a former marine who put fellow subway passenger Jordan Neely in a chokehold that killed him. Daniel Penny, 24, is expected to be arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter, which could carry a jail term of up to 15 years.

“We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan criminal court, which we expect to take place tomorrow,” the Manhattan district attorney’s office said in a statement.

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NEW Polls Spell MORE TROUBLE For Biden As Dems REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE Unpopularity

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Unprecedented €2.2bn drought response plan approved in Spain

The Spanish government has approved a €2.2bn (£1.9bn) plan to help farmers and consumers cope with an enduring drought that has been exacerbated by the hottest and driest April on record. The measures, described as unprecedented by the government, were
signed off by the cabinet on Thursday. They include €1.4bn of funds from the environment ministry to tackle the drought and increase the availability of water, and €784m from the agriculture ministry to help farmers maintain production and avoid food shortages.

The plan came a day after the Socialist-led coalition government announced legislation that will mean outdoor workers such as refuse collectors, street sweepers and builders will not have to work when the Spanish meteorological office issues high temperature alerts. The move follows the deaths of a street sweeper and a leaflet delivery man during last July’s heatwave in the Madrid region.

Spain’s environment minister, Teresa Ribera, said her department would spend €1.4bn on building new infrastructure such as desalination plants; on doubling the proportion of water that is reused in urban areas from 10% to 20% by 2027; and on subsidising those whose irrigation water supplies would be reduced.

She said: “Spain is a country that is used to periods of drought but there’s no doubt that, as a consequence of the climate change we’re experiencing, we’re seeing far more frequent and intense events and phenomena. And we need to prepare for that by taking advantage of all the technical capacity that Spain has accrued and developed over many years. We need to deal with episodes such as the present one – and that requires planning, structural measures and also, obviously, short-term and immediate help plans.”

Ribera said promising more water was not the answer, stressing that investments had to be made to manage demand and drive efficient use of the resource.

Impact of warmer seas on fish stocks leads to rise in pirate attacks

Dwindling fish stocks caused by the climate crisis are leading to an increase in pirate attacks, according to a new study looking at two piracy hotspots over the past two decades. Warmer seas have negatively affected fisheries in east Africa, one of the world’s worst areas for piracy; while in the South China Sea, another hotspot for attacks, it has had the opposite effect: fish populations have risen.

This phenomenon created a “rare natural experiment” in which to test the links between climate breakdown and piracy risk, according to Gary LaFree, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Maryland, and one of the co-authors of the paper, published in the American Meteorological Society journal, Weather, Climate, and Society (WCAS).

“We wanted to test the hypothesis: does piracy increase when fish production declines and decrease when fish production increases?” said LaFree. The answer, they found, was yes. ... The study, which looked at more than 2,000 attacks in east Africa and the South China Sea over the past 20 years, found the trends in piracy were linked to the impact of warmer seas on fish stocks.

In east Africa, where fish populations are declining due to warmer seas, piracy rates have increased. But rising sea temperature had the opposite effect in the South China Sea. There, fish populations have increased and piracy rates have declined. “In a timeline of roughly 20 years, we’re picking up statistically significant, measurable differences,” LaFree said.

Canada: images of felled ancient tree a ‘gut-punch’, old-growth experts say

Stark images of an ancient tree cut down in western Canada expose flaws in the government’s plan to protect old-growth forests, activists have said, arguing that vulnerable ecosystems have been put at risk as logging companies race to harvest timber. As part of an effort to catalogue possible old growth forests, photographer TJ Watt and Ian Thomas of the environmental advocacy group Ancient Forest Alliance travelled to a grove of western red cedars on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. But then they arrived to the forest in Quatsino Sound, they found hundreds of trees that has recently been logged.

“It’s absolutely gut-wrenching to see a tree lying on the ground, and to think that it had lived for more than 500 years and then it can be gone in the blink of an eye, never to be seen again,” said Watt. ... Watt’s images have been used previously to highlight the dramatic change to landscapes after an old-growth forest is cleared.

In November 2021, amid mounting public frustration over the destruction of old-growth trees, the British Columbia government deferred logging in 2.6m hectares within the most at-risk forests. The BC government has also pledged to protect 30% of the province’s land area by 2030, part of broader efforts within Canada to meet biodiversity preservation goals. Since outlining its planned deferrals, however, less than half of the proposed areas have been agreed upon by the province and First Nations communities, whose consent is required. A number of First Nations are actively involved in the logging industry and would see a drop in revenues if logging in their territory was halted. Groups such as the Ancient Forest Alliance say more funding is needed to help offset lost forestry revenues among First Nations.

Critics of the province’s deferral plans also say there are problems in the original recommendations, including an admission from the technical advisory panel that a number of forests are likely to have been incorrectly classified. In the case of the cutblock found by Watt and Thomas, held by Western Forest Products and logged in late 2022, it was classified as 210 years, younger than the province’s 250-year-old threshold for being considered old-growth. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “It just underscores the fact that the logging industry is racing to cut the biggest and best trees while they still can,” said Watt. “Tree-planting does not replicate a complex old-growth forest ecosystem. Knowing this forest could potentially have been left standing, had it been identified properly by the province, is also another punch to the gut.”

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Also of Interest

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

Matt Taibbi: Report on the Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Top 50 Organizations to Know

Google Neural Net “AI” Is About To Destroy Half The Independent Web

Ukraine SitRep: Delayed Counteroffensive, Russian Defense Lines, Weapon Efficiency

US, NATO missile defense exercise kicks off in Atlantic amid Russian show of force

The narrative of the “unprovoked war” in Ukraine falls apart

Tom And Jane Eat Breakfast

Five years probation for Pennsylvania police officers who killed 8-year-old Fanta Bility

NY Times Is Wrong on Dedollarization: Economist Michael Hudson Debunks Paul Krugman’s Dollar Defense

The Poverty Paradox: why is there still so much economic hardship in the US?

New US rules could stem emissions from coal and gas power plants

Biden CALLS OFF Debt Ceiling Meeting With House GOP, Congress SKIPS TOWN With Default Looming

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A Little Night Music

Doug MacLeod - The New Panama Limited

Doug MacLeod - One Good Woman

Doug MacLeod - The Night of the Devil's Road

Doug MacLeod - Travel On

Doug MacLeod - (If You're Going to the) Dog House

Doug MacLeod - Money Talks

Doug MacLeod - Bring it On Home

Doug Macleod - Working Man Blues

Doug Macleod - Lobby Money

Doug Macleod - Grease in My Gravy

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