The Evening Blues - 9-24-24

Submitted by joe shikspack on Tue, 09/24/2024 - 3:39pm

eb1pt12

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

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features r&b singer Billy Wright. Enjoy!

^{Billy Wright - Don´t You Want a Man Like Me}

"All we have to do is get out and vote, while it's still legal, and we will wash those crooked warmongers out of the White House."

-- Hunter S. Thompson

News and Opinion

15 Rules For Discussing Israeli Warmongering

Israel killed some 500 people in a massive new onslaught in Lebanon on Monday which saw the IDF launch more than a thousand airstrikes.

The US is once again sending additional troops to the middle east as things escalate, on the orders of god knows who because the president’s brain has completely stopped functioning.

It’s been a few minutes since Israel last began a new project of mass military violence, so perhaps it’s time for a refresher on the official rules on how we’re meant think and talk about such matters.

Rule 1: Recorded history began on October 7 2023. Maybe some things happened before that date, but nobody can remember.

Rule 2: Anything bad that Israel does is justified by Rule 1. This is true even if it does things that would be considered completely unjustifiable if it were done by a nation like Russia or Iran.

Rule 3: Israel has a right to defend itself, but nobody else does.

Rule 4: Israel never bombs civilians, it bombs terrorists. If shocking numbers of civilians die it’s because they were actually terrorists, or because terrorists killed them, or because a terrorist stood too close to them. If none of those reasons apply then it’s for some other mysterious reason we are still waiting for the IDF to investigate.

Rule 5: Criticizing anything Israel does means you hate Jewish people. There is no other reason anyone could possibly oppose military explosives being dropped on areas packed full of children besides a seething, obsessive hatred for a small Abrahamic faith.

Rule 6: Nothing Israel does is ever as bad as the hateful criticisms described in Rule 5. Criticism of Israel’s actions is always worse than Israel’s actions themselves, because those critics hate Jews and wish to commit another Holocaust. Preventing this must consume 100 percent of our political energy and attention.

Rule 7: Israel can never be the victimizer, it can only ever be the victim. If Israel attacks Lebanon, it’s because Hezbollah attacked it completely unprovoked while Israel was innocently minding its own business trying to commit a little genocide in peace. If people protest against Israel bombing entire cities into dust, then Israel is the victim because the protests made Israel’s supporters feel sad.

Rule 8: The fact that Israel is literally always in a state of war with its neighbors and with displaced indigenous populations must be interpreted as proof that Rule 7 is true instead of proof that Rule 7 is ridiculous nonsense.

Rule 9: Arab lives are much, much less important to us than western lives or Israeli lives. Nobody is allowed to think too hard about why this might be.

Rule 10: The media always tell the truth about Israel and its various conflicts. If you doubt this then you are likely in violation of Rule 5.

Rule 11: Unsubstantiated claims which portray Israel’s enemies in a negative light may be reported as factual news stories without any fact checking or qualifications, while extensively evidenced records of Israeli criminality must be reported on with extreme skepticism and doubtful qualifiers like “Lebanon says” or “according to the Hamas-run health ministry”. This is important to do because otherwise you might get accused of being a propagandist.

Rule 12: Israel must continue to exist in its current iteration no matter what it costs or how many people need to die. There is no need to present any logically or morally grounded reasons why this is the case. If you dispute this then you are likely in violation of Rule 5.

Rule 13: The US government has never lied about anything ever, and is always on the right side of every conflict.

Rule 14: (Americans only) Nothing that happens in the middle east is as urgent or significant as making sure the correct person wins the US presidential election. Ignore any inconvenient facts which distract you from this mission of unparalleled importance.

Rule 15: Israel must be protected because it is the last bastion of freedom and democracy in the middle east, no matter how many journalists it has to assassinate, no matter how many press institutions it needs to shut down, no matter how many protests its supporters need to dismantle, no matter how much free speech it needs to eliminate, no matter how many civil rights it needs to erase, and no matter how many elections its lobbyists need to buy.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : US a Menace to World Peace

Israel is using the same script in Lebanon that it used to justify the total destruction and mass slaughter in Gaza because they faced no consequences. US weapons continue to flow and the media continues to whitewash. https://t.co/fUsjRiAHgo

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) September 23, 2024

Israeli strikes kill 492 in heaviest daily toll in Lebanon since 1975-90 civil war

At least 492 people have been killed and 1,645 injured, Lebanon’s health ministry has said, after a wave of Israeli airstrikes on alleged Hezbollah targets that left the country with its highest daily death toll since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.

Tens of thousands of people fled from south Lebanese towns and villages along the main road towards the capital, Beirut, in Israel’s most intense barrage in nearly a year of cross-border clashes, as sirens were also heard in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. The Lebanese health ministry said 35 children and 58 women were among those killed.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said the military was changing the “security balance” along its northern border. “I promised we would change the security balance, the balance of power in the north – and that is exactly what we are doing,” the Israeli prime minister told a security meeting on Monday.

The Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, said the Israeli military was preparing for the “next phases” in Lebanon, saying he would elaborate later. “Essentially, we are targeting combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years. This is very significant,” he said.

The IDF said it had hit more than 1,300 Hezbollah targets in the previous 24 hours, in its biggest attack on the militant group since the Gaza war began last October, when Hezbollah began strikes in Israel in support of Hamas. Israel also carried out airstrikes in the Beqaa valley and its second airstrike on Beirut in a week, with what it said was a “limited” airstrike in the southern suburb of Dahieh. Israeli media reported that the target of the strike was Ali Karaki, Hezbollah’s number three military commander, although the group said he was in a safe location and unharmed by the attack.

There’s no low Israel won’t stoop to, says Richard Medhurst

If this is true it’s very damning confirmation they have no plan or idea how to off-ramp from this situation. https://t.co/IInKgABWhX

— Murtaza Hussain (@MazMHussain) September 22, 2024

"Gaza is GONE:" Prof. Norman Finkelstein on Israel's Destruction

Benjamin Netanyahu considering mass clearance of northern Gaza

Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a plan to force Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza and put Hamas militants who remain in the area under siege in order to force the release of hostages.

The plan, published by retired military commanders and floated by some parliament members this month, calls for the area to be declared “a closed military zone” after civilians have been told to leave. The Likud MP Avichai Boaron said the plan was ‘‘currently being evaluated by the government”.

“According to the plan, the IDF will evacuate all the civilians who are in the north of Gaza, from the border to the Gaza River,” Boaron told the Guardian. ‘‘And after they will evacuate, the IDF will assume that only the terrorists will remain. When the civilians population has left, you can find and kill all the terrorists without harming the civilians.”

The Israeli national broadcaster, Kan, quoted the Israeli prime minister as saying the blueprint “makes sense” and that it was “one of the plans being considered”. An Israeli official quoted by CNN confirmed the veracity of the quote but said: “Seeing it positively does not mean adopting it.”

According to the UN, between 300,000 and 500,000 Palestinians, most of them displaced, are living in the northern part of Gaza.

Since the start of Israel's indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, we have warned of a regional escalation of war.

Now, more American troops are being sent there.

Americans do not want to be dragged into another endless war abroad. Preventing one starts with an arms embargo now. https://t.co/MvFX5PrnmX

— Rep. Summer Lee (@RepSummerLee) September 23, 2024

REGIONAL WAR: US Troops FLOOD Middle East As 100's Killed In Lebanon

US Sending More Troops to the Middle East After Israel’s Escalation in Lebanon

The Pentagon said Monday that it’s sending additional troops to the Middle East after Israel significantly escalated its bombing campaign in Lebanon earlier in the day.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said, “In light of increased tension in the Middle East and out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region.”

Ryder wouldn’t say how many troops the US would send to the region. “But for operational security reasons, I’m not going to comment on or provide specifics,” he said. There are currently about 40,000 US military personnel across the Middle East.

Matt Hoh : A Government of Cowards

Israeli Bombardment Kills 350+ in Lebanon as Fury Over US Complicity Grows

The Israeli military's massive bombing campaign in eastern and southern Lebanon on Monday killed more than 350 people and wounded at least 1,200, overwhelming the country's already-strained hospitals, increasing the likelihood of all-out war, and intensifying calls for an arms embargo against Israel. ...

An ambulance burning after Israeli strikes on the village of Sohmor in the Bekaa. Pic was sent by a resident to @LOrientLeJour ‘s correspondent in the Bekaa pic.twitter.com/GElPY40erT

— Wael Taleb (@waeltaleb23) September 23, 2024

Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, said in a statement Monday that the U.N. chief is "gravely alarmed" by escalating violence in Lebanon and "the large number of civilian casualties, including children and women, being reported by the Lebanese authorities, as well as thousands of displaced persons, amidst the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since last October."

"The secretary-general is also gravely alarmed by the continued strikes by Hezbollah into Israel," Dujarric added. "He expresses grave concern for the safety of civilians on both sides of the Blue Line, including U.N. personnel, and strongly condemns the loss of lives."

Israel's large-scale bombing campaign sparked alarm throughout the Middle East and around the world.

Egypt's government issued a statement condemning Israel's "dangerous" escalation in Lebanon and called for emergency action from the U.N. Security Council to stop the IDF's attacks. The Iraqi government also called for an end to Israeli "aggression" in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. The Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement that "the countries that unconditionally support Israel are helping [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu shed blood for his political interests."

In the U.S.—Israel's top ally and arms supplier—lawmakers and advocacy groups condemned the Biden administration as an active enabler of Israel's attacks on Lebanon, given that it has refused to cut off the flow of American weaponry.

"It's easier to stop sending the Israel government weapons to conduct its genocidal wars than it is to evacuate every American in Lebanon," Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the lone Palestinian American in the U.S. Congress, wrote in response to a U.S. Embassy alert over the weekend urging U.S. citizens to leave Lebanon while commercial options "are still available."

Justice Democrats, a progressive advocacy group, wrote Monday that "we're on the brink of a full-on regional war in the Middle East because for decades—let alone the last year—we have armed Israel with the weapons to commit genocide with impunity in Palestine."

"If Democrats don't want to be responsible for another endless war," the group added, "arms embargo now."

Raed Jarrar, advocacy director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), said in a statement that "Israel is making clear to the entire world that it wants a broad regional war, not just in the occupied Palestinian territory, but also in Lebanon and Iran; the only way to stop its untethered belligerence is to stop rewarding it with more and more American weapons."

"Without halting Israel's attacks in the region, there will be no path to peace, and the consequences will reverberate far beyond Lebanon's borders," said Jarrar.

Ukraine May Get Permission in Private To Fire Storm Shadow Missiles Into Russia

The US and the UK may permit Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles for long-range strikes inside Russian territory without it becoming public until the first one is fired, The Times reported on Friday. ...

The Times report said that Western diplomats are poised to sign off on Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadows in strikes on Russian territory but will hold back from making an official announcement. They don’t want to publicize the move since it would give Russia advanced notice.

Previous escalatory steps that the US has taken in the Ukraine proxy war were not announced publicly. For example, when President Biden gave Ukraine the greenlight to use US-provided weapons in Russian border regions, it was first revealed by media reports and later acknowledged by the administration. ...

One of the Times sources said that the US wants to move fast on the escalation because senior members of the Biden administration are focused on “legacy building” as the presidential election approaches.

Scholz escapes Brandenberg disaster, Greens crushed

Germany’s SPD mulls deal with hard left in Brandenburg after far-right defeat

The relief felt by Germany’s Social Democrats at having narrowly won a regional election against the far right was tempered on Monday when it became clear they would need the support of hard-left Russophiles in order to form a government. Olaf Scholz’s centre-left party pulled off an unexpected victory in Brandenburg on Sunday, receiving 31% of the vote after a mass tactical voting drive to exclude the far-right populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).

While there was relief at the SPD’s headquarters in Berlin, there was no escaping the fact that Germany’s political landscape has been profoundly shaken by a rise in support for populist extremists of different political shades. The AfD, touting proposals for mass deportations, achieved its best result in Brandenburg, a state the SPD has governed since reunification. The far-right party came second with 29% of the vote after a wave of youth support.

Three other parties with whom the SPD would usually consider a partnership performed miserably, with the Greens failing to get into parliament at all. The leftist-conservative Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which came in third with 13%, appears crucial to coalition talks. The SPD now faces negotiations with a party that is demanding a cancellation of plans to station US long-range missiles in Germany and is calling for Berlin to push for peace talks with Moscow rather than supply Ukraine with weapons.

In a sobering recognition of the task ahead, Brandenburg’s leader, the SPD’s Dietmar Woidke, said: “Political stability will not be easy to achieve.”

French interior minister vows to ‘restore order’ as critics warn of shift to right

The French interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, has promised to “restore order” by cracking down on crime and immigration, as critics on the left complained that the new government had leaned too far towards the “reactionary right”.

On Monday, as Michel Barnier’s new cabinet began work after more than two months of unprecedented political crisis in France, Retailleau said: “The French people want more order – order in the streets, order at the borders.”

He vowed to “speak the truth” about what he described as growing violence in France, saying: “Barbarity is becoming almost a daily [occurrence].”

A Catholic conservative who for years was a senator on the hardline wing of Nicolas Sarkozy’s rightwing party, Les Républicains, Retailleau has become the symbol of the government’s clear shift to the right. ...

The Socialist leader, Olivier Faure, said on Monday that the Barnier administration was “the most rightwing government” in France since the Fifth Republic began in 1958. He added: “The appointment of Bruno Retailleau at the interior ministry is the most striking example of that shift: it’s the reactionary right taking power.”

Democrats worried about polls undercounting Donald Trump’s support

Democrats are increasingly worried that pollsters are undercounting Donald Trump’s voter support, rating his prospects of winning November’s presidential election as much higher than headline opinion polling figures suggest.

While most national surveys show consistent, though moderate, leads for Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, some supporters are unnerved by the small margin of her advantage in three northern battlegrounds – Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – which are deemed must-wins in her quest for the White House.

Although some polls have shown the vice-president with leads of between four and six points in Pennsylvania – generally judged the most important swing state – others show Trump trailing by smaller deficits. Narrower gaps separate the two in Michigan and Wisconsin, where Harris’s lead is just 1 or 2%, according to several different recent polls.

Underpinning Democrats’ fears is the knowledge that Trump greatly out-performed predictions in all three states in 2016, when he narrowly won them en route to his election triumph over Hillary Clinton, and in 2020, when he was pipped by Joe Biden by far smaller margins than forecast.

The worries are compounded by the l atest New York Times/Siena poll, which records Trump performing more robustly in three Sun belt battleground states – Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina – than he has in weeks.

the evening greens

Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows

Industrial civilisation is close to breaching a seventh planetary boundary, and may already have crossed it, according to scientists who have compiled the latest report on the state of the world’s life-support systems. “Ocean acidification is approaching a critical threshold”, particularly in higher-latitude regions, says the latest report on planetary boundaries. “The growing acidification poses an increasing threat to marine ecosystems.”

The report, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), builds on years of research showing there are nine systems and processes – the planetary boundaries – that contribute to the stability of the planet’s life-support functions. Thresholds beyond which they can no longer properly function have already been breached in six. Climate change, the introduction of novel entities, change in biosphere integrity and modification of biogeochemical flows are judged to be in high-risk zones, while planetary boundaries are also transgressed in land system change and freshwater change but to a lesser extent. All have worsened, according to the data.

Stratospheric ozone depletion has remained stable, however, and there has been a slight improvement in atmospheric aerosol loading, the research says.

At a briefing outlining the findings, Levke Caesar, a climate physicist at PIK and co-author of the report, said there were two reasons the levels of ocean acidification were concerning. “One is [that] the indicator for ocean acidification, which is the current aragonite separation state [I think that should be "aragonite saturation state." -js], while still being in the safe operating space, is approaching the threshold of transgressing the safe boundary,” Caesar said. “The second is that there are actually several new studies that were published over the last years that indicate that even these current conditions may already be problematic for a variety of marine organisms, suggesting a need [to] re-evaluate which levels can actually be called safe.” Ocean acidification was getting worse globally, with the effects most pronounced in the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean, she added.

California sues ExxonMobil over alleged role in plastic pollution crisis

California has filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against ExxonMobil for allegedly deceiving the public about the plastic pollution crisis, the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, announced on Monday. “For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible,” Bonta said in a statement.

The announcement comes amid increasing public concern about the plastic sector’s environmental and climate impact.

Two years ago, Bonta launched an investigation into fossil fuel and petrochemical producers “for their role in causing and exacerbating the global plastics pollution crisis”. As part of the investigation, he issued a subpoena to the oil giant ExxonMobil and plastic trade groups, seeking related documents. In May 2024, industry groups asked a US district court to block the subpoena, but a federal district judge this month preliminarily rejected their argument that the investigation violated the first amendment.

A February report from the advocacy group Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) found that plastic producers have known for decades that plastic recycling is too cumbersome and pricey to become a feasible waste management solution, yet promoted it anyway. In a statement, the CCI president, Richard Wiles, called the legal challenge “the most important legal action to date in the global fight against plastic pollution”. ...

“Just as Exxon knew and lied about how its fossil fuel products cause climate change, the polluter has also known and lied for decades about the reality that its plastic products could never be recycled at scale,” Wiles said. “From climate to plastics, Exxon’s entire business model is based on lying to the public about the harms its products cause.”